Reports lodged on Bibles given to Muslim students

Seven reports have been lodged with the police on the distribution of copies of the Bible to Muslim students in front of a school in Jelutong here, said Penang Chief Police Officer Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi.

He said four of the reports were made by students of the school and the rest by members of the public.

They also handed over copies of the Bible to the police, he added.

"Police investigation shows that all the Bibles are in the English language and the word 'Allah' does not feature in them," he said in a statement today.

Abdul Rahim said the case was being investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code which pertained to causing disharmony, disunity or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity on the grounds of religion.

The section provided for a penalty of between two and five years imprisonment upon conviction, he added.

The distribution of the Bibles to the Muslim students was raised last Thursday by several Jelutong residents, some of whom made a video recording of four people, one of them a woman, handing over the holy books at the gate of the school.

Abdul Rahim said the case had been referred to the Attorney-General's Chambers.