Yeoh pointed out that the Islamic party’s deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had said in 2018 that PAS had no issue with Muslims visiting temples and churches as long as they did not take part in the rituals.
“Harakah Daily reported Tuan Ibrahim as saying that it was not ‘haram’ (prohibited) for Muslims to enter the houses of worship of non-Muslims,” she told the Dewan Rakyat, referring to the party’s official mouthpiece.
“If Perikatan Nasional wants to attack me, they should check what their partners had said before. Don’t say (Muslim) youths should not be allowed in churches, when PAS had said there was nothing wrong. People will get confused.”
In replying to points raised about her ministry during the debate on the Supply Bill 2023, she also noted that blogger Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, had linked a sports ministry’s organisation to Christian evangelism in a Facebook post yesterday.
Badrul, a member of Bersatu, had shared a poster by Impact Malaysia, a non-profit organisation under the ministry, about a planned visit to a church in Klang.
According to the promotional poster, the visit was for non-Christians who wanted to know more about the faith.
Asking if evangelists had begun their groundwork, Badrul said: “While religious preachers are being barred, an agency under a ministry headed by a DAP minister is looking to bring Muslim youths to church.”
Yeoh said Impact Malaysia would prohibit Muslims from visiting any church under this programme called “Jom Ziarah”, adding that similar programmes had only seen the participation of Chinese and Indian youths.
She also said those who made such “wild accusations” against her were out to make her a “punching bag” to divert attention from the court charges faced by their leaders.
Impact Malaysia also responded to Badrul, saying the programme was part of an integrated campaign to foster better understanding among the country’s multiracial and multi-religious communities. It had also organised visits to mosques and Hindu temples.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, Badrul asked why the promotional poster inviting non-Christians to the church had been deleted if there was nothing wrong with the programme.
“Organise a programme that gets youths to visit mosques, not churches. This is clearly promoting pluralism and liberalism.”