The Amanah legal bureau, in a statement today, questioned why neither the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) nor the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had taken action against those who had clearly used religion as the background for their political speeches.

This, said Amanah’s legal bureau deputy chairman Wan Anwar Wan Ibrahim, has been going on in various mosques and surau in Selangor.

“We urge Mais and Jais to take action against preachers who have ignored the rules regarding the need for credentials.

“We are confused because no arrests and no charges were filed against those preachers, unlike what has happened to Khalid.”

Wan Anwar urged the religious authorities to come up with an updated list of accredited preachers that the public can refer to.

He also said both Mais and Jais should instruct the management of mosques and surau in the state to report the activities of non-accredited religious preachers.

Touching on the “injustice” against Khalid, who is also Amanah’s communications director, Wan Anwar said what the lawmaker did should not be considered as an attempt to teach Islam.

“He was only sharing his experience of being in Palestine.

“We worry that the interpretation (used against Khalid) would end up infringing the freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.”

Wan Anwar said the party’s legal bureau was willing to help Khalid with his appeal.

Khalid was fined RM2,900 by the Shariah Court yesterday for giving a talk without valid credentials at a surau in Taman Seri Sementa, Klang, six years ago.

He was found to have contravened Section 119(1) of the Selangor Islamic Law Administration Enactment.

Khalid, however, has insisted that he was invited to the surau to speak about his trip to Palestine, and not to give a religious lecture.