1. Breaking News (http://blog.taragana.com)
Malaysian police arrest 9 Christians accused of trying to convert Muslim students, 15 July 2009
by Sean Yoong (Associated Press writerin Kuala Lumpur)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian police have arrested nine Christians accused of trying to convert Muslim university students — a serious crime punishable by prison in this Muslim-majority country, a lawyer said Wednesday.
The suspects have denied the allegation, which could aggravate complaints by religious minorities that authorities are increasingly ignoring their rights in favor of Islam.
Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is forbidden in Malaysia, though the reverse is allowed. Muslims, who comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s 28 million people, are also not legally permitted to change religion.
Police detained the nine in a hostel room at the Universiti Putra Malaysia near Kuala Lumpur late Tuesday, said Annou Xavier, a lawyer who is handling their cases and is a specialist in religion issues. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone from the police station where the nine are being held.
They claimed they were visiting friends, but a Muslim student apparently filed a police complaint accusing them of trying to convert Muslims, Xavier said.
“These allegations are baseless and untrue,” Xavier said.
The identities of the nine were not immediately clear. The Malaysian Insider independent news Web site said they were students belonging to a Malaysian Christian organization.
Zahedi Ayob, the police chief of Sepang district near Kuala Lumpur, said he could not immediately confirm the arrests.
Cases of non-Muslims preaching to Muslims are rare in Malaysia. Penalties differ for various states, but most provide for prison terms of at least two years. One northern state also prescribes a punishment of six lashes with a rattan cane.
Malaysia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of worship for minorities, who include Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. But Muslims who try to convert are often sent by Islamic authorities for counseling and rehabilitation, and some have also been imprisoned for apostasy for up to three years.
There was no indication that Tuesday’s arrests were linked to a separate religious dispute involving Roman Catholics who complained about two Muslim men who posed as Christians and took Communion at a church service.
The men were researching a magazine article about unsubstantiated rumors that churches were converting Muslim teenagers. Police said Tuesday they were investigating whether the men had caused religious disharmony — a crime that carries a prison term of up to five years.
Minorities say their right to practice religion freely has been increasingly threatened by Muslim authorities in recent years. The government denies any discrimination.
Other ongoing problems include a court battle between the Catholic church and the government over a 2007 order banning non-Muslims from translating God as “Allah” in their literature. The government says its use would confuse Muslims, but Christians say the ban is unconstitutional.
Minorities also complain about the occasional demolition of their places of worships. In a separate case Wednesday, the High Court ruled that Islamic authorities in northern Kelantan state unlawfully destroyed a church in 2007.
State officials had said the church was illegally built, but the court ruled that the Christian villagers there should receive financial compensation.
2. BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk)
Religious row flares in Malaysia , 15 July 2009
Religious freedom is guaranteed under Malaysian law
Police in Malaysia have said they will release nine Christians mistakenly accused of trying to convert Muslim university students to Christianity.
A university security guard wrongly thought they were handing Christian pamphlets to Muslims, police said.
Trying to convert Muslims to another religion is forbidden in Malaysia, though Muslims may proselytise.
Members of religious minorities have complained that their rights are being ignored in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
The nine Christians, five students and four friends from Hong Kong, were arrested late on Tuesday at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang, near Kuala Lumpur.
District police chief Zahedi Ayob said they had been distributing questionnaires to other Christians, not Muslims, as security guards at the university had believed.
Religious disharmony investigation
The arrests followed a controversy last week centring on two journalists who wrote about hiding their Muslim identity in order to receive Communion at a Roman Catholic church.
One of the journalists said they were investigating reports that Muslims had committed apostasy by attending prayers or Communion at the church, but that they found no evidence of this.
A Christian priest complained about the article, published in the Malay-language magazine al-Islam.
Police said officials were investigating whether the two men had caused religious disharmony, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Religious issues are highly sensitive in Malaysia, which has a 60% Muslim population. Christians, Buddhists and Hindus make up most of the rest of the population.
Religious freedom is guaranteed by law, but minority groups have accused the Muslim Malay majority of trying to increase the role of Islam in the country.
3. Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
Nine arrested for proselytising at UPM , 15 July 2009
by Wong Pheak Zern
Nine Christians including four from Hong Kong were arrested and detained overnight for allegedly trying to convert Muslim students at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
The nine, who range in age from 20-30 years, were released this afternoon on police bail. They have denied the allegation.
Their lawyer Annou Xavier said two of those arrested are UPM students, while the rest are working adults.
He claimed that the group was visiting friends in a residential college last night, when two male students approached them, asking what they were doing there.
"The nine were arrested based on the police reports of five Malay students who claim that the group showed and gave them Christian pamphlets and material," said Xavier.
"The group have denied handing out the pamphlets as they were on campus to meet up with some Chinese Christian friends."
The five Muslim students subsequently lodged separate reports at the Sepang police headquarters.
The police arrested the nine, who were still at the residential college, Kolej 10, between 9pm and 10pm.
“The police reports stated that the nine had been showing and distributing pamphlets on Christianity and trying to convert Muslims,” added Xavier.
Police: Could be a misunderstanding
The lawyer also said the police have not informed either him or the group as to the provision of law under which the nine were arrested.
A member of the group, Yip Bok Wan, has lodged a police report at the same station to counter the accusations against them. Yip, when contacted, refused to comment on the incident.
In Malaysia, non-Muslims are barred from proselytising to Muslims. If convicted, they are liable to be jailed for a minimum of two years.
A police spokesman said the nine were held on trespass allegations and that an investigation was underway, although he said he was confident the allegations were a "misunderstanding".
The Star daily reported this week that a police complaint had been lodged against two Muslim reporters with a monthly Islamic magazine, Al-Islam, who were accused of going undercover to a church to investigate alleged secret conversions.
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