It was Umno's "Islamisation policy" to compete with PAS that led to the current controversy involving enforcement officers of the Selangor Religious Affairs Department (Jais), according to a Selangor state assemblyman.

DAP state assemblyman Teng Chang Khim said the real fault lies with the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment 1995, a piece of legislation initiated by Umno and not with Jais, which is merely an enforcement agency.

"The important question that we should ask is why the Selangor government enacted the law in the first place?" he said.

Teng was commenting on the controversy created by some Jais officers when they arrested about 25 Muslims when they raided a restaurant in Damansara Utama two weeks ago.

Jais, however decided only to charge 15 of them, all of whom are women, under Section 10 of the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment for "insulting Islam by being on the premises where alcohol is served." ("[#1] Selective prosecution by religious authority under fire[/#] ", June 26)

The Star Online reported today that all the charges were dropped.

"As a government machinery, it's the duty of Jais officers to enforce the law. Otherwise, they will be abdicating their duty, " the state assemblyman for Bandar Klang said.

According to Teng, this particular enactment of the Syariah law should not have come into existence in the first place.

He said he was the only member of the assembly who spoke against the proposed law when it was introduced in the State Legislative Assembly in 1995.

Teng viewed the initiative as being motivated by the ruling party's contention with rival PAS to champion Islamic issues.

However, when contacted by malaysiakini , MCA Selangor state assemblyman and executive councillor Tang See Hang said it was the "wrong interpretation" of the law on the part of Jais' officers that sparked the present controversy.

"The (Jais) officers did not refer to the state government. They have their own 'definition' of the syariah law," he said.

Tang reiterated the comment made by Selangor's Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Abu Hassan Omar, that the JAIS officers "had misconstrued the law''.

He said he hoped that the spirit of Malaysia will prevail and urged all parties not to be extremist in their views and actions.

Abu Hassan was quoted as saying that Section 10 of the Selangor Syariah Criminal Enactment, which was introduced in 1995, was still "ambiguous".

The officers involved in the matter would be sent for a special course to familiarise with the interpretation of the section while State Secretary Ambrin Buang will chair a committee to study the procedures of existing syariah laws and will propose amendments where necessary.