NO ONE DIED, SO IT CAN'T BE SEDITIOUS - Wanita Umno on Church protest

The protest by Taman Medan residents against a church in their neighbourhood should not be considered seditious as was injured, died or got upset by it.

"Though we went there for a demonstration, no one died, no one was injured and no one was upset after that," former Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno Wanita chief Munaliza Hamzah said today.

Munaliza said protests against the recently-introduced goods and services tax (GST) were more seditious in nature than yesterday's demonstration against the church in Petaling Jaya.

She said this was because the dialogue between the representatives of the church and the residents was done politely and with respect.

"We have done nothing seditious. We just went to seek help from the church to take down their cross," she Munaliza told Malaysiakini today.

"We only sent three representatives for the dialogue (following the demonstration) with the presence of Special Branch officers.

“We were polite to them as they were to us," she said, claiming the police officers present would know if sedition had been committed, during either the protest or the dialogue.

She said a representative of the church agreed to take down the cross after 10 minutes of discussion, adding this was an indication that the church respected the view of the residents

"Isn't asking the people to take to the streets (to protest the GST) not something seditious?” asked Munaliza.

Protest stunned Malaysians

Some 50 residents protested yesterday to demand that the church near the Medan Cahaya shoplot in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, takes down its cross, a move that stunned Malaysians.

DAP Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentarian Tony Pua questioned if the police investigate the protesters under Sedition Act.

"It's up to the police, we can answer to them," Munaliza said when asked what if the police launch an investigation on the protesters.

The police were there, and would have told the protesters then if they had committed offences under Sedition Act, she said.

According to Munaliza, the matter was settled after a discussion between church officials and villagers, during which the church agreed to take down the cross.

"Please, I don't want you to exaggerate this issue. When we discussed with church and they agreed to pull down the cross. This already settled" she said.

According to The Star Online, police turned up 30 minutes later to control the crowd while the church congregation of 15 people requested privacy.

The protest comes a month after Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali assured Christians he that he would protect the freedom of religion.

Last year, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department seized copies of the Bible in the Malay and Iban languages for containing the word 'Allah' from the Bible Society of Malaysia.

The holy books were returned after Azmin took over as MB, but such the Bible using the word Allah will no longer be allowed in Selangor.

Like most states, Selangor has an enactment passed in 1988 banning non-Muslims from using the word Allah - a term that is used by the native Christians of Sabah and Sarawak to refer to God. - M'kini