PARLIAMENT Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar is not sure whether sentiments  around Taman Medan in Petaling Jaya, after the protest against a church there two months ago, will allow it to put up the cross that was removed.

"I am from Sarawak. If this happened there, I will say 'yes', you can put back (the cross).

"But here, we got to look at the environment.I cannot answer the question at the moment as I don't know what the environment is really like.

"You have to observe the sensitivities of the environment," Wan Junaidi told reporters at the Parliament lobby last night.

The church operators are encouraged to use their best judgment, if they want to put back the cross, he said.

Wan Junaidi ( photo ) said this when asked to respond further to a question from Hee Loi Sian (PKR-Petaling Jaya Selatan) on whether the police could guarantee the safety of the church, located in a Malay-majority area, if the operator replaces the cross.

The Taman Medan churchgoers had a rude shock on April 19 when protesters turned up at its doorstep, demanding that the cross on its outside wall be taken down.

Some 50 residents turned up outside the shoplot where the church is located demanding the removal of the cross. Church members later took down the cross.

Despite assurances given by Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali at the end of April, the church only decided to reinstall the cross a month later. However, this has still not been done.

Wan Junaidi, who answered on the matter in the August House last night during the adjournment speech for the day’s sitting, did not offer a direct answer to Hee's question at that time.

"The police will make sure the safety of the people and assets are safeguarded and ensure the people profess their religious freedom as enshrined in the Federal Constitution," he said.

'People must have a sense of self-control'

Wan Junaidi cautioned members of the public not to arouse the sentiments of people of other races, as well as not to cause rift and tension in the name of freedom.

The people  should have a sense of self-control, by observing the laws of the country.

The people’s representatives too should not choose to champion the causes of just one particular race and ignore the sensitivities of the others.

"They (the Taman Medan residents) started it (the protest). If the people were tolerant, then this thing wouldn't have happened," Wan Junaidi said later, when asked to elaborate further outside the House.

"You can put a cross right in front of my house, I don't bloody care because it doesn't influence me.

"I am a strong Muslim, I don't believe in being influenced by just a cross in front of my house," he said, adding that this was the spirit of Sarawakians.

If the local authority allows the cross to be put up, then there shouldn't be any obstacle for the church to do so.

The Petaling Jaya City Council has said that the Taman Medan church, called Community of Praise Petaling Church, has yet to obtain a permit as place of worship.

However, Selangor state executive councillor Elizabeth Wong maintains that non-Muslim places of worship do not need a permit to operate from commercial units.

Earlier, Wan Junaidi went on to dismiss the accusation  by Hee ( photo ) that the church protest was by a 'narrow-minded' political party and its members.

"This cannot be proved," he told Parliament. "Under police investigation, this is seen as an accusation by certain quarters with their own personal agendas."

It has been established that some of the protesters were Umno members, namely Taman Lindungan Jaya branch chairperson Abdullah Abu Bakar and Munaliza Hamzah.

On April 24, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the party will take action against any members involved in the protest, if the police found them to have broken any law.