KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― The Selangor religious authorities should have researched their facts thoroughly first before disrupting a Hindu wedding ceremony last Sunday on suspicion that the bride is Muslim, PAS’s Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said.

He said he disagreed with the move by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) as the issue involves racial sensitivities and would likely invoke tension.

“I do not agree nor endorse it,” the Research Centre executive director said. “Jais must ascertain that the information is correct and verified… [the raid] must be based on solid evidence.”

Dzulkelfy added that even if it was confirmed with “absolute certainty” that the woman had been unilaterally converted into Islam as a child though raised in the Hindu faith, Jais must still approach the matter in an “appropriate, tactful manner.” 

“This is to avoid any tension and the best way to ensure peace for everyone,” he said.

He was commenting on the uproar over Jais’s raid on a Hindu wedding in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on Sunday, which was conducted following information that the bride had a Muslim name.

Upon inspection, the bride was later found to be a Muslim as defined on her identification card.

The 32 year-old woman, however, was said to have been raised as a Hindu and that she was only Muslim by name.

It is believed that her father, which had abandoned her since she was a child, had registered her as a Muslim after birth.