Penang executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs Abdul Malik Kassim has hit out at former chief justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad for claiming that Islam is under threat in the northern non-Muslim majority state.

Malik described the allegation of the former chief justice as "pure nonsense, baseless and heavily reliant on hearsay".

He called on Hamid to substantiate his allegation, saying that someone who was a former top judge of the country should know better than to make a claim that is not backed with evidence.

Malik ( right ) said he had facts and figures to prove that the state government has allocated more funds to Islamic bodies since Pakatan Rakyat took over Penang in 2008.

"I challenge Hamid to prove his allegation that Islam is under threat in Penang. I challenge him to prove that we are not giving Islamic bodies enough state allocations," Malik told Malaysiakini when contacted.

"For someone of his stature, he should not be making allegations based on mere hearsay," the PKR Batu Maung assemblyman fumed.

"I challenge him to come to Penang. I am willing to take him around to see how Islam has flourished ... under the Pakatan Rakyat government," he added, rather furious.

In his speech at a buka puasa event with several Islamic NGOs yesterday, Hamid claimed, among other things, that a former Penang mufti had told him that it was difficult to secure allocations for Islamic activities in the state as other religious groups wanted their fair share too.

If left unchecked, such a scenario may spread to the whole of Malaysia and undermine the special position of Islam that has been enshrined in the Federal Constitution, Hamid warned.

Multi-faith prayers

Hamid, who is Penang-born, also revealed that the ex-mufti informed him about an incident during the launching of a building in the state attended by a deputy chief minister where prayers were done by a Christian priest, a Hindu priest and the imam of the state mosque.

When contacted, Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy ( right ) confirmed that this took place in February during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Penang Indians Association.

However, Ramasamy said, Hamid's allegation that the ceremony had diluted Islam was not only "shocking but horrible and preposterous".

He said that the event was a multi-religious ceremony as Indians who are members of the association come from different religious backgrounds - there were Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs at the ground-breaking.

The  association's management, Ramasamy said, went out of its way to ensure that the ceremony included everybody from the different religions, including Indian Muslim members of the association.

"To me, such an event should be commended for it reflected the true Malaysian spirit. I see nothing wrong in it for it was one of the best things that took place," he said.

"How can Hamid say that such an event can undermine Islam in the state? It is shocking to hear this from a person of such high status.

“I would understand if it came from extremist rightwing Malay groups like Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) or Perkasa.

"If the former chief justice can say these things, no wonder the justice system in our country is in the state it currently is in," he added.

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