Replace law on religious talks, says MP

2009/11/03

SHAH ALAM: Shah Alam member of parliament Khalid Samad ticked off the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government yesterday for failing to come up with new ideas to replace the old enactments under the purview of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).

Khalid, a Pas MP, described the enactment that barred those without Jais's certification from giving religious talks as repressive and should not have been used to stop prominent scholars from giving lectures.

He said Pas had opposed the certification system when it was the opposition in the state assembly.

"We understand that certification and other rules were created by the Barisan Nasional government to stop Pas's influence," he said at his service centre here.

"But PR must bring a change to the state administration, including that related to Jais so that the people don't see us similar to the previous administration."

Khalid cited the arrest of former Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin for allegedly giving talks without authorisation on Sunday night as something that should not have happened under the PR state government.

Asri was released on police bail at 1.10am on Monday.