More demand action over religiously-charged seminar at UiTM

Uthaya Sankar Narayanan (left) with his lawyer, Annou Xavier, lament the failure of the authorities to take action against UiTM and the speakers at what they claimed was a Christian-bashing event at the university. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, May 14, 2014.Anger is mounting over inaction by the authorities to investigate a religiously-charged seminar at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam on the use of the word Allah and Christology where several speakers had warned Muslims against the threat of Christianisation and belittled the Bible as containing "tales".

Six police reports have been made in Selangor and Sarawak over the issue, say private college lecturer Perzeus James and author Uthaya Sankar Narayanan, who are among those angry over the failure by the authorities to take action against the university and the speakers.

Both lodged police reports on May 8 and said four other reports were lodged in Sarawak, one by a Muslim, and several others in Sabah are expected to follow suit this week.

James and Uthaya said they waited for two days and when they realised that no action was taken over what they claimed was clearly a Christian-bashing event, they lodged their reports at the Taman Sri Muda police station in Section 25, Shah Alam.

"The statements made at the seminar insulted and vilified Christianity and I had hoped the authorities would have initiated investigations against the organisers and speakers immediately.

"I still cannot understand how a seminar like this can be held at a public university, which is supposed to have discourse based on research work," a visibly upset James told The Malaysian Insider in Subang Jaya.

Uthaya also lamented the inaction by the authorities, adding that it was clear that those who organised the seminar knew what was going to happen at the event.

"I'm sure they had meetings to discuss the seminar so everyone must have been aware of the Christian-bashing which was going to take place.

"They even distributed books by the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) and invited speakers from Indonesia to speak about Christianity, without having experts on Christianity present to give their views.

"This was done intentionally," he said, adding that nobody had the right to insult another religion.

Uthaya said that four of his friends in Sarawak had also lodged police reports, two in Kuching, one in Bintulu and another one in Mukah.

He added that more reports will be lodged in Sabah on Saturday.

The book titled 'Pendedahan Agenda Kristian', which warned Muslims to watch out for tricks by Christians to sway them from their faith, was distributed at the seminar at UiTM. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 14, 2014.At the seminar held at UiTM last week, a speaker had also put forward "10 reasons why Christians should become Muslims".

Copies of a book published by Mais on the threat of Christianisation and alleged evangelism among Muslims in Malaysia were also distributed to more than 1,000 students present that day.

The book entitled "Pendedahan Agenda Kristian", warned Muslims to watch out for "tricks" by Christians to sway them from their faith.

The book also claimed that the main reason there is apostasy among Muslims ‎is because of Christianisation.

Another book which was also distributed, "Obligation to preserve the sanctity of the name Allah‎" explained why non-Muslims, in particular Christians, cannot be allowed to use the word Allah.

Lawyer Annou Xavier, who will be assisting James and Uthaya when they are called to the police headquarters to have their statements recorded, urged the police not to waste any time in carrying out a full scale investigation, given the rise of such religiously-charged incidents in Malaysia of late.

"I believe this will not stop with UiTM and we will see more such forums being held nationwide with the same agenda and motive – to insult the Christian religion," he said.

Xavier also said that from the itenerary of the event, it was clear that the seminar was well planned and that it was also endorsed by the university's vice-chancellor Tan Sri Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, who was in the organising committee.

As such, the lawyer called on the police to not only investigate the organiser, but also the university and Mais, which is the publisher of the two books which could incite hatred towards Christians.

He added that the case should be investigated under Section 298 and 298A of the Penal Code, for causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will on grounds of religion.