A group of Muslim NGOs lodged a police report today against a business radio station, urging that the broadcast journalists and the station be charged under the Sedition Act.

The group, led by Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) said that BFM station had crossed the line when they were discussing the issues of ‘kalimah Allah’, Muslim headscarves and sacrificial meat.

“This is a strategy by the liberals to break apart the racial harmony in Malaysia.

“We know the issue of ‘kalimah Allah’, which was already decided by the court is to be used only by Muslims, but there are still some groups trying to challenge the sovereignty of Islam,” said Isma vice-president Aminuddin Yahaya (right) outside the Dang Wangi police headquarters today.

Aminuddin added that BFM is using a sly strategy to fool around with this issue, with the “purpose of creating a liberal country”, by destroying the integrity of Islam and creating confusion among the people.

“We want them (police) to take serious action against them. We have made many reports before, but there’s still selective prosecution,” he asserted.

The four presenters named by the Muslim NGOs in their police report are Sharaad Kuttan, Umapagam Ampikaipakan, Caroline Oh and Patrick Teoh.

Similarly, a PPIM official, Mohd Mustaffa Hamzah, without missing a beat after being asked a question, said that the young people in Malaysia are easily influenced.

He also surmised that BFM listeners are mostly young, non-Muslim people, who, after indulging in the radio station’s segments might form their own “uneducated” conclusion regarding the sensitive issues in this country.

“We feel that the young intellectuals here, if were fed day by day with certain issues, just like dripping water on a rock which would eventually give way, they will begin to hate Islam, the law, the rights of the Malay and the New Economic Policy,” Mustaffa (left) said to reporters.

He added that there is a reason why the court decided to give Muslims exclusive rights to use the word ‘Allah’ and that young people do not do enough research to get to the bottom of this, which is why they don’t understand this issue.

'Opportunists are trying to trigger this issue'

“These opportunists, who are pro-opposition, are trying to trigger this issue so that the young people will vote (for the opposition) and hate the government.

“To us, the NGOs, they (liberals) are the irresponsible ones in this country,” he said.

The group said they had listened to a recording of the interview on Dec 12 after receiving several complaints.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had fined the radio station RM10,000 for not seeking the consent of Islamic religious authorities before airing an interview with Islamic scholar Reza Aslan last year.

The Oct 21, 2013, interview, saw Reza (right), an American author, saying the world was “laughing” at Malaysia after the Appellate Court’s ruling that the word ‘Allah’ was exclusive to Muslims.

A letter of fine dated Dec 9 was received by BFM. However, the letter did not state the reason behind MCMC’s decision to fine the station, said its managing director Malek Ali to Malaysiakini in an email.

It is alleged, however, that BFM breached one of the Content Application Service Provider (CASP) licence terms that states all religious programming on Islam “must be approved” by religious authorities prior to transmission.

BFM in a statement issued on its Facebook page two days ago said it was still seeking advice for the action to take and would deal directly with MCMC.

In the letter, it was alleged that BFM had breached several paragraphs of its licence in broadcasting the interview with Reza, an award winning author, historian and scholar of Islam.

Station grateful for 'selfless act of solidarity'

Among others, BFM was alleged to have breached Paragraph 6.1, where it states that "all religious programming on Islam must be approved by the relevant religious authorities prior to transmission"; Paragraph 11.2 and 11.3, which state that "the Licencee (BFM)" cannot provide any content that may upset the sensibilities and sentiments of listeners, as well as provide "any content which contain cultural and moral values that are against the community aspirations of the nation".

BFM asserted that it had complied with the Content Code of its editorial policy and had omitted portions of the interview (from time markers 19:02 to 34:30) from the broadcast version.

The radio station expressed its gratitude for the "selfless act of solidarity on the part of Malaysians", but had refused to accept the money pledged to it from the Facebook group 'I pledge RM10 for BFM'.

"We accept your support in spirit, but it must be said that it will not be right for us to accept your money. It is our call to air the interview and we should bear the responsibility for it," Malek said in a statement yesterday.

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