KUALA LUMPUR – Police will be summoning Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh for a statement, in accordance with their probe into the now-cancelled “Jom Ziarah Gereja” event.
According to several reports, Sentul district police chief Beh Eng Lai said authorities hope to have her statement recorded soon.
Nonetheless, Bersatu’s Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegubard, believed that a conspiracy is afoot to cover up Yeoh’s “wrongdoings”, basing this on the ethnicity and religion of the police officers who processed his and Yeoh’s complaints against each other.
He claimed that a Chinese inspector received Yeoh’s report against him, while his own report was given to an inspector of Indian descent.
“It is unlikely that it is a coincidence that both officers are non-Muslims.
“But I am confident that this was not a decision of the police force but instead pressure from above,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.
The Bersatu man clarified to reporters outside the Sentul district police headquarters that he was not against other faiths, but proselytising to Muslims is a crime.
Previously, Badrul lodged a police report against Yeoh for proselytising Christianity to Muslim youth through a planned “Jom Ziarah Gereja” event, which was an Impact Malaysia programme.
Yeoh refuted such claims, explaining that the programme was meant to foster better understanding and tolerance of different religions among Malaysian youth, and not to create any perception that all religions are of equal status under the federal constitution.
She added that the programme included visits to other places of worship, including a mosque and gurdwara, and did not involve any Muslim youth.
However, the planned visit to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was ultimately called off, following outcry and criticism from certain quarters. – The Vibes, March 20, 2023
