August 12, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — The Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) has insisted that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had raided its premises illegally last week during a fund-raising dinner.
Jais denied yesterday allegations that it “raided” the thanksgiving dinner and that it merely carried out an “inspection” following a complaint that Muslims were at the AIDS support group Harapan Komuniti event.
“This trespass, search and seizure by Jais and police were without proper authority under the law,” DUMC senior pastor Daniel Ho said in a statement today. He said Jais and the police came without a search warrant and intruded on the dinner and interrupted the programme.
According to Ho, Jais and the police entered the hall and took pictures and continued a video recording even after they left the dining hall.
“Jais officers issued stern warnings to the organisers for refusing to co-operate with their demands,” he said.
Jais director Marzuki Hussin had said in a statement yesterday that the venue was only inspected after 11pm when the dinner had ended.
“Accusations that Jais raided, used force and trespassed are wild accusations,” he said, adding that no arrests were made even though he claimed that it was within Jais’ legal bounds to do so.
According to Marzuki, Jais officers and the police only entered DUMC’s Dream Centre in Petaling Jaya after the dinner had ended at 11pm and were ushered out by the organisers after just 10 minutes.
He added that the 12 Muslims who had attended the event were only asked to provide their details and directed to attend counselling sessions.
The Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government has said that it will wait for Jais to compete a full report on its raid of the church dinner last week before deciding on the next course of action.
Jais had said that it was investigating the organisers of the fund-raising dinner for attempting to convert Muslims under section 4 of the Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1988.
The raid has caused an uproar among religious communities but Muslim lobby groups have rallied behind Jais.
Selangor executive councillor for religious matters Datuk Dr Hasan Ali also defended the raid by claiming that the words “pray” and “Quran” were used in the presence of the 12 Muslims who were among the 100 attendees of the dinner.
DUMC said today that Christians are commanded by the Bible to “walk humbly, to seek justice and to do good” and maintained that it would serve the community regardless of race or religion.
Jais denied yesterday allegations that it “raided” the thanksgiving dinner and that it merely carried out an “inspection” following a complaint that Muslims were at the AIDS support group Harapan Komuniti event.
Ho said Jais and the police came to DUMC without a search warrant. — File pic
According to Ho, Jais and the police entered the hall and took pictures and continued a video recording even after they left the dining hall.
“Jais officers issued stern warnings to the organisers for refusing to co-operate with their demands,” he said.
Jais director Marzuki Hussin had said in a statement yesterday that the venue was only inspected after 11pm when the dinner had ended.
“Accusations that Jais raided, used force and trespassed are wild accusations,” he said, adding that no arrests were made even though he claimed that it was within Jais’ legal bounds to do so.
According to Marzuki, Jais officers and the police only entered DUMC’s Dream Centre in Petaling Jaya after the dinner had ended at 11pm and were ushered out by the organisers after just 10 minutes.
He added that the 12 Muslims who had attended the event were only asked to provide their details and directed to attend counselling sessions.
The Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government has said that it will wait for Jais to compete a full report on its raid of the church dinner last week before deciding on the next course of action.
Jais had said that it was investigating the organisers of the fund-raising dinner for attempting to convert Muslims under section 4 of the Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1988.
The raid has caused an uproar among religious communities but Muslim lobby groups have rallied behind Jais.
Selangor executive councillor for religious matters Datuk Dr Hasan Ali also defended the raid by claiming that the words “pray” and “Quran” were used in the presence of the 12 Muslims who were among the 100 attendees of the dinner.
DUMC said today that Christians are commanded by the Bible to “walk humbly, to seek justice and to do good” and maintained that it would serve the community regardless of race or religion.
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