'Baptism for Muslims' SMS mentioned students
Malaysiakini
Nov 8, 2006

A malicious Short Messaging Service (SMS) which stirred up racial tensions in Perak over the weekend had claimed that hundreds of students in Ipoh had embraced Christianity.

The Ministry of Higher Education today said it will not interfere with police action against students of tertiary institutions found to have sent the SMS.

The widely circulated SMS had claimed that a church in Ipoh was conducting a baptism ceremony for Muslims and this led hundreds of Muslims, including representatives of several non-governmental organisations, to gather at the compound of the church.

The police was even forced to deploy the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) to maintain calm.

However, the event turned out to be the baptism of 110 Indian children.

The SMS had mentioned that 600 students from the Unku Omar Polytechnic in Ipoh had allegedly embraced Christianity.

Serious offence

Commenting on the malicious SMS, Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the offence was serious and the penalty should be heavy, and that no offender should be exempt from punishment.

He said the ministry had not decided on an internal investigation or measures to verify whether it was true that students of tertiary institutions were involved in circulating the SMS.

"Wait for the police probe to be completed. If any student is found to be involved, we will act," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Mustapa said he had read the ill-intended SMS and did not dismiss the possibility that it was circulated deliberately to tarnish the image of particular people, including tertiary students.

The circulation of the SMS also drew attention again to national mariner Azhar Mansor, implying that he was involved in the baptism.

Perak police have questioned five people with regard to the SMS incident, and are investigating the case under the Sedition Act.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan warned that the Internal Security Act (ISA) can be used against those who spread libellous or false news via the SMS.