Kuala Langat Umno, NGOs stage peaceful demo over ‘Allah’ issue

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BANTING: More than 400 members of the Kuala Langat Umno division and several NGOs staged a peaceful demonstration yesterday over the ‘Allah’ issue in front of the Kuala Langat district police headquarters here.

The representatives of the Umno division, 4B Youth, Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia, Jemaah Muslim, District Youth Council and Pekida Kuala Langat protested against the remark by priest Father Lawrence Andrew that Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the word ‘Allah’ in reference to God in their weekend services.

They lodged a police report against Lawrence and burned an effigy of him at the spot.

Kuala Langat Umno chief Datuk Sulaiman Karli said the demonstration was held because Lawrence had not responded to a call for him to apologise for having made the remark.

The Selangor Umno Liaison Committee had, at a special meeting last Monday, asked Lawrence to retract his statement and make an open apology to the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, and Muslims in the state.

It said Lawrence had ignored a decree of the sultan prohibiting the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims as provided for in the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Sulaiman said they staged the demonstration in front of a police station and not any church because they did not want to cause tension among people of the Christian faith as it was Lawrence who had raised the issue.

“We love this country. Furthermore, if we were in the wrong, it will have been easy for the police to arrest us,” he said.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Cheras Umno, Umno Youth and Wanita Umno lodged three police reports on the issue at the Cheras district police headquarters yesterday.

Cheras Umno secretary Datuk Syed Medhar Syed Abdullah urged the Home Ministry to take immediate action to resolve the issue. — Bernama