S'gor MB visits church, calls for calm
Hazlan ZakariaPublished: Jan 8, 2010 4:15 AM | Updated: Jan 8, 2010 4:59 PM
Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has urged the people to remain calm in wake of the firebombing of several churches across the state early this morning.
Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has urged the people to remain calm in wake of the firebombing of several churches across the state early this morning.
The Pakatan Rakyat leader, who visited the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya, one of the churches attacked, also called on all quarters "not to overreact to the criminal actions".
The three-storey Metro Tabernacle church in Desa Melawati, was the worst hit, with its first floor completely razed. While in Section 17, Petaling Jaya, the Life Chapel was also attacked, causing some damage to it's outer building.
The attacks came in the wake of planned demonstrations at mosques nationwide after today's Friday prayers and hacker attacks on the Catholic weekly Herald's website over the Allah row.
Khalid urged the police to mount operations to stop any more attacks against public buildings like churches.
He also thanked church authorities for "not jumping to conclusions and reacting calmly to the matter".
At 4.30am, church staff who were busy preparing for Morning Mass heard a loud 'crash' outside.
Rushing out to investigate, security guard Megah, 49, discovered broken pieces of glass on the paved road next to the Grotto, which housed a statue of Christ.
A church staff, who identified himself only as Kenneth, said there was strong smell of kerosene and a small blaze where at least one homemade bomb was believed to have landed.
He also heard a car speeding off from the area.
'We don't want to connect this to Allah issue'
Speaking to reporters later, Assumption Church's parish priest Father Phillips Muthu said: "An incident happened and we reported it to the police. We are not making any conclusions, we'll let the police do their work."
"We don't want to connect this with the Allah issue and exacerbate the issue even more".
In the meantime, Muthu said that the church will be more vigilant and increase the deployment of security guards.
He added that there was no damage to the church proper and the morning service proceeded as usual at 6.30am.
Lawyer Annou Xavier, who represented the Catholic Church in the Herald case, was also at the press conference.
He appealed to the police to deploy personnel at churches nationwide or increase their patrols near churches in the face of the threats of demonstrations and the church bombings.
"We are just asking the police to give us more security because people are afraid. I don't know if this is a threat," he said.
He also hoped that the police will take "swift action and not delay investigations into the matter".
'Orchestrated attacks'
Selangor state executive council member Dr Halimah Ali, who was also at the church, believes that the attacks were "well planned and seems like it is being orchestrated by a mastermind".
As such she called upon the federal government and the police to take stern measures to apprehend the perpetrators.
She urged Muslims to remain calm and to truly study the tenets of Islam, which she says does not allow for such violent behaviour.
"You can disagree, but there are ways to do it, not like this."
She also called upon Christians not to overreact and return to the concepts of love and neighbourliness which is espoused by their faith.
Other state officials and politicians who made an appearance at the church included Selangor senior exco Elizabeth Wong, Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian and newly made senator and PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali.
VIDEO l 4 mins
The Pakatan Rakyat leader, who visited the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya, one of the churches attacked, also called on all quarters "not to overreact to the criminal actions".
The three-storey Metro Tabernacle church in Desa Melawati, was the worst hit, with its first floor completely razed. While in Section 17, Petaling Jaya, the Life Chapel was also attacked, causing some damage to it's outer building.The attacks came in the wake of planned demonstrations at mosques nationwide after today's Friday prayers and hacker attacks on the Catholic weekly Herald's website over the Allah row.
Khalid urged the police to mount operations to stop any more attacks against public buildings like churches.
He also thanked church authorities for "not jumping to conclusions and reacting calmly to the matter".
At 4.30am, church staff who were busy preparing for Morning Mass heard a loud 'crash' outside. Rushing out to investigate, security guard Megah, 49, discovered broken pieces of glass on the paved road next to the Grotto, which housed a statue of Christ.
A church staff, who identified himself only as Kenneth, said there was strong smell of kerosene and a small blaze where at least one homemade bomb was believed to have landed.
He also heard a car speeding off from the area.
'We don't want to connect this to Allah issue'
Speaking to reporters later, Assumption Church's parish priest Father Phillips Muthu said: "An incident happened and we reported it to the police. We are not making any conclusions, we'll let the police do their work."
"We don't want to connect this with the Allah issue and exacerbate the issue even more".In the meantime, Muthu said that the church will be more vigilant and increase the deployment of security guards.
He added that there was no damage to the church proper and the morning service proceeded as usual at 6.30am.
Lawyer Annou Xavier, who represented the Catholic Church in the Herald case, was also at the press conference.He appealed to the police to deploy personnel at churches nationwide or increase their patrols near churches in the face of the threats of demonstrations and the church bombings.
"We are just asking the police to give us more security because people are afraid. I don't know if this is a threat," he said.
He also hoped that the police will take "swift action and not delay investigations into the matter".
'Orchestrated attacks'
Selangor state executive council member Dr Halimah Ali, who was also at the church, believes that the attacks were "well planned and seems like it is being orchestrated by a mastermind".
As such she called upon the federal government and the police to take stern measures to apprehend the perpetrators.She urged Muslims to remain calm and to truly study the tenets of Islam, which she says does not allow for such violent behaviour.
"You can disagree, but there are ways to do it, not like this."
She also called upon Christians not to overreact and return to the concepts of love and neighbourliness which is espoused by their faith.
Other state officials and politicians who made an appearance at the church included Selangor senior exco Elizabeth Wong, Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian and newly made senator and PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali.
VIDEO l 4 mins
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