'Freedom of Worship', hymn books seized

The Attorney-General's Chambers will decide whether 31 copies of a hymn book entitled "Mari Kita Memuji Allah Kita" seized from a Catholic priest in Johor 10 days ago should be returned, state police said today.

Johor deputy CID chief Assistant Commissioner Dennis Lim confirmed that the hymn books were seized on December 5 as part of police investigations.

The case is being investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code, for causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will on grounds of religion.

Lim said the case was referred to the deputy public prosecutor on December 7 and they were still waiting for an answer.

"We cannot make a decision on the seized hymn books until the deputy public prosecutor gives us an answer."

Lim also clarified that police did not detain the priest Father Cyril Mannayagam, saying that they only recorded his statement before allowing him to leave.

"Recording statements are part of police investigations. Cyril was allowed to leave after his statement was taken," Lim said.

He said the incident occurred on December 5 when police received a tip-off about the hymn books which were being sold in a bookshop.

"The bookshop is located directly opposite the Ledang police headquarters in Tangkak. The incident did not occur in Muar, Johor.

"Policemen went to the bookshop to verify whether the hymn books were being sold there and who the buyer was."

When Cyril arrived shortly after lunch, he was asked to accompany the policemen to the Ledang police headquarters to have his statement recorded.

Lim said the interview took between one and two hours, following which, Cyril was allowed to leave although police kept the hymn books.

"Perhaps Cyril was confused that having his statement recorded constituted being detained," Lim said, stressing that the priest was not arrested.

"The police merely asked him to follow them back to the police headquarters to be interviewed," he said, adding that they were just doing their job.

Earlier today, The Malaysian Insider reported that Cyril, 44, was detained by police for having copies of a hymn book with the word Allah which were meant for his Orang Asli parishioners.

"I repeatedly told them that the song books were only for my own people in my church and that I wanted to use them for the service with the Orang Asli parishioners in Bekok, Tangkak," the parish priest of the Church of St Andrew in Muar told The Malaysian Insider.  The Church of St Andrew falls under the Malacca-Johor diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.

"However, the police told me that they were waiting for orders from the higher authorities before they could decide what to do with the books."

Cyril, who has been a priest for five years, said he had sent the hymn book for copying at about 1pm on December 5 at a shop in Tangkak and went back about four hours later to collect them.

He said two policemen were waiting for him outside the shop and they asked him if the books were his.

“I replied yes. They then asked me if I had already paid for the books," he said.

After Cyril paid for the books, the policemen told him and a parishioner who was with him at the time, to follow them to the police station.

"When I asked them why, they told me that the word 'Allah' was only for Muslims and others were not allowed to use it," he said.

After they were both taken to the Tangkak police station, Cyril contacted his lawyer.

"My lawyer told the officers at the station that I was a priest and warned them that this could blow up into a big issue if they continued with this and after much negotiations, they let us go.

"But they seized the 30 books despite me explaining that this was only for my Orang Asli parishioners," he said.

Cyril, who has worked with the Orang Asli for more than four years, said the books were meant for a Christmas service for some 100 Orang Asli parishioners, who were all Catholics.

He expressed dismay at the seizure of the hymn books, saying the freedom to worship – as enshrined in the Federal Constitution – was not being adhered to.

"If they do not give us back the books, we will take them to court," he said.

Malaysian Insider