Miri church attack makes it seven

Police have cordoned off Taiping’s historic All Saints’ Church, target of an unsuccessful arson attack.

UPDATED

RAWANG, Jan 10 – A stone was thrown against a church in Miri today, making it the seventh attack in three days that is linked to the “Allah” ruling which has provoked Muslim anger. Earlier reports of an arson attack proved to be unfounded.

This is the first reported attack in East Malaysia where a large part of the population are Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and also the ruling Barisan Nasional’s “fixed deposit” of votes and parliamentary seats in Election 2008.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed the attempt but insisted the situation in the country is under control.

“The situation is under control and the people should not be worried. They should not be influenced by internet reports or text messages,” he told reporters at an Umno event here.

Four churches in the Klang Valley were hit by petrol bombs on Friday while one was hit last night in Taiping. A Malacca church reported it was splashed with black paint while a priest in Penang had his car splashed with red paint.

A convent school in Taiping was also the target of an attempt with petrol bombs found near its guardhouse overnight. Church authorities believe it was meant for the St Louis Church next door.

Hishammuddin reminded the people not to be influenced by foreign and internet media reports as these could be inaccurate and project the country as unstable.

He said the ministry would brief foreign envoys on the actual situation

“We have to brief the international community as we have our citizens out there who want to know the actual situation which has been played up by certain quarters, including what is taken from the Internet,” he said.

Hishammuddin said the government will give an accurate picture of what has happened in the spate of church attacks.