A false and malicious SMS sent out by unknown persons almost caused a racial incident in Ipoh, Perak today.

Believing the content of the SMS, a large crowd of angry Muslim Malaysians, including several religious organisations, gathered at a church this morning to stop the alleged mass conversion of Muslims to Christianity.

The SMS said that the conversion would take place this morning. By law, conversion of Muslims into any other religion is illegal.

However in actual fact, the church this morning was conducting a baptism ceremony for some 110 children of Indian origin.

The gathered crowd however refused to budge, wanting to wait until the church function was over.

The police had to dispatch a team of the Federal Reserve Unit to keep watch on the situation.

Perak police chief Abdul Aziz Bulat said that the FRU was stationed at the church compound from 7am till about 1pm. By then the crowd had dispersed without any incidents.

Religious department to investigate

Abdul Aziz said he will continue to monitor the situation and probe further into the malicious SMS.

"We don't know the source of the SMS. Maybe there are people who want to cause religious disturbances," Bernama quoted him as saying.

He added that it was worrying that there are people who are keen in sending such malicious messages.

It is the work of irresponsible people who just want to create racial tensions, he added.

He advised the public not to be easily influenced by such mobile phone messages as it could cause unwanted incidents in the country.

Meanwhile Bernama also reported that the Perak religious department too will be investigating the matter and take appropriate action against anyone found sending the false and offensive SMS.