Friday January 25, 2013

Perkasa chief being probed over Bible-burning remark

PETALING JAYA: Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali was called in for questioning by the Penang police over his Bible-burning remark following several reports lodged against him.

Penang deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar said police had recorded Ibrahim’s statement over his call for Malay-language Bibles with the word “Allah” to be burnt.

“We take the matter very seriously and will investigate his alleged statement thoroughly. He will be called again (for further investigations) in a few days.

“The case is being investigated under Section 298 of the Penal Code for uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person as well as the Sedition Act,” he said when contacted.

SAC Abdul Rahim advised all quarters not to speculate on the matter as they should let the police handle it.

Ibrahim had allegedly called for the Malay version of the Bible containing the word “Allah” and Jawi script to be burnt.

This led to police reports lodged by various parties, including DAP chairman Karpal Singh, a few days ago.

Karpal has also called on Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail to take action against Ibrahim.

Police have warned members of the public not to attend the “Malay Bible-burning fair”, an event purported to take place on Sunday in Butterworth.

They said action would be taken against those who spread rumours on the issue and attend the event.

In IPOH, MIC Youth secretary C. Sivarraajh also lodged a report against Ibrahim and urged police to take action against him as soon as possible to prevent any untoward incident from happening.

The MCA has condemned the purported “Bible-burning fest”, calling it “abhorrent and irresponsible”.

“Such an abhorrent and irresponsible misdeed has no room in peace-loving Malaysia,” said the party’s publicity bureau deputy chairman Loh Seng Kok in a statement.

He also called for calm among Malaysians and to allow police to investigate the matter.

“We also urge the police and local authorities to step up security patrols and enforcement in that area to discourage and prevent any logistics being set up or unwarranted incidents from occurring,” he said.

“We should also remember that it was DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who irresponsibly re-ignited the ‘Allah’ controversy just to fish for votes from a particular community.”

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