KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — A Johor Christian event has been cancelled as the organiser’s permit application was turned down, the Johor Baru District Office said today.

When contacted, the district office said it had sent a letter yesterday to inform the “Festival of God’s Power Healing Night” event organiser’s representative Tan Kweng Hoo, with the latter collecting the letter today.

“We’ve already cancelled it,” a corporate communications officer who declined to be named told Malay Mail Online, stressing that a permit had not been issued for the outdoor faith healing event.

The officer said Tan had applied on May 25 for a permit for a “Christian carnival event” that was initially scheduled to run from tomorrow to Friday at Sutera Square in Skudai, Johor Baru.

“We sent a letter to him saying it’s not approved. We cannot issue the permit because the Majlis Perbandaran Johor Bahru Tengah (MPJBT) didn’t give its approval,” the officer said, referring to the Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council which oversees the Skudai area.

Event permits would typically require the nod of several government agencies such as the relevant municipal council and the police, the officer explained, adding that the police did not give its approval for this event.

The officer declined to give the reasons for MPJBT’s withholding of approval, only stating that the city council’s permit is subject to the local council’s approval.

The officer also confirmed that the organiser for a second Christian event titled “MforJ 2015 Take Possession of the Land Kingdom Conference”  – scheduled to run from today to Friday in the Berjaya Waterfront Hotel in Stulang Laut, Johor Bahru – had not applied for a permit.

“They didn’t apply so the police can take action,” the officer said.

The Stulang Laut and Skudai area falls under the jurisdiction of the Johor Baru District Office.

The MPJBT did not provide an immediate response to a query on the reason for its rejection of the permit application for the Skudai event, while the Berjaya Waterfront Hotel was also unable to provide an immediate response on whether the conference for Christians is still going on.

The organisers of the event have yet to respond to Malay Mail Online at the time of writing.

Although flyers for both events explicitly state that they are meant to be a “Christian event”, promotional video clips for the conference attracted the ire of conservative Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), who claimed that they were provocatively worded.

The conference for Christians is expected to feature speakers from across the region including Rev Philip Mantofa and Rev Sumiati Supit from Indonesia, Rev Ewen Chow from Taiwan, and Rev Jonathan Loh and Rev Wong Chee Meng from Malaysia.

Yesterday, Bernama reported Johor police chief Datuk Rusli Ahmad as saying that 10 police reports were lodged by Umno while two others were lodged by non-Malay non-governmental organisations against three Christian events.

Rusli was quoted saying that the organiser confirmed that two Christian events at Johor Baru and Mersing respectively have been cancelled due to a lack of permission from the venue owners.

But the event within a Johor Baru hotel would go on as the hotel had given its nod for the closed-door activity, Rusli said.

Police are expected to conduct a probe together with the Johor Islamic Religious Department, Rusli said.