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Three Charged in Malaysian Church Firebombing
January 29, 2010

Hundreds of Malaysian Christians pray inside a hall after their church was set ablaze. (AFP Photo) Hundreds of Malaysian Christians pray inside a hall after their church was set ablaze. (AFP Photo)
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Probo Dj
10:25pm Jan 29, 2010

Well, at least, the Malaysian police have the guts to charge the church attackers. We haven't seen that happen in Indonesia.

Valkyrie
5:45pm Jan 29, 2010

Have we thought of the possibility that this could be the work of Bona Ventura and his lilliputian army?

Roland
5:00pm Jan 29, 2010

Pig heads - my first thought was - well, who started it???

But then again, somebody else who wants to ignite the tensions (and make new reasons for aggressions) AGAIN, could have inflicted it by himself....who knows?

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Malaysia said on Friday it had charged three men over a church firebombing, the first suspects to be indicted following a spate of attacks on places of worship that have escalated ethnic tensions.

Deputy public prosecutor Anselm Charles Fernandis told Agence France-Presse charges had been filed against three dispatch riders for setting alight the Metro Tabernacle Church in a southern suburb of Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 8.

The three have been charged with causing mischief by fire by burning the building in which the church was located, and all three pleaded not guilty,” he said.

The men — named as Azuwan Shah Ahmad and brothers Raja Mohamad Faizal Raja Ibrahim and Raja Mohamad Idzham — face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

They are among 19 arrested over attacks on 11 churches, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls.

Places of worship have been hit with Molotov cocktails, stones and paint following a Dec. 31 court ruling that overturned a ban on non-Muslims using the word “Allah” to mean “God”.

The government argues that the use of the disputed word by Christians, who make up nine percent of the country’s population, could cause confusion and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal for Malaysian Muslims.

The row over the use of “Allah” is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Malays and minorities who fear the country is being “Islamized”. AFP