KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — Selangor Perkasa maintained today it will continue with its rally in support of the state’s controversial bible seizure on Monday, even as the palace sought to distance itself from the Malay activist group’s plan.
Hours earlier, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) declared the state sultan had not agreed to any rally organised by the non-governmental organisation nor did the monarch consent to it being held outside Istana Kayangan in Shah Alam.
“Correct. His Highness the Sultan never said anything that,” Selangor Perkasa chief Abu Bakar Yahya told the Malay Mail Online in a text message in Malay when contacted.
However, he maintained that the “rally will still continue”.
Mais chairman Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa claimed in a statement today that messages on social networks had implied that Perkasa’s rally was endorsed by the Selangor Ruler.
Mohamad Adzib said he only received a letter from Selangor Perkasa chief Abu Bakar Yahya addressed to the sultan yesterday but did not submit it as the monarch is abroad.
He added that it was up to the Malay-Muslim non-governmental organisation’s discretion to hold its rallies.
A poster in Malay, carrying Selangor’s state emblem and Perkasa’s logo and advertising the rally, has been circulating on social media channels.
The poster states in Malay that the gathering is to “defend the sanctity of the Islamic religion under His Highness the Selangor Sultan and defend the action of Mais and Jais”, the latter referring to the Islamic enforcement agency under the religious council’s control.
Participants are advised to meet at the Istana Kayangan compound at 11am on Monday.
Selangor Perkasa announced yesterday it planned to rally between 3,000 and 5,000 members outside the Selangor Ruler’s palace tomorrow in a show of support for the state’s Islamic religious authorities who have been criticised for seizing hundreds of bibles in Malay and Iban containing the Arabic word for God, “Allah”.
The group also said the demonstration was to demand that action be taken against PAS leaders who sought to strip Mais and the Islamic religious agency it controlled of their enforcement powers.
Last January, Selangor Islamic enforcers raided the Bible Society of Malaysia’s office in Petaling Jaya and carted off over 300 bibles, claiming the Christian holy books were being used to proselytise to Muslims, in violation of state law.
Mais and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department want the bible society’s leaders prosecuted, but the Attorney-General has said there is no case.
