State executive councillor for Islamic affairs Abdul Malik Kassim ticked off the State Islamic Affairs Department (Jaipp) for being "insensitive" to the culture, religion and feelings of the family of alleged Muslim convert Teoh Cheng Cheng.
The body of Teoh, whose Muslim name is allegedly Nora Teoh Abdullah, was seized by religious officers during her funeral wake at Lebuh Maccalum on Monday.
Abdul Malik apologised for Jaipp's action, and offered his condolences over Teoh's death, saying Jaipp had offended her mother and family members when they were in the midst of grieving.
"Jaipp officers should consider the feelings of the family and get the views of the Jaipp director, its enforcement unit, the mufti department and the state district religious officer before acting," Abdul Malik said in a press conference today.
"This has been Jaipp's normal and considerate practice all this while," he added.
Abdul Malik said he regretted the incident as he was only informed about the matter at 5pm on Monday while he was in Kuala Lumpur.
Teoh's body was seized at about 3.50pm and brought back to the mortuary when her family was shown documents that she had converted 17 years ago.
Her family denied knowledge she was a Muslim, and insisted she had always been a Buddhist.
Incident regretted
Abdul Malik added that it was further regretted that Jaipp officers he contacted were also not aware of the incident.
He also revealed it was the police who contacted Jaipp to obtain Teoh's body from the family.
"We will do what we did before, our approach has been always to consider the sensitivities of the family involved in such cases and all officers have to adhere to this," Abdul Malik said.
He promised that these kind of incidents won’t recur.
Abdul Malik welcomed the family's decision to file a case at the Penang High Court this afternoon, saying the state government would help to resolve the matter.
One of Teoh's daughters had told the Penang Syariah Court this morning that her mother, 38, a waitress had not been a practising Muslim.
The body of Teoh, whose Muslim name is allegedly Nora Teoh Abdullah, was seized by religious officers during her funeral wake at Lebuh Maccalum on Monday.
Abdul Malik apologised for Jaipp's action, and offered his condolences over Teoh's death, saying Jaipp had offended her mother and family members when they were in the midst of grieving."Jaipp officers should consider the feelings of the family and get the views of the Jaipp director, its enforcement unit, the mufti department and the state district religious officer before acting," Abdul Malik said in a press conference today.
"This has been Jaipp's normal and considerate practice all this while," he added.
Abdul Malik said he regretted the incident as he was only informed about the matter at 5pm on Monday while he was in Kuala Lumpur.
Teoh's body was seized at about 3.50pm and brought back to the mortuary when her family was shown documents that she had converted 17 years ago.
Her family denied knowledge she was a Muslim, and insisted she had always been a Buddhist.
Incident regretted
Abdul Malik added that it was further regretted that Jaipp officers he contacted were also not aware of the incident.
He also revealed it was the police who contacted Jaipp to obtain Teoh's body from the family.
"We will do what we did before, our approach has been always to consider the sensitivities of the family involved in such cases and all officers have to adhere to this," Abdul Malik said.
He promised that these kind of incidents won’t recur.
Abdul Malik welcomed the family's decision to file a case at the Penang High Court this afternoon, saying the state government would help to resolve the matter.
One of Teoh's daughters had told the Penang Syariah Court this morning that her mother, 38, a waitress had not been a practising Muslim.
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