PETALING JAYA:
The Catholic Lawyers’ Society of Kuala Lumpur (CLS) says it will file a police report over a lewd “joke” made by Sepang Umno chief Noorazli Said about the clergy, which also contained a false reference to the Bible.

The society highlighted the potential legal implications of Noorazli’s joke, saying it could attract scrutiny under laws governing sedition and religious offences, given its “capacity to incite disharmony and disrespect towards a religious community”.

It said the offending remarks, uploaded and shared by Noorazli or other parties online, might also constitute an offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA).

Section 233 of the CMA criminalises the improper use of network facilities or services to transmit content that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”.

The joke involving a priest and a nun, told by Noorazli at the Umno general assembly last Saturday, hinged on a punchline he attributed to Psalm 129 in the Bible, but which is not actually contained in the chapter.

“CLS wishes to place on record that Psalm 129 contains no such content. The psalm speaks of deliverance and the triumph of the righteous over affliction and oppression.

“Noorazli’s fabricated attribution is not only factually false but constitutes a distortion of sacred scripture for the purpose of a crude joke, causing offence to the Catholic community and the wider Christian faith,” the society said in a statement today.

It also said that Noorazli’s remarks demeaned the clergy by portraying them in a lewd and disrespectful manner.

“Such conduct before a large public audience at a national political assembly is wholly inappropriate and unbecoming of any elected representative or party leader,” it said.

CLS called on the authorities to investigate the matter accordingly, and for Noorazli to retract his statement, issue a full apology to the Catholic community, and refrain from using religious texts or figures as material for political rhetoric or humour.