Despite allegations that most of the participants at Sunday’s protest against a shophouse church’s cross in Taman Medan were UMNO members, the head of UMNO’s Selangor chapter vehemently denies the Malay-Muslim ruling party had any part in the incident.
“It has nothing to do with Umno. Why must it be linked with Umno?” asked Selangor UMNO liaison chief Noh Omar.
“There are Umno members who are also members of residents association…You have to look at the platform they are using.”
The Malaysian Insider‘s Yasmin Ramlan reports that Noh also took offence at the idea that just because a protester is an UMNO member, the party directed his actions.
“Even if the person is an Umno member and a local community committee member, how do you suppose we get involved in that? Say, if it was Perkasa, why blame it on Umno?
“If they are from some NGOs, we just can’t stop them.”
On Sunday, a group of about 50 Malay-Muslim residents held a protest outside a new shophouse church in Taman Medan’s Metro Square, calling for the cross displayed on the facade of the church to be removed because it was “an affront to the Malay-majority community” in Taman Medan.
One of the people present at the protest was prominent local UMNO politician Abdullah Abu Bakar, who also happens to be Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar’s brother.
Abdullah reportedly helped broker a dialogue between the protesters – many of whom were said to be UMNO members – and church committee members. After the protest, the church took down its cross, to varying reactions from politicians and the public.
Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has declared that it was unfair to demand Christians in the area to take down the symbol of their faith, while the PJ City Council announced that the church itself was illegally operating without a permit.
IGP Khalid himself commented that the protest was not seditious in nature, as it “did not touch on religious matters”. His boss, Home MInister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, disagreed, calling for the protesters to be investigated for sedition to the full extent of the Sedition Act 1948.
The debate was made moot with Prime Minister Najib Razak himself stepping in, calling for an investigation over the incident to be carried out.
Abdullah has since been called up by the PDRM to assist in their investigations into the incident.
Know about something happening in KL and Malaysia? Want to share? Send us an email:kl@coconuts.co – don’t just read the news, make it!
