The Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 33 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- Suhakam alarmed no action taken against Ibrahim Ali for Bible-burning threat
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is alarmed and disappointed that no action will be taken against Datuk Ibrahim Ali for his call to burn Bibles in the Malay language.
“It is of utmost importance for the government to combat acts including threats and harassment that promote religious extremism and hatred among different religious communities, thereby safeguarding the basic right of all people to freely practise their faith as they have practised for generations in this country,” Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said in a statementyesterday.
He said every community should enjoy the right to practise their religion and the freedom to profess their faith as guaranteed under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Ibrahim's call in January last year to burn Bibles containing the word "Allah" prompted outrage from politicians and Christian groups, with critics accusing Putrajaya of double-standards in using the Sedition Act as no action was taken against him.
On October 7, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri said the Perkasa president was not charged as his remarks were made in defence of Islam.
She said this in a written parliamentary reply to Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, prompting the DAP leader to ask whether the de facto law minister was clueless about the law or a closet Perkasa supporter.
“Is Nancy pretending or is she completely ignorant of the law as to not know that the intention of the maker or even the truthfulness of the statement is irrelevant in sedition cases and it is an offence to act, speak or publish statements with a seditious tendency?" asked Lim in a statement yesterday.
Global Movement of Moderates CEO Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah had also said the government could not use Islam as an excuse not to charge Ibrahim, as his threat was not in line with the religion.
“Based on the verses of the Quran and the tradition of the Prophet, it is clear that the Minister’s argumentation does not reflect the true teachings of Islam and cannot be used to justify such statement from Datuk Ibrahim," said the former deputy higher education minister in a statement on Thursday.
Hasmy also urged the government to fulfil its commitments made during last year's second Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
These commitments included the need to combat discrimination and to protect religious minority groups in the country.
Hasmy said national peace and harmony were best guaranteed through a policy and practice of moderation. – October 11, 2014.
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