While many politicians and activists were arrested and remanded for police investigations, the police felt that there was no necessity for Taman Medan church protesters and Abdullah Abu Bakar, brother of Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar, to be treated the same way.

This was because the protesters summoned to the police station had given their testimony in full, said the home ministry.

"No arrests had been made on those involved in the rally, as they had given full testimony when summoned to police station.

"As such, there was no need to arrest, remand, handcuff and detain them to complete the investigations," said the ministry in a parliamentary written reply yesterday.

The ministry added that the police investigated the case "without fear or favour", disregarding the position and political standing of the protesters.

Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan) had submitted a parliamentary question to the ministry for its reason in not arresting Abdullah and the protesters unlike the arrrest of numerous Pakatan Rakyat leaders plus The Malaysian Insider journalists for sedition over the past two months.

"Why weren't Abdullah and the protesters arrested, handcuffed and remanded as had been done to Pakatan leaders and The Malaysian Insider 's journalists?" asked Lim.

On April 19, some 50 protesters gathered outside a church in Taman Medan, demanding that a cross installed onto the wall be removed.

One protester declared: "We do not want any quarters to put up a cross in an area that is 95 percent Muslim."

No sedition statistics

Among the protesters was Abdullah who was later grilled by the police for three hours days after the protest.

Abdullah, who is also the Taman Lindungan Jaya Umno branch chief, had previously defended his presence at the protest, claiming that he was there to mediate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the ministry claimed it has no statistics of sedition cases opened since the Sedition Act 1946 came into force.

"Based on police records, police have probed 409 cases of sedition from 2008 to 2014," the ministry said in another parliamentary written reply.

"Among them, 99 are still pending investigation while 30 cases have been referred to deputy public prosecutor and another 116 cases need further investigation," said the ministry.

"Twenty-six cases were brought to court while the balance of 138 cases have been classified under 'No Further Action' (NFA)," it said.

Julian Tan (DAP-Stampin) [ photo ] has asked the home ministry for details of sedition cases and their breakdown including how many politicians and activists have been investigated.

"The 409 cases involved those from various backgrounds including politicians, NGO activists, students and bloggers," replied the ministry.