KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Christian population is outraged over calls made by a member of Parliament to burn Bibles in the country, adding more fuel to the pre-election tension in the Southeast Asian country. Ibrahim Ali, the head of Perkasa, a group that pushes for the rights of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority and has close links to the ruling coalition, was reported in local media as advocating that Muslims should take and burn copies of Bibles which use the word “Allah” to refer to God. It has left Christians in the country fomenting and they have demanded that the ruling government boot Ali from parliament. “If this was a Christian person calling for Qur'ans to be burned, the result would be massive protests and anger, so why is this not the same thing,” Pastor Lee Yu told Bikyanews.com on Thursday. He argued that his congregation just outside Kuala Lumpur was frustrated that the government has yet to fully condemn the statements. “What are they waiting for? Christians are a large minority in this country and we demand equal treatment,” he added. Malaysia's Bar Council said on Wednesday Ali should be prosecuted. That statement should result in charges under various laws, including those governing sedition, Lim Chee Wee, Bar Council President Lim Chee Wee, said in an e-mailed statement. “This incident together with the contemptuous statement by another Perkasa leader against a judge and the judiciary suggest that Perkasa is allowed to behave with impunity,” he said. It could be a game-changer for the Christian community ahead of general elections in the country to be held before the end of June. Parliament must be dissolved by the end of April and the government must call for an election. Opinion polls show that the ruling Barisa National coalition of Prime Minister Najib Razak, in power since independence from Britain in 1957, has all but lost the support of ethnic Chinese, who account for about 25 per cent of the population. BN
