The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and the police have come under fire again, this time for trespassing into a Hindu temple in their attempt to stop a traditional wedding ceremony where the bride is apparently a Muslim.
Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk R. S. Mohan Shan said such rash and abrasive actions only showed disrespect and insensitivity by Jais and the police towards non-Muslims and their religions.
"Why did they go to the temple? Their intention is crystal clear," he told The Malaysian Insider.
He said the bride managed to give Jais officers and police the slip for the ceremony to proceed uninterrupted.
Jais enforcement officers and policemen surrounded the temple in Petaling Jaya about 9am on Sunday, following a report lodged a day earlier.
Mohan (pic, right) said the bride was escorted to the Jais office later and was released after her statement was recorded.
"They could have been more compassionate by allowing the newly weds and their families to perform the rest of the Hindu ceremonies after the wedding and recorded the statement on another day," a visibly upset Mohan said.
He said the bride's mother and brother gave their statements to Jais yesterday.
"Why the hurry to record her statement on Sunday itself?" he asked.
Mohan said the couple was forced to go through the traditional Hindu ceremony because the Shariah Court in Selangor and the National Registration Department (NRD) were of little assistance to the bride's plight.
He added that initial checks by MHS revealed that the bride's mother was a Hindu and the father was converted to Islam by a relative.
Jais had acted under a 1988 Selangor’s Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) which outlines offences deemed as acts of proselytisation by non-Muslims towards Muslims.
Jais's actions were condemned by the Bar Council and Hindraf, who accused the civil service of oppressing non-Muslims and urged lawmakers to enact a law to protect the religious freedom of non-Muslims.
Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chair Andrew Khoo said Jais's action of going into the temple was tantamount to trespassing.
"This is the height of insensitivity and arrogance. It is certainly 'kurang sopan' (rude)," he said.
Khoo (pic, left) said although the administration of Islam came under the states, Putrajaya must take the lead as it involved human rights and the constitutional guarantee to practise the religion of one's choice.
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairman P. Waytha Moorthy said problems related to the religious status of those who claimed to have been converted without their knowledge, and the reluctance of the NRD to have a remedy, were reasons why such problems still persist.
"We have a serious problem in this country. The civil service is dominated by Malay and Muslim-centric officers who bulldoze their personal beliefs in the supremacy of their religion in the government administration.
"Their behaviour is nothing short of bullying, assisted by the government organs and machinery in oppressing the non-Muslim communities and their beliefs," he said in a statement.
This is not the first time Jais had been accused of acting with impunity.
Earlier this year, it sparked protests among Christian and rights groups when it raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) in Petaling Jaya, and seized hundreds of Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia (Al-Kitab) and the Iban language (Bup Kudus).
The seized Bibles have yet to be returned and critics had directed their ire at the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government for its inability to compel Jais to return the copies. The incident also prompted BSM to move out from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, hoping to be outside the state Islamic authorities' jurisdiction.
- TMI
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