PETALING JAYA - It is “stupid” to call for Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali to be prosecuted over his alleged call to burn Malay-language Bibles, said Malacca state Pembela (Barisan Nasional’s social service unit) representative for minority ethnic communities Joseph Sta Maria.
Sta Maria, who is also a Malacca Portuguese community activist, said those who played up the issue were equally responsible for disrupting national unity.
“Who is he that we must give him importance? Isn’t our faith greater than this man?” he said in a strongly-worded statement urging the Christian community to practise forgiveness.
“Are we so insecure that we must go against our teachings by calling for his head to roll?”
Sta Maria said history would remember Ibrahim as a religious extremist seeking political mileage.
“Don’t fall into the political trap of unscrupulous politicians. Be a Christian as you are taught to be. Ignore the ignorant.”
He added that issues involving religion were so sensitive and explosive that if allowed to fester, it would destroy national unity.
“The best way to handle this issue is to forgive Ibrahim Ali and move on. Giving him attention is what he wants. Politicians survive on this kind of attention and publicity.”
A slew of voices have called for Ibrahim to be investigated following his religiously-charged statements, with the situation worsening after de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri said in a parliamentary response that the Perkasa chief would not be prosecuted due to lack of evidence.
In BUTTERWORTH, Ibrahim refused to comment on the issue saying it might cause further misunderstanding.
After the opening of Perkasa Bagan division annual assembly, he urged the Government to make use of the entertainment and gambling taxes as scholarships for non-Bumiputra.
He said the Government should impose a higher entertainment and gambling taxes as the industry made big money from their businesses. -ANN
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