Malaysia MP says police were wrong to disrupt church service

Officers deny halting the prayer meeting.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said police have no right to disrupt the services of "any religious organization".

Malaysia:  Complaints about "noise" and the use of a shop house by a church in Bangi led to police officers disrupting the service last Sunday, a move which has been criticized by the area's MP, who said such matters should have been handled by the local council instead.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said Pastor Nelson Sembiling of Bethany Church told him that two police officers asked him to stop his service, and only left after they were told to speak with the National Evangelical Christian Federation (NECF)’s BM commission executive secretary Alfred Tais on the phone.

"Short of someone committing a crime or there being a life threatening emergency, the police have no right to disrupt the services of any religious organization.”

"What the two policemen did at Bethany Church is an infringement of the constitutional right of freedom of religion of the members of the church and Pastor Nelson," Ong said in a statement Wednesday.

Kajang police chief Assistant Commissioner Ab Rashid Ab Wahab said Tuesday that they received a complaint of excessive noise and that a bullhorn was being used in the church.

"Policemen went to check. No church service was stopped,” he said. "Police was just there to check what it was all about and after being informed that a church service was being conducted, the officers left."

Ong said that although it was illegal to turn a shop house into a church, police could not take any action as it was not under their jurisdiction.

He urged Rashid to investigate the matter and if necessary, to get his officers to apologize to Nelson.

Ong said that he would also be meeting Rashid to get his guarantee that such incidents did not happen again in areas under the police chief's jurisdiction.

The church is located in a largely commercial area near a bus station and occupies the second floor of a shop house.

An NECF spokesperson said the church conducts services in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia as most of its 200 congregants are Indonesia.

NECF was alerted to the intrusion at 11:20am on Sunday and advised the church leaders to lodge a police report.

Nelson said that two police officers came on Sunday about 10 minutes into his sermon.

They did not enter the church but called a few of the members outside and told them to bring out the church's leader.

Nelson said the officers insisted that he stop the service, failing which they would call "their inspector".

They did, and then told the pastor that the church service could continue for that day, but added that they would return.

Ong also said today that it was unacceptable for the police to act on the "few complaints" without the presence of the Kajang municipal council, as no crime was committed.

He added that the issue of whether the shop house in question could be used as a place of worship was not a matter for the police to decide but for the local council.

Source: The Malaysian Insider