NGO lodges report on ‘insults’ to Christians

The provocative posting in FaceBook on the eve of Easter Sunday was uncalled for and seditious.

KOTA KINABALU: Pertubuhan Angkatan Gabungan Rakyat Asli Sabah (Agaras), an Orang Asal NGO, has lodged two police reports for insults to Christians in a Facebook posting and another against former Libaran MP, Akbar Khan Abdul Rahman, for disputing remarks attributed to Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Richard Malanjum, and insulting him.

The provocative posting in Facebook against Christians, on the eve of Easter Sunday, was an insult to members of his faith, warned Agaras Vice President Patrick Sadom on the sidelines of lodging the police report at the Penampang Police Station.

“We hope that the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the police would take appropriate action on the Facebook posting,” said Patrick. “Such seditious posting is uncalled for, especially at a time when Christians are celebrating Easter.”

He did not get into the details of the offensive posting. “We will leave it to the authorities concerned to investigate. It was under one Zamani Zainuddin.”

He thinks that the offensive posting may have been done by someone from the peninsula and not from Sabah or Sarawak. Patrick was accompanied by his President, Michael Frederick, who lodged the police report against the former Libaran MP.

“The Chief Justice had only called for the documents of Pakistanis who had come here from outside to be inspected for their authenticity and validity,” said Michael. “Akbar’s statement was uncalled for and tantamount to an attack on the Judiciary and constitutional duties.”

“It’s contempt of Court by asking the Chief Judge to apologise to illegal immigrants.”

Akbar, who claims to be a citizen of Pakistani origin, said that his people were offended by Malanjum’s ‘racist” remarks and demanded that he apologise. Malanjum’s remarks, made last week when hearing the case of five Pakistanis charged with having bogus travel papers, were directed at the foreigners who he agreed with the prosecution were flooding the state and creating problems for the locals and the authorities. He holds the Director-General of Immigration answerable.

In his report, Michael noted that even the Sabah National Registration Department had conceded and expressed willingness to re-issue all ICs and MyKads issued in Sabah. “No one disputed the statement by the NRD Director,” pointed out Michael. “No one asked him to apologise to anybody.”

The NRD’s expressed willingness to recall all ICs and MyKads issued in Sabah was for the purpose of verification. The NRD wants to filter out foreigners with bogus documents and those who obtained genuine documents illegally.

The NRD has ruled out the issuance of a Sabah IC to replace the Malaysian IC and MyKad in Sabah. The Department said that the laws only provide for the issuance of Malaysian ICs and MyKads.