`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Ambiga: Stop harassing Christians

Mkini
Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan has called on the authorities to stop harassing Christians.
Ambiga said the 10-point agreement on these issues must be explained to the police and other enforcement officers.
“Malaysia is fast gaining fame for its Bible-seizing activities
“I believe the public deserve to know where these orders to seize and arrest are coming from and the basis of those orders,” she told Malaysiakini.
Ambiga was responding to the police seizing hymn books containing the word “Allah” from Catholic priest Cyril Mannayagam  in Johor.
She also concurred with views expressed by lawyer Andrew Khoo, who said Section 298A of the Penal Code, which was used to detain the Catholic priest, had already beendeclared unconstitutional in 1988 and was struck out.
“I agree with Khoo. I am particularly disturbed at the high-handed approach by the police,” Ambiga said.
On Dec 5, Johor police detained Mannayagam for questioning after he had sent the hymn books for photocopying in Tangkak.
The books were meant for Orang Asli parishioners. However, the police opted not to pursue a case against the priest.
Return books before Christmas
Similarly, Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang endorsed Ambiga’s call on authorities to stop harassing Christians by apologising and returning the 31 hymn books before Christmas.
He then added that all Malaysians of goodwill should do the same.
The police, Lim asserted, owed Mannayagam an “apology as they have acted high-handedly and unlawfully”.
“Enforcement officers must be educated on the 10-point agreement so that they become exemplars in promoting inter-racial and inter-religious tolerance,” he added in a statement today.
Lim said that the hymn books should be returned before Christmas this year so that it could mark a new beginning for all Malaysians regardless of faith for inter-religious tolerance, understanding and harmony in Malaysia.
Provision is too vague
Meanwhile, current Bar Council president Christopher Leong said the provision used to detain and initially probe the priest was void as it was “too vague”.
“Section 298A was, in any event a bad law. It was unconstitutional because it was too vague in its definition and wide in its ambit,” Leong told Malaysiakiniin a text message.
Leong (left in photo) said the defects of the law were similar to the defects in the Sedition Act 1948, which he said lacked the “mental element of criminal intent”.
“As a provision for a criminal offence, it offends the basic requirements of clarity, specificity and criminal intent.
“It also does not require the mental element of criminal intent. It therefore suffers from the same defects as the Sedition Act,” he added.
The struck-out law relates to the offence of causing disharmony, disunity or feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will, or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.