KUALA LUMPUR: Hannah Yeoh has told Bersatu not to make her a "punching bag" in an attempt to draw attention away from its problems.
Standing her ground against claims that Muslims were being proselytised through a programme by an agency under the ministry, th eYouth and Sports Minister said: "It is slander (and going) overboard to cover the (actions) of their leaders.
"I am not talking about PAS but Bersatu," she said in winding up her ministerial replies on Budget 2023 at the committee stage in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (March 14).
She was responding to Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (PN-Alor Setar), who questioned the increase in allocation for Impact Malaysia under her ministry.
The allocation was increased from RM4mil to RM5mil.
Afnan Hamimi alleged that "Projek Artikel 11" by the agency was promoting church visits to non-Christians.
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Yeoh's political secretary lodged a police report on Monday (March 13) against a Bersatu member for linking a ministry agency to Christian evangelism.
Yeoh's remarks about Bersatu on Tuesday appeared to reference ongoing court cases involving a number of the party's leaders, including its president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
She said that as an elected representative and former Selangor state assembly speaker, she was well aware of the status of Islam in the country under the Federal Constitution.
"There are those out there who make allegations and give the impression that thousands of youths visited the churches and would be influenced," she added.
However, she said that so far under Projek Artikel 11's Jom Ziarah (Let's Visit) programme, eight Chinese and Indian youths visited the Federal Mosque here on March 3, and three Chinese youths visited Gurdwara Sahib in Shah Alam on Saturday (March 11).
"This shows that no Muslim youths were involved," she said, noting that the programme was not merely about visiting churches.
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Visits to a church and a Hindu temple are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday (March 18 and 19) respectively, she added.
She said her ministry and the organiser had ensured that no Muslim youths took part in the programme.
Yeoh then reminded MPs in the House that even PAS president Tan Sri Andul Hadi Awang and his deputy Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had visited churches before and had said there was nothing wrong with that.
She noted that her ministry handled youth programmes for a wide range of topics, from agriculture to entrepreneurship to unity.
"To avoid this matter being played up again, I have told all agencies under my ministry that if there is (another) specific ministry (overseeing that area), to leave it to that ministry.
"For unity programmes, we will leave it to the National Unity Ministry, and for religion, we leave it to the Religious Department," she said.
On Monday, Impact Malaysia denied organising Christian evangelist programmes.
Its vice president Mastura M. Rashid said Projek Artikel 11 was part of its initiative to improve youth understanding of racial and religious diversity in the country.
Mastura explained that under Jom Ziarah, youths would visit different places of worship.
