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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysian Christians condemn Islamic raid |
| 2011-08-05 |
| On Thursday, a Christian group in Malaysia condemned a raid by Islamic officials on a church compound as a threat to delicate religious relations. The raid occurred Wednesday night during a dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya, a western suburb of the capital Kuala Lumpur. Around 30 Islamic religious and police officials entered the church compound in Selangor state with no warrant and started taking videos and photographs, said Daniel Ho, senior pastor for the church. They subjected guests to "undue harassment" and took down the details of the Muslims present before leaving, he said in a statement. Officials claimed they had "received a complaint" about the church but gave no further explanation for the raid. However, there were Muslims present at the church gathering, and officials have previously expressed concern about conversion to other religions -- especially Christianity. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia said the raid sets "a dangerous precedent and makes a mockery of the sanctity of religious places." It also caused "undue trauma to all guests of the different ethnic communities", Shastri added in a statement. Ho said the dinner was held for people involved in the church's welfare programmes, including single mothers and HIV/AIDS victims. |
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