DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang questioned the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ decision to let Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali slide despite his threat to burn Bibles, and asked if it was justified to burn the Qur’an.
The DAP adviser and father of current DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said nothing could justify threat to burn the holy scripture of any religion, in response to the AGC saying it would not prosecute Ibrahim Ali because his threat to burn Bahasa Malaysia Bibles was issued as a defence of Islam’s sanctity in Malaysia.
“Are there also ‘contextual’ justifications to justify the threat to burn the Holy Quran?” he asked.
“Surely not, there can be no justification in any context to justify the threat to burn any holy book of any religion in multi-religious Malaysia if we want to maintain inter-religious understanding, harmony and peace and to quote Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to go beyond just ‘tolerate’ but to ‘accept’ and even celebrate Malaysia’s multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural diversity,” he added, as quoted by The Malay Mail Online.
The AGC stated that Ibrahim could not be brought in on charges under the Sedition Act 1948, Section 504 of the Penal Code that criminalises insults intending to breach peace, Section 298 of the Penal Code that prohibits wounding the religious feelings of another, or Section 298A of the Penal Code that outlaws causing disharmony on the grounds of religion – because the controversial Perkasa chief did not intend to create religious dischord, but was merely seeking to defend Islam.
“What about defending the other religions, viz Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism in the country?” Lim said in response.
“These questions show how ridiculous and outrageous the justifications are that there are certain ‘contexts’ where it is not an offence to issue a threat to burn the bible, to wound religious feelings or to cause inter-religious hatred!” he added.
Lim then called on Prime Minister Najib Razak to announce a “zer-tolerance policy” on threats to burn the holy books of any religion, and to appoint an Attorney-General who will toe the line of Najib’s own Global Movement of Moderates, which purports to champion the ideal of Malaysia as a country of tolerance and harmony.
