KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 – Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali’s call to burn Malay Bibles which use “Allah” is seditious and can incite religious discord. This was the stance of Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP chairman Karpal Singh, who lodged a police report against Ibrahim Ali for asking Muslims to “seize and burn” Bibles which used the “Allah” term.
“Muslims must unite to protect their religion. They must seize those Bibles, including the Malay editions, which contain the term Allah and other Arabic religious words, and burn them,” Pasir MAS MP Ibrahim has said on Saturday.
Talking to the media after lodging his report, Karpal said that what Ibrahim did not realise was that by calling for the burning of such Bibles, he was indirectly calling for the burning of “Allah’s” name.
“I don’t think he knows that he’s also calling for Allah to be burnt,” he said.
Karpal called for Ibrahim to be charged under the Sedition Act 1948.
AG should act
“He [Ibrahim] should be charged under the Act for what he had said could pass off as seditious and the Attorney-General [Abdul Gani Patail] should initiate investigations on him immediately,” Karpal said.
However, both Karpal and his son, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo were annoyed with the AG seemingly acting “weak” on this matter.
“AG is apparently waiting to act on Ibrahim only if there are Bibles which are actually burnt…and this shows that he is not doing his job as the legal head of the country,” said Gobind.
“I blame the AG for this mess….he is very weak and is not suitable to be the legal head of the country,” added Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M Manoharan, who was also present at the press conference.
The AG told FMT yesterday that he was “not concerned” about Ibrahim’s statements and that he would only probe the case if reports were lodged.
Karpal said: “Now that we [DAP] have lodged a police report, we hope that he will act…but then again, this is wrong. As the AG, he should act if there is an offence regardless of police reports being lodged or not.
Gobind added that if the AG refused to act even after the police report has been made against Ibrahim, DAP will lodge a report against the AG.
“We will get the court to issue a mandamus order, which is an order for the AG to act under his powers and carry out his responsibility which is in the nature of public duty,” he said.
When asked if there was a time-frame in which they expected the AG to act, Karpal said investigations should not take long and they were giving the AG two weeks.
Why is the PM so quiet?
Both Karpal and Gobind also stressed that DAP are calling for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to make a statement on this issue and call for Ibrahim to be charged.
“Najib, as the head of the cabinet, should instruct the AG who is the legal advisor to the cabinet to act against Ibrahim and arrest him for the seditious remarks he made,” said Karpal.
Gobind supported his father’s claims and said that Najib should come out openly against Ibrahim.
“He promised Christians last Christmas that he’s a prime minister for all…so maybe this is the time he starts acting like one,” the Puchong MP said.
Karpal added that Ibrahim should not get away with it as he (Karpal) himself has been charged for various comments he has made before.
“I was charged for comments I made against the Sultan of Perak but he [Ibrahim] has not faced any charges as of now. Why me and not him also?” he asked.
