What’s your agenda, Selangor Pakatan asks defiant Mais
(The Malaysian Insider) – Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leaders have questioned the agenda behind the Selangor Islamic Religious Council’s (Mais) defiance of the attorney-general’s decision to close the seized Bibles case and its refusal to return the 321 Bibles to the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM).
PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said Mais’s defiance suggested the council had a hidden agenda.
“We are concerned that they are behaving as if they do not acknowledge the official stance of the government chosen by the rakyat.
“Their actions are tantamount to separating the Sultan of Selangor from the rakyat,” he told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
DAP Klang MP Charles Santiago said Mais was being disrespectful to the legal institution and the executive body leading the Selangor government.
“It is clear that Mais does not respect the A-G. So who is behind Mais?
“Many are angry with Mais’s actions. If Mais is bent on sabotage, perhaps it has another agenda,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Mais said yesterday the 321 Malay and Iban Bibles seized from BSM’s office in Damansara Kim on January would not be returned.
It also wanted action taken against BSM for circulating Malay Bibles.
Mais chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa said they believed there was a case against the society under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
Mais also claimed the Selangor government had no power to order the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to return the Bibles.
Its statements flew in the face of A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail’s decision on Wednesday to close the case, and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s orders the following day to Jais to return the Bibles to BSM.
Yesterday, Khalid said he would meet Mais’s chairman next week to discuss the issue.
