Three charged over chruch attack (From Asian Image)

Three charged over chruch attack

9:57am Friday 29th January 2010

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Malaysian prosecutors charged three Muslim men today in the firebombing of a church - the first suspects in a string of assaults on places of worship amid a dispute over whether non-Muslims can refer to God as Allah.

Arson attacks, vandalism and other incidents at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer halls in recent weeks were a blow to decades of multiracial harmony in the Muslim-majority country.

The attacks, which started on churches, followed anger among Muslims over a December 31 court verdict that allowed non-Muslims to use Allah as a translation for God in the Malay language.

Many Malaysian Muslims believe the word should be exclusive to their religion, and that its use by others could confuse some Muslims and even tempt them to convert.

Three suspects pleaded innocent in a Kuala Lumpur district court today to starting a fire that partially gutted a Protestant church on January 8, said government lawyer Anselm Charles Fernandis.

It was the first and most serious of all the attacks on churches, most of which suffered only minor damage.

The men, who are in their 20s, face a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted of “mischief by fire” with the intention of destroying a place of worship. The court did not immediately schedule a trial date.

Five others arrested with the men last week in connection to the same attack were released without charges.

The attacks on churches have abated in the past two weeks, though fears of tensions resurfaced on Wednesday when severed heads of wild boars were found dumped at two mosques. Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.

Government leaders denounced the attacks on places of worship as a threat to amicable relations between ethnic Malay Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s 28 million people, and religious minorities, mainly ethnic Chinese and Indians who practice Buddhism, Christianity or Hinduism.

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