Jais may take gate-crashers to task

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) will take disciplinary action against its enforcement officers over the raid on a Hindu wedding if they have breached procedures.

“We are conducting an internal investigation to determine why and how the raid took place,” said Jais Public Relations and Publications Unit deputy director Nurhamizah Othman.

In the Sunday morning incident, Jais officers had disrupted the wedding ceremony to question the bride over her religious status.

The woman, Zarena Abd Majid, claimed that her estranged Muslim convert father had registered her as a Muslim when she was still a child but she had been brought up as a Hindu by her mother.

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had chastised Jais for barging in on the wedding, saying their actions were an embarrassment.

He had added that Jais should have practised humility and not gate crashed the wedding.

Khalid had also said Jais did not adhere to the standard operating procedure, which required the department to confer with the state government with regards to cases involving non-Muslims and other races.

Nurhamizah reiterated that the standard operating procedure required that the state government approval be sought before any action involving non-Muslims was carried out.

However, PAS ulama has come out in support of Jais.

Its acting deputy chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed said Jais had the authority to raid any premises, including places of worship of other religions, to protect those of Muslim faith.

“It is an offence under the law to influence Muslims to follow other religions.

“In the recent case, Jais only acted based on complaints that a woman bearing a Muslim name was undergoing a wedding ceremony according to Hindu rites.

“Certainly such weddings must be stopped, unless the individuals concerned legally renounced the religion,” he said when asked to comment on the public uproar over Jais’ move to disrupt the wedding between Zarena and her Hindu boyfriend.

Zarena had claimed that she had applied for a petition to renounce Islam, as she was converted to the religion when she was a minor.

“Such religiously sensitive cases should not be blown out of proportion. While we respect the rights of others to practise their religion, others must also respect the laws enacted to protect the Muslim faith,” he said.

PAS deputy secretary-general Dr Raja Ahmad Iskandar Al-Hiss, however, called for the setting up of a state-level special committee to investigate the matter.

“Action should be taken against Jais if it is in the wrong,” he said.