The state commander of the Penang St John Ambulance movement today denied a news report in which he was reported as standing by his statement that the Kelantan state government was closing all the organisation's divisions in schools.

Lim Thoon Deong, in a faxed letter to St John Ambulance Malaysia secretary-general Lai See Meng, claimed he never spoke to the reporters who wrote the report yesterday.

"I deny making any such statements to them or any other reporter," he said.

The Star yesterday reported that Lim stood by his comments made on Sunday that Kelantan was closing down St John Ambulance divisions in schools as they were 'not Islamic'.

The paper's report was a follow-up of its report on Monday which quoted Lim as saying a day earlier that the Penang St John Ambulance 'was upset with the PAS-led Kelantan state government for closing the organisation's divisions in schools since last month'.

Inform local community

Malaysiakini reported yesterday the Kelantan state government would seek an apology from The Star and Lim for making the 'unfounded allegation'.

According to Kelantan state tourism, unity and non-governmental organisations committee chairman Anuar Tan Abdullah, the news about the purported closures was 'slanderous' and 'published in bad faith'.

Lim, in his letter today, explained that in his speech during a First Aid campaign on Sunday in Balik Pulau, Penang, he had said that the St John Ambulance was a non-political and non-religious service-oriented organisation.

"After the ceremony, I was approached by the press and I explained to them regarding our emblem and from where it was derived," he said.

According to Lim, his only intention was to attract more members to join the organisation and inform the local community on the various activities carried out by the movement.

"Balik Pulau has more Malay residents and we always find it difficult to form more St John Ambulance divisions there.

"Some have the misconception that the St John movement is Christian-based especially after an earlier incident reported in a local newspaper regarding St John Ambulance in Kelantan," he said.

No 'unpleasant' experience

On Aug 8, Malay daily Utusan Malaysia had quoted Kelantan St John Ambulance state commander Abdul Rahim Omar as saying that divisions in the state were being closed down as the Kelantan government thought that the name St John was un-Islamic.

However, Abdul Rahim later refuted the report, saying that he had not made such comments to the daily. "The media have either misquoted me or simply concocted their own story," he said.

Abdul Rahim also said there had not been any 'unpleasant' experience between the Kelantan St John Ambulance and the local authority adding the Kelantan government had contributed RM2,000 last year towards the construction of a surau (prayer room) for the organisation's members.

He said the organisation was a social service group promoting first-aid skills and should not be dragged into 'local politics'.