KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 (AFP) - Malaysia's government may assume new powers to check the spread of "anti-government lies" in mosques, a minister said Sunday.
Abdul Hamid Othman, a minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said some groups were still using mosques for political interests despite repeated warnings. He said the federal government had no power to act, as places of worship came under each state's governmental jurisdiction.
"We need to find ways on how powers vested with state governments can be delegated to the federal government so that uniform action can be taken against such people," he was quoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying in the northern state of Kedah.
Hamid said "misuse of mosques" had been going on for a long time.
"We're trying to check the problem. PAS's action showed it does not respect the worshippers," he added. The government has long accused the main opposition party, the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), of using mosques to spread anti-government messages.
Bernama said Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would meet state chief ministers next month to debate action against people "abusing mosques to spread lies about the government and its leaders."
Abdullah said Saturday such use of mosques should stop immediately since worshippers regarded mosques as neutral ground.
Earlier this month authorities in Kedah, the home state of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, banned imams in which the state ruler prays from preaching. Authorities said the move was to avoid sermons containing "lies."
Muslims account for more than half of Malaysia's the multiracial population.
