Two Muslim Malaysian brothers were yesterday sentenced to five years in prison for firebombing a church, the first of a spate of attacks on places of worship that shocked the nation this year.
The Jan. 7 torching of a church in suburban Kuala Lumpur, which sent tensions soaring in the multi-ethnic country, was “appalling and despicable,” Sessions Court judge S. M. Komathy Suppiah said.
“You both, by your shameful and dastardly acts, have shamed the country,” she told Raja Mohamad Faizal Raja Ibrahim, 24, and Raja Mohamad Idzham Raja Ibrahim, 22.
“The message from this court must be loud and clear: Don’t play with fire,” she told the sombre-looking pair.
The attack, which gutted part of the three-story church, was followed by a series of fires that saw a dozen mosques, churches and prayer halls across the Muslim-majority nation torched and vandalized.
In an unprecedented onslaught, the places of worship were pelted with Molotov cocktails, splashed with black paint and had windows smashed with stones.
The violence was triggered by a ruling that overturned a ban on non-Muslim Malaysians using “Allah” as a translation for “God.”
The government argued that the use of the word “Allah” by Christians, who make up 9 percent of the population, could cause confusion and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal for Malaysian Muslims.
Malaysia’s Christians, many from indigenous groups in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak who speak the national language Malay, say they have used the word without incident for centuries.
The still-unresolved “Allah” row is one of a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between majority Malays and minorities who fear the country is being “Islamized.”
Reverend Thomas Philips, the head of Malaysia’s inter-faith council, welcomed the verdict and said it was time for the nation to put the ugly episode behind it.
“We urge all Malaysians to respect one another’s place of worship,” he said. “So let’s move on, now that a sentence has been passed, and close this chapter.”
Representatives of the church firebombed on Jan. 7, the Metro Tabernacle which is part of the Assemblies of God movement, had no immediate comment, but have said previously that they forgive those responsible.
Counsel for the convicted pair, who are both motorcycle dispatch riders, said they would appeal the conviction and sentence, but refused to make any further comment. The brothers were to be released on bail pending the results of the appeal.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which was hit by deadly race riots in 1969.
Some 60 percent of the population are Muslim Malays, living alongside large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
RSS