Malaysia’s prime minister has vowed to crack down on race crime after a series of firebomb attacks on churches that have heightened ethnic tensions.
A church in suburban Kuala Lumpur was set ablaze in a midnight attack on Friday, while Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compounds of two other churches in an escalating row over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak vowed the government would not tolerate any threat to racial harmony in the multicultural nation, dominated by Muslim Malays but home to a large number of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
“An investigation into this matter has already been launched and those responsible will be brought to justice,” he said on his Web site late on Friday.
Muslim groups have staged protests over the use of “Allah” as a translation for the Christian God, after a court ruled last week that a Catholic newspaper had the right to use the word in a long-running dispute with the government.
“Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religious country with a history of peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and others. Many Malaysians practice Christianity and have done so freely,” Najib said.
National police chief Musa Hassan said tough security laws could be invoked against people spreading false information by text message about attacks on churches.
“No arrests have been made so far and we don’t know whether it was committed by Muslims or otherwise, we only know there are at least two motorcyclists, we don’t know their nationality,” he said.
The arson attacks have drawn criticism from government and opposition politicians, while the Council of Churches of Malaysia condemned the attacks as an “irresponsible act.”
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