Selangor Sultan backs Jais church raid, no one to be charged
UPDATED @ 02:29:12 PM 10-10-2011SHAH ALAM, Oct 10 — The Selangor Sultan ruled that the state religious authority’s raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) on August 3 was legitimate.
But Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said today that although the Selangor Islamic Religious department (Jais) had found evidence of attempts to subvert Muslims, it was “insufficient” for further legal action.
The Ruler said therefore no one would be prosecuted, and Jais will provide counselling to the Muslims who were present in the church during the raid.
“Jais has submitted to Us the full report of the search carried out at the Dream Centre Complex, Section 13, Petaling Jaya as well as the subsequent actions taken by Jais. We have thoroughly read in detail the said report and We are satisfied that the actions of Jais were correct and did not breach any laws enforceable in Selangor,” said a statement from the Selangor Sultan (picture).
The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), which disrupted a charity dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) on August 3, has said that it “inspected” the evangelical church — based in Petaling Jaya — after acting on a complaint that participants at the dinner were trying to convert the 12 Muslims present at the function to Christianity. Proselytising Muslims is against the law in Malaysia.
The contentious raid escalated religious conflict between Muslims and Christians in the country, with Malay newspapers highlighting allegations of Christians trying to convert Muslims through welfare work.
The Selangor hearing working group recently met Jais and representatives from NGO Harapan Komuniti — which organised the dinner at DUMC — in a bid to resolve the debacle that has incensed Muslims and Christians against the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration.
Harapan Komuniti — which helps AIDS patients and impoverished single mothers — has said it featured prayers, religious songs and a quiz on Islam at its dinner, but denied it was proselytising.
Sultan Sharafuddin said although state laws allowed non-Muslims to practise their faiths freely, they should not attempt to subvert the belief and faith of Muslims.
“We hope that after this, any and all activities being carried out or which are going to be carried out for the purposes of spreading other religions to Muslims in Selangor must be ceased immediately and no further activities or anything similar to them are carried out in the future.
“We, the Head of the Religion of Islam in the State of Selangor, are gravely concerned and extremely offended by the attempts of certain parties to weaken the faith and belief of Muslims in the State of Selangor,” said the Sultan, who has also commanded Jais and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) to take “necessary” action if anyone was found to be converting Muslims.