Shah Alam, Jan 8- Selangor police called up Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of Catholic weekly The Herald, for questioning at the Selangor police headquarters here Tuesday, according to the priest’s lawyer Francis Pereira.
He said they recorded a statement from him from 3.30pm till 5pm.
“We were informed that police were conducting investigations under Section 4 of the Sedition Act pertaining to a statement allegedly made by Lawrence to a reporter from an online news portal,” he told Bernama.
On Dec 27, the portal had reported Lawrence as saying that all Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the word “Allah” to refer to God in their Bahasa Malaysia sermons even though the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had sent a reminder on the ban on using the word by non-Muslims.
The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who is the head of Islam in Selangor, had renewed his decree in November last year after a discussion with the Selangor Royal Council, where it was decided that Selangor citizens should abide by the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, which is enforceable regardless of one’s religion.
Selangor police chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan could not be contacted for confirmation on the calling up of Lawrence.
– Bernama
