Malaysia police arrest eight persons over church arson attack

(January 21, 2010) Malaysian police Wednesday announced the arrest of eight Muslim men who allegedly attacked a Christian church with a firebomb _ the first suspects in a spate of assaults on churches after a court ruled that non-Muslims could use the word «Allah» to refer to God. The unprecedented attacks on 11 churches and a Sikh temple were apparently sparked by a December 31 court verdict that upset many ethnic Malay Muslims who insist that letting Christians use «Allah» in their Malay-language publications could confuse some Muslims and entice them to convert. The dispute has strained ties between Malays, who make up nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people, and religious minorities, mainly ethnic Chinese and Indians who practice Buddhism, Christianity or Hinduism. Minority communities often complain about what they believe is institutionalized religious discrimination. Authorities detained eight suspects since Tuesday in connection to a Jan. 8 attack on Kuala Lumpur's Metro Tabernacle Church, which had its office gutted by fire, said Bakri Zinin, the federal police chief of criminal investigations. It was the first and most serious of all the attacks on churches. «We believe that we solved this case,» Bakri told a news conference. The suspects were all Malays from 21 to 26 years old, according to a police statement. Police tracked them down after one of them sought treatment at a hospital for burn injuries, Bakri said. A Metro Tabernacle Church official, Peter Yeow, praised police for the breakthrough. «Right from the word 'go,' the authorities have been doing their job quite well,» Yeow said. «We have put the event behind us. We are concentrating on going on with our lives.»