By Clara Chooi
TAIPING: Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir has issued a stern warning to all politicians and the media to stop harping on the spate of attacks on churches nationwide for their own personal gains.

He condemned politicians who chose to capitalise on the incidents for the sake of gaining “political dividends”.

“This is not the time to do that. The state government’s stand is very clear and I would like to stress on this – I do not want to see anyone, whether politicians or members of the media, fanning the flames by harping on racial or religious issues.

“What is most important here is our national security,” he said after visiting the All Saints Church and SMK Convent here this morning.

Both places were attacked early Sunday morning, with what the police believed were petrol bombs, and were suspected to be connected to the other church attacks in the peninsular since last Friday.

The attacks were believed to have been spurred by flared tempers over the High Court’s recent ruling to allow the Catholic Church’s Herald to refer to God as “Allah”.

Zambry also warned politicians against using the issue as their ammunition in ceramahs.

“I have been listening and keeping tabs on these ceramahs and I know what is being said. This is the work of irresponsible citizens who have no regard for the safety of our people.

“I hope also that the media would not play up this issue by quoting the words of these irresponsible politicians in their publications,” he said.

He added that peace and harmony should “transcend all political barriers” and the present situation was as good a time as any for everyone to work closely with one another irregardless of political affiliations.

“For the media, I do not care if you are Chinese, Indian or Malay, play your part. Do not try to use this issue to become champions amongst yourselves,” he said.
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Zambry added that he did not dare to classify the attacks in Perak as mere isolated cases for it could very well be a mere harbinger of worse things to come.

When contacted in the meantime, Perak police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Pahlawan Zulkifli Abdullah told The Malaysian Insider that no new cases of attacks had been reported in Perak.

Courtesy: TheMalayasianInsider