January 23, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian police said Saturday they had arrested four men in connection with arson attacks on two Muslim prayer halls amid a spate of assaults on places of worship that have escalated ethnic tensions.
The arrests follow the detention of 15 others for attacks on churches triggered by a court ruling that overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah" as a translation for "God".
Deputy police chief Ismail Omar told state news agency Bernama the four, aged between 16 and 28, were believed to be involved in the attacks Thursday on two Muslim prayer halls.
The prayer halls, both in Muar in the southern state of Johor, suffered minor fire damage.
"Investigations are still ongoing and we don't know what was their real motive," Ismail told Bernama.
"We are still in the process of compiling a solid case against them so they can be brought to court," he added. A senior aide to Ismail confirmed the report but declined further comment.
Eleven churches and two Muslim prayer halls across the mainly Muslim nation have been pelted with Molotov cocktails, stones and paint in recent weeks.
Police on Friday arrested seven more people over January 10 church attacks in the northern state of Perak with eight others detained earlier in the week over the first of the attacks, on a church in Kuala Lumpur.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The row over the use of "Allah" is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being "Islamised."
The High Court last month ruled in favour of the Catholic Herald newspaper which has used "Allah" as a translation for "God" in its Malay-language section. The ruling was suspended pending an appeal.
Malaysia's population is 60 percent Muslim Malay, but also includes indigenous tribes as well as the large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities -- practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
