CHURCH PROTEST STIRRED UP TO TAKE HEAT OFF NAJIB-DR M FEUD? Umno leaders all over the place, says PKR

PKR's Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian has accused Umno of perpetrating the protest against a church to demand the removal of its cross in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya this morning.

"The people who protested claimed themselves to be residents but all of them were Umno members," he told a ceramah in Taman Medan tonight.

Hee said those at the protest were Umno leaders from the Petaling Jaya Selatan division.

"Who were present? The secretary, the former Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno wanita chief who was also a candidate for the Taman Medan state seat and also other Umno division leaders," he said.

He slammed Umno for "inciting" and "intimidating" the church's congregation.

The protest today was led by Abdullah Abu Bakar.

According to Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno's official blog, Abdullah ran for the division vice chief post in 2013.

Another protestor caught on video was BN's 2013 general election candidate for Taman Medan, Munaliza Hamzah.

The protestors claimed it is unsuitable for the church to be established at the shop lot because the area is 95 percent Malay.

Hee dismissed this and pointed out that the church is a fair distance from the residential area.

He added there was substantial Indian population nearby, some of whom are Christians.

'Dialogue, not demonstration'

Hee said such situations should be resolved through dialogue instead of a demonstration, pointing out a similar example he had to deal with in Bukit Gasing.

"Shortly after I was elected as Petaling Jaya Selatan MP in 2008, the Chinese in Section 4, Bukit Gasing said the area was 99.9 percent Chinese, but a bungalow had been converted into surau in their area.

"They complained that it was loud and I went to see and have a dialogue between the residents and those responsible for the surau.

"Today the surau has even been upgraded to a mosque and the Chinese accepts this so we should follow a respectful procedure," he said.

Hee said if Umno insists that other places of worship cannot be in an area that has more than a 90 percent Malay-majority, the the Umno-led government should declare this clearly in policy

Bukit Gasing and Taman Desa are state constituencies within the Petaling Jaya Selatan parliamentary constituency.

Some 50 protesters had turned up outside the newly operated Church, demanding that its operators take down the cross or they will "do it themselves".

Following negotiations with the resident pastor, the cross was later taken down. -M'kini