Khairy: 'A sad day for Malaysia'

Barisan Nasional Youth has strongly condemned arson attacks on the Metro Tabernacle church, Desa Melawati this morning as outrage continue to pour over a court decision to allow a Catholic magazine to use the word 'Allah'.

"Regardless of what anyone feels about the (issue), destroying a place of worship like what happened last night is indefensible," said BN Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

"If Muslims are responsible for the incident, they should be ashamed and repent over their actions, because Islam requires its adherents to respect the religious freedoms of non-Muslims".

Khairy said Malaysia was a plural society and misunderstandings are bound to occur in racial and religious matters.

"What is important is that the public must be mature and resolve any problems in a proper way and always be respectful of the rights of others," he said.

Khairy urged everyone to be cautious in the statements and actions following the arson incident. He also urged the police to take stern action against those behind the arson attacks.

At about midnight this morning, the administrative floor of the three-story Metro Tabernacle church was torched by several people on motorcycles.

Khairy was among several notable Muslim personalities who visited the church this morning.

He said that his visit to the church was to show his anger against the despicable and irrational act.

"This is a sad day for Malaysia. This is not Malaysia," he told reporters.

He also urged Malaysians to contribute towards the rebuilding of the torched church.

Losing the moral high ground

Meanwhile popular blogger Marina Mahathir, daughter of the former premier, urged fellow Muslims to condemn the act.

"This is not Islamic. The Quran does not preach us to burn down places of worship," she said after visiting the Metro Tabernacle church.

She also urged on national leaders to play a pivotal role in bringing calm to the tense situation.

"The NGO's who want to protest today are merely NGOs and are not Islamic," she said.

"This is not how Muslims should behave. We have lost the moral high ground."

Police have refused to link the incident with numerous protest planned for today after Friday prayers to protest the court decision.

Wee: Test for 1Malaysia concept

Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong, who also visited the church, reiterated Khairy's stand by saying that this was a sad day for all Malaysians.

He also said that this was a test for the 1Malaysia concept espoused by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"The prime minister must ensure that there is no recurrence.

"I called on everyone not to take reprisal actions. All places of worship must be protected," he said.

He further added that the arson attacks on churches were "not a racial attack but a crime".

Attacks are against Islamic teaching

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said that the attacks against the churches were against the teachings of Islam.

"This could only be done by people who do not understanding their religion," he said in a statement.

He reminded Muslims that Islam upholds non-Muslims' rights and freedom to embrace other religion.

"Many verses in the Al Quran and Hadith forbid Muslims to disrupt the religious practices, priests and places of worship of other religion," he said.

In another statement Selangor PAS also condemned the attacks on churches and urged all party members to remain calm.

"We also don't want any parties to create tensions and exploit the tense situation in Selangor which is ruled by us (Pakatan Rakyat)," said Selangor PAS information chief Roslan Shahir.