Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar and his boss in the Federal Government, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi might be suffering from a case of crossed lines following yesterday’s protest in Taman Medan against a new church and the cross displayed on its facade.
While Khalid, whose older brother, Taman Lindungan Jaya UMNO division chief Abdullah Abu Bakar, acted as mediator between Malay-Muslim protesters and church representatives yesterday morning, said there was nothing seditious about the protest, Zahid reacted to the news quite differently.
“Of course! Yes, yes, yes!” Zahid said in response to a question from Malaysiakini on whether the protest fell under the Sedition Act 1948.
“I am very colour-blind. The police is very colour blind. Action has to be taken or will be taken against them,” he added.
Khalid, on the other had, claims there was nothing seditious about the incident, as there was nothing about the protest that touched on religion – even though it was a protest against a Christian church.
“We don’t see it as seditious because it did not touch on Christianity. It was just about the location of the church,” he told The Malay Mail Online‘s Joseph Sipalan at Bukit Aman today.
In this issue we must be very careful. The cross was taken down at the request of the community and was agreed to by the pastor,” he added.
Former Petaling Jaya Selatan Wanita UMNO chief Munaliza Hamzah seems to be on Khalid’s side on the matter, saying that the protest was in no way seditious because “no one died, no one was injured, and no one was upset after that.”
“We have done nothing seditious. We just went to seek help from the church to take down their cross,” she told Malaysiakini.
“We only sent three representatives for the dialogue (following the demonstration) with the presence of Special Branch. We were polite to them as they were to us.”
