KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 ― Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar, the brother of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, has been summoned by the police to give his statement on the Taman Medan cross protest, the former confirmed today.

Abdullah told Malay Mail Online that the police called him at around 11am this morning following a report by the church over the highly-publicised Sunday protest by a group of Malay residents.

“I was called by the police this morning and they asked me to come to the station to have my statement recorded because the church lodged a police report,” he said when contacted.

Abdullah said he will abide by the police instructions and head to the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters later today after he finishes a business meeting.

“You see, this issue is being blown out of proportion because people know that I am the IGP’s brother and they are trying to humiliate Tan Sri,” he said referring to IGP Khalid, who is his younger brother.

“It’s ok, I am going to be very patient in this…I wasn’t the one who led the protest, mind you,” he told Malay Mail Online.

Abdullah has repeatedly told the media that he was not the leader of the protest but had merely acted as mediator between the church and the Taman Medan residents.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that an investigation will be conducted and that the protesters, who had forced the church to remove the cross from its building, will be punished if found guilty of sedition.

Barisan Nasional (BN) component party member MCA has also urged that investigations be done without fear or favour, while MIC demanded that the church be allowed to put its cross back up.

Earlier today, an interfaith group warned that inaction on the protesters who demonstrated against a church for displaying a cross will spur further protests at other places of worship.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) stressed that Sunday’s protest that forced the church in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, to pull down the Christian religious symbol from its facade, was “clearly seditious”.

Last Sunday, a group of about 50 protesters reportedly gathered in front of the church at around 10am during its Sunday service, to protest against the installation of a cross on the facade of the building.

The protesters claimed that an open display of a cross is a challenge to the area’s Muslim majority residents and could influence young Muslims.