DUMC Fiasco

A multi-racial thanksgiving dinner was held last night at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC)and about 100-120 attended including 15 Malays. The dinner was hosted by an NGO called Harapan Komuniti. Harapan Komuniti 1s a non-profit organisation that provides disaster relief and helps single mothers, children and AIDS patients regardless of race.

About 30 police officers and enforcement officers from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) entered the church without a warrant at about 10pm last night. The authorities claimed that someone had made a complaint about the dinner but did not explain what the complaint was.

Christian groups are ‘shocked and appalled’ by this Jais church raid.

Barisan and Pakatan blame one another over DUMC raid.

Selangor exco member in-charge of Islamic affairs Hasan Ali weighs in and backs Jais raid. Hasan Ali further justified the raid on the DUMC last night, saying that there was evidence of proselytisation.

Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) secretary-general Rev Hermen Shastri condemns Jais for “storming” a Petaling Jaya church last night on questionable grounds.

The Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) has called on all Malaysians to lend support and object to what it called the authorities’ breach of their constitutional right to assemble freely.

The Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has stepped up and asked Jais to justify its raid on the Harapan Komuniti dinner at DUMC last night, adding that he regretted the incident that has caused a public outrage.

The Selangor MB said that he had called DUMC's senior pastor Daniel Ho to personally express his regrets regarding the incident and that he had instructed Jais to provide a full report detailing the incident, including their justifications for their actions that night. The MB also assured that the state government fully respects freedom of religion and the rights of religious groups to manage their own affairs.

Meanwhile, the rakyat should remain calm and wait for the truth to be revealed, it is obvious we have yet to see the end of this fiasco. But the constitutional right to free assembly must be supported and defended.