Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysian politicians are wrangling about whether to forbid sensitive debates on religious disputes in this Muslim-majority nation.
The controversy widened Aug. 10 after protesters forced the halt of a conference on Islamic conversions. Police told the Bar Council association of lawyers to abort the forum after more than 300 demonstrators rallied outside the conference hall and threatened to storm the event.
The conference was supposed to be a rare public platform to examine how some Malaysian families are caught in legal conflicts if one spouse in a marriage converts to Islam.
Zulkifli Noordin, an opposition member of Parliament, said the protest was a warning to "the Bar Council specifically and non-Muslims in general not to challenge the rights of Muslims."