Jais is being confusing about their Hindu wedding raid – which was totally “not a raid”

For starters, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) denies it raided a Hindu wedding on Sunday at all. 

Jais deputy director-general Ahmad Zaki Arshad claimed his officers were only investigating complaints from the public and went to the wedding, held in a Hindu Temple in Petaling Jaya, to take a statement from the bride, who was alleged to be a Muslim. 

He insisted that his department had followed proper procedures in doing so. 

“This was not a raid nor an operation. We only conducted routine checks and asked the IC holder whether she is a Muslim,” he told The Malaysian Insider. 

Ahmad Zaki urged the public not to jump to conclusions, as the case is still under investigation. He said to date, Jais had only called the bride to present herself at Jais’s office in Shah Alam to assist in the investigation. 

“There is no issue to accuse her of apostasy. Jais has yet to make a decision. Wait for our official statement after we conclude our probe,” he said.

He also said Jais would not punish anyone just because an individual has a Muslim name.

“For example, if Rafael Nadal comes to Malaysia and goes to a church, we have to investigate because he has a Muslim name. So please do not jump to conclusions,” he said in a puzzling reference to the world’s top-seeded tennis player, who is a Spanish citizen.

During the Jais task force’s “visit” to the Hindu wedding, a check on the bride’s MyKad showed that she was registered as a Muslim, and Jais officers took her away for questioning. She was released later that day. 

The bride claimed, however, that she was registered as a Muslim when still infant by her father, who subsequently abandoned her family, leaving her to be raised a Hindu. 

“She was unaware that her father had registered her and her three siblings as Muslims. She only found out after a relative showed her the birth certificate,” a Jais source was quoted as saying to Malay daily Sinar Harian.

The bride claimed she went to the National Registration Department (NRD) twice to change her religious status, once in 2007 and last April, but to no avail, as she could not obtain her father’s signature.

Jais officers acted under Selangor’s Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims), which outlines offences deemed as acts of proselytisation by non-Muslims towards Muslims, and grants Jais the power to launch investigations and arrest individuals without producing a warrant.

The case has sparked off condemnation and criticism from the Malaysian Bar Council, and Hindu-Indian rights organisations Malaysia Hindu Sangam and the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

“We have a serious problem in this country. The civil service is dominated by Malay and Muslim-centric officers who bulldoze their personal beliefs in the supremacy of their religion in the government administration.

“Their behaviour is nothing short of bullying, assisted by the government organs and machinery in oppressing the non-Muslim communities and their beliefs,” said Hindraf chairman P Waytha Moorthy in a statement. 

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Stop in the name of love: JAIS raided a Hindu wedding yesterday