"No, no... that is an old story. I don't want to comment anything. This is all to spin (the matter further) and after the spinning, cause more misunderstanding.
"My statement then only referred to what had happened in Penang... about the bibles that some quarters were distributing in front of a school. That's all, and about Bahasa Melayu and kalimah Allah but they turn it into a different thing,” the Perkasa president told the media after a meeting with Bagan Perkasa members in Seberang Jaya, Penang today.
“Up to the authority. I have clarified many times but they started to spin further... no more. I don't want to say anything anymore," he added, speaking publicly for the first time since Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri said no action had been taken against him over his call to burn bibles containing the word "Allah" because he was merely defending Islam.
Nancy, who is de facto law minister, told Parliament earlier this week that police concluded that his words were only directed at specific individuals, who had allegedly distributed Bibles with the word "Allah" and also Jawi writings to students at Sekolah Menengah Jelutong, Penang, and were not a threat to society.
Ibrahim's call to burn the Bibles in January last year sparked outrage from politicians and Christian groups, with critics accusing Putrajaya of double-standards in using the Sedition Act against critics while sparing Ibrahim over his remarks.
Nancy came under fire from politicians, professionals and the public after her statement was released.
Pakatan Rakyat opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim slammed Putrajaya for defending the controversial Perkasa leader while DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Nancy’s statement that Ibrahim's threat was in line with the Federal Constitution showed that she was "at best, a lawyer with no knowledge of the law or at worst, a closet Perkasa supporter and clone of Ibrahim Ali."
The Christian Federation of Malaysia expressed outraged that threats to burn the Bible are considered an act in defence of Islam, and said the government was giving carte blanche or free rein to other extremists to do likewise, to any non-Muslim community in the country.
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) also expressed alarm and disappointment that no action would be taken against Ibrahim.
Under fire, Nancy tried to deflect the public outrage by saying that the decision was made by the Attorney-General's Chambers, and claimed that "irresponsible quarters" had only taken excerpts from her answer in Parliament to "create misinterpretation and misunderstanding".
She took to Twitter to say that she had never defended Ibrahim's threat to burn Bibles, and was not in a position to do so.
- TMI
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