IGP’s brother says he was trying to resolve cross issue in Taman Medan

Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar led a group of 50 to protest against the cross in a church in Taman Medan yesterday. – YouTube pic, April 20, 2015.

Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar, who was at the protest against a cross in a church in Taman Medan yesterday, is the older brother of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

Abdullah, who confirmed this, said the residents had approached him over the matter on Saturday.

"It just so happens that I'm the elder brother of Tan Sri Khalid (Abu Bakar). He is my younger brother," he told The Malaysian Insider.

"That is why with this kind of issues, people come to me for help.‎"

Abdullah said the residents there knew him well as he was one of the leaders in Taman Medan.

"Of course, they know me. I was also an Umno division leader before."

He said he had been an Umno member since the 1980s and denied that he was against Christians.

"We are not against Christians‎. I will show you kuil (temple) in Taman Medan but the residents have no issue with that.

"The residents just panicked after seeing the cross‎. They were uncomfortable and sensitive," he said.

"Some of them complained that the first thing they saw when they opened their windows was the cross."

When asked about the criticism over the protest, Abdullah said he had only attempted to help the residents air their grouses.

"I am a Muslim. There was a group of youngsters who, in a WhatsApp group with me, highlighted the cross issue and began blaming everyone for it.

"As a leader, I stepped in and told them not to speak like that. I then agreed to meet them to resolve it," he said.

He said he met several residents of Taman Medan on Saturday, when three decisions were made.

"One is to make an attempt to meet the leaders of the church on Sunday‎ when they would come for worship," he said.

"The second is, we agreed on a peaceful protest and the third, the main thing, is to see the legality of the church and whether they have the authority to run it or not‎."

Abdullah added that he had not been present when the protest began in the morning but dropped by later and saw that it was getting out of hand.

"‎I saw that they were quite wild in their comments, making uncalled-for remarks‎.

"So I tried to defuse the situation by suggesting that we meet the church leader. We never questioned whether she had authority or not.

"We just asked, as a temporary measure, for her to take down the cross so I can ask the people to disperse‎," Abdullah said, denying that he was the village chief as previously reported.

He also told The Malaysian Insider that he would be meeting with the Petaling Jaya City Council to check whether ‎the church had a permit to operate or not.

Some 50 people yesterday gathered outside the new church, which is housed in a corner shoplot, to demand that the cross affixed to the house of worship be removed as it was challenging Islam, The Star Online reported.

The protesters reportedly said the presence of a cross in a Muslim-majority area posed a challenge to the religion and could sway the faith of the youth.

"After meeting with the priest, the church agreed to take down the cross by next Sunday. If they have the authority to run, we cannot stop it," Abdullah was quoted as saying yesterday.

"But we ask out of concern, being a Malay area, that they take down the cross."

The cross was taken down by church leaders a few hours after the protest.

The protest has since come under severe criticism from opposition lawmakers, an Umno leader and the public, who have called it unacceptable and disrespectful.

Umno leader Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said demanding that a church take down its cross was un-Islamic, and called on Muslims to uphold the true message of the religion.

“The cross is a sacred symbol for the Christian community. To force them to remove the symbol is certainly unacceptable and disrespectful to the Christian community,” Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali was meanwhile quoted as saying.

DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua urged lawmakers who supported the Sedition Act to declare whether action should be taken against locals who staged the protest.

He said the Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs who recently voted in support of the amendments to the act in the Dewan Rakyat should now prove their claims that it was done to protect all religions.

He said the protesters yesterday not only acted in violation of the constitution, but had also threatened the harmony and peaceful coexistence among the races and religions in Malaysia.

"Will the above case only go to show how the act was constructed strictly targeted only against non-Muslims while Muslims who infringed on the rights of others will get away scot-free?"

- TMI