The Penang police has submitted to Bukit Aman a report on the so-called 'Christian conspiracy' and is awaiting further “instructions” from Bukit Aman on how to proceed further with the case.
"If Bukit Aman feels it is satisfied with the report, they will send it to the Attorney-General for further action," state police chief Ayub Yaakob told Malaysiakini.
However, Ayub (right) added that the police was also waiting for more witnesses to come forward to assist in the probe, that began after an Utusan Malaysia on May 7 frontpaged allegations that DAP has been plotting with a group of pastors to change Malaysia's official religion to Christianity and install a Christian prime minister.When asked the number of witnesses questioned, Ayub said further information on the probe was confidential.
But it is known that the police have quizzed one of the bloggers - BigDog or Zakhir Mohamed - that was the source of Utusan's sensational expose.
Others probed included a group of about eight pastors, Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi, Penang municipal councillor Ong Ah Teong and DAP member Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman (below), who attended a fellowship dinner organised by the Christian group a day before the news hit the streets.
The Umno-linked Malay daily had based its highly disputed articles on unsubstantiated postings on two pro-Umno blogs.
Despite weeks of heavy criticism and police reports, Utusan and blogs have yet to reveal any proof on the allegations.
Utusan has since received no more than a slap on the wrist from the Home Ministry over its controversial report.
'Where's the proof?'
Meanwhile, Ayub said he preferred a speedy resolution to the case that has scandalised the country, with over 20 police reports lodged against the DAP and the pastors.
Malay rights pressure group Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali (left) had jumped into the fray threatening a crusade against “ungrateful Christians” who dared question the position of Islam in the country.
"We only want the truth. We do not want this issue to be prolonged. Sometimes when it is allowed to go on, a personal issue can become a big issue," Ayub said.
He explained that the police sometimes found that a quarrel between two individuals of different ethnic groups were of a personal in nature, but that interference from third parties escalated it into a huge problem.
"This is what usually happens in the newspapers and in blogs," he said.
He was quick to add the oft-heard disclaimer that other blogs, news portals and the Chinese press were no different from Utusan.
On a barage of reports lodged on the Christian state issue, Ayub said he had only one question for the accusers.
"Do you have any evidence?" he asked, adding, "If you do not have evidence, it is a sin. When you expose such a thing, you yourself must be right or have the right information."
'Confusing the public'
Ayub also lamented that the Christian state controversy has not only been politicised but publicised for publicity sake.
He criticised bloggers for often focussing on scandals and gossips to "confuse the public" instead of disseminating "educational and useful" information.
On why he thinks the situation was such, Ayub said it was because the newspapers and bloggers "do not think about the country or nation building".
He cited the case of southern neighbour Singapore, who gives the impression that the country was free of crime, or had a lower crime rate than Malaysia.
"Because if you keep on exposing that your crime rate is high, you are going to affect tourism in the country," he said.
He urged the media and bloggers to focus on distributing information that was more useful to the public.
"When we (the government) say something educational, it does not come out in the news or blogs," he lamented.
"When we give reporters space to ask us questions, they don't ask. I am willing to answer any question or share my opinion but they do not ask questions," he added.
'Reporting all the wrong things'
Still on the subject of the media, Ayub said that airtime on television or radio or spaces on newspapers were "precious" and should be utilised for nation building.
However, what is being exposed today, he said, were "all the wrong things".
"The media forgets that our children are looking at and listening to all these (TV and radio broadcasts) and reading all the information. What examples are we setting?" he said.
"The children will think: these adults want to discipline us when they themselves are not right."
The Umno-linked Malay daily had based its highly disputed articles on unsubstantiated postings on two pro-Umno blogs.Despite weeks of heavy criticism and police reports, Utusan and blogs have yet to reveal any proof on the allegations.
Utusan has since received no more than a slap on the wrist from the Home Ministry over its controversial report.
'Where's the proof?'
Meanwhile, Ayub said he preferred a speedy resolution to the case that has scandalised the country, with over 20 police reports lodged against the DAP and the pastors.
Malay rights pressure group Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali (left) had jumped into the fray threatening a crusade against “ungrateful Christians” who dared question the position of Islam in the country.
"We only want the truth. We do not want this issue to be prolonged. Sometimes when it is allowed to go on, a personal issue can become a big issue," Ayub said.
He explained that the police sometimes found that a quarrel between two individuals of different ethnic groups were of a personal in nature, but that interference from third parties escalated it into a huge problem.
"This is what usually happens in the newspapers and in blogs," he said.
He was quick to add the oft-heard disclaimer that other blogs, news portals and the Chinese press were no different from Utusan.
On a barage of reports lodged on the Christian state issue, Ayub said he had only one question for the accusers.
"Do you have any evidence?" he asked, adding, "If you do not have evidence, it is a sin. When you expose such a thing, you yourself must be right or have the right information."
'Confusing the public'
Ayub also lamented that the Christian state controversy has not only been politicised but publicised for publicity sake.
He criticised bloggers for often focussing on scandals and gossips to "confuse the public" instead of disseminating "educational and useful" information.On why he thinks the situation was such, Ayub said it was because the newspapers and bloggers "do not think about the country or nation building".
He cited the case of southern neighbour Singapore, who gives the impression that the country was free of crime, or had a lower crime rate than Malaysia.
"Because if you keep on exposing that your crime rate is high, you are going to affect tourism in the country," he said.
He urged the media and bloggers to focus on distributing information that was more useful to the public.
"When we (the government) say something educational, it does not come out in the news or blogs," he lamented.
"When we give reporters space to ask us questions, they don't ask. I am willing to answer any question or share my opinion but they do not ask questions," he added.
'Reporting all the wrong things'
Still on the subject of the media, Ayub said that airtime on television or radio or spaces on newspapers were "precious" and should be utilised for nation building.However, what is being exposed today, he said, were "all the wrong things".
"The media forgets that our children are looking at and listening to all these (TV and radio broadcasts) and reading all the information. What examples are we setting?" he said.
"The children will think: these adults want to discipline us when they themselves are not right."
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