NONE PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar can be charged with ‘maligning Islam’ if indeed she had made a statement encouraging Muslims to leave Islam, said Mashitah Ibrahim (right) , a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Replying to Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today, Mashitah noted, though, that there are no provisions in law to curb Muslims from encouraging other Muslims to become apostates.

"There is an enactment to control non-Muslims from preaching to Muslims, but what we have today is ... a Muslim inviting and providing the avenue for Muslims to choose their religion even after their parents have taught and passed on Islam to them,” she said.

"There is no provision (to deal with this), but it can be viewed under the provision dealing with those who malign Islam or cause Islam to be looked down by others.”

Question on punishment

Mohamed Aziz had asked what the punishment was for Nurul Izzah for making "a statement as if to celebrate apostacy among Muslims".

"What punishment can be taken against the Lembah Pantai MP who has shocked the nation, including the Selangor Sultan?...

"What is the punishment for someone who says that Malays are free, after they have embraced Islam, to leave the religion as they like?

"Malays, Muslims, will be in disarray if people like them are given the power to rule the country," he said.

NONE Mashitah's response had riled up Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) ( right ) who urged the deputy minister to first check if Nurul Izzah had said what she is accused of saying.

"Do you know the actual statement made by Lembah Pantai? If you are saying that Lembah Pantai is allowing Muslims to leave the religion, that is ugly ( jelek ) and incredible," he said.

Citing a Quranic verse, which call on believers to ascertain the truth to avoid unwittingly harming others, he said the minister had made a judgement before confirming the facts.

Shouting match

"I agree that accusations cannot be made before investigations are made, but this too must be practised by the other side.

"Like when a statement is made by (MCA president) Chua (Soi Lek), you do not check, but when it happens to your side, you ask to check first, and say the statement was manipulated," Mashitah said.

This pushed Dzulkefly to call on Mashitah to retract her statement, resulting in a shouting match with Mohamed Aziz, much to the ire of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

"I allow a question because I feel it is important but don't use this opportunity to seek clarification to get into arguments. It's not nice, this is a religious matter.

"You are people of faith and you're lashing out at each other," he said.

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