Pig heads were found at two mosques yesterday near a neighborhood hit by an ethnic clash nine years ago, Malaysian police said, following a series of recent arson and vandalism attacks on religious places of worship.
The discovery of the pig heads could further inflame tensions in the mainly Muslim country, prompting police to issue a stern warning against stirring up emotions.
VANDALISM
Eleven churches, a Catholic school, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer rooms so far have been hit by arson or vandalism in recent weeks amid a row over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians.
Police said two pig heads were found at a mosque in a mainly Malay but racially mixed neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur, and another two at a mosque on the outskirts of the capital.
“I am warning people not to try and influence the situation and don’t try to take advantage to raise the anger of any ethnic group,” Selangor state police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said.
Khalid said police were working closely with local mosque and neighborhood committees to try and keep residents calm.
The row stems from a court ruling on Dec. 31 last year allowing a Catholic newspaper to use the word “Allah” in its Malay-language editions to describe the Christian God.
The use of the word is common among Malay-speaking Christians, who account for 9.1 percent of the 28 million population.
A group created in the online networking site Facebook to protest the use of the word by non-Muslims has so far attracted more than 250,000 people.
DETENTION
The government has warned that laws, including the Internal Security Act that allows detention without trial, would be deployed to keep tensions from boiling over.
Police have so far arrested 19 people over the attacks, and a 25-year-old Malay student was charged in court on Jan. 15 with threatening public safety following a comment he allegedly made on his Facebook page offering to throw gasoline bombs.
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