'Kurup's anti-Ibrahim Ali suggestion is seditious'
MalaysiaKini.com
Nov 4, 2014

Right-wing NGO Perkasa has condemned Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup for urging the Attorney-General’s Chambers to relook into the case involving Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali’s threat to burn Bibles.

Perkasa’s Islamic affairs bureau chief Shamsuddin Moner said that Kurup is “playing up religious issues and stirring hatred towards Perkasa among Christians”, Kurup could cause a “riot”.

“He is purposely raising the ire of Perkasa members, and this is clearly seditious. As such, we urge the police to call Kurup to give a statement to back his ill-assumptions of the Perkasa chief,” he said in a statement.

“As a minister, Kurup should not be a Christian extremist.”
 
He said that the minister was “unwise” to openly urge this as he can share his views behind closed doors in cabinet meetings.

He also urged Kurup to “appreciate the concept and principles of wasatiyah (moderation)” stressed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Re-open case

Kurup in winding-up debates in Parliament yesterday suggested that the Attorney-General’s Chambers re-open the case against Ibrahim, as it would help ease tensions.         

However, he reiterated that this was only a suggestion as the government cannot meddle in the AGC’s decision.

The AGC said it will not prosecute Ibrahim for the remark made in Penang last year as he did not intend to cause disharmony and was only protecting the sanctity of Islam.

Meanwhile, Shamsuddin said that Kurup is “absolutely ignorant” of what Ibrahim had meant when he made the call following claims that bibles were distributed to Muslim school children in Penang.

He said that Ibrahim had only referred to the Bibles which were translated into Bahasa Malaysia and used the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God.

“This is because the original Bible is not in Bahasa and never used the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. It is clear that Ibrahim never meant to influence anyone to torch the holy book of the Christians,” he said.

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