The important owner of a chain of Malaysian convenience stores has been accused of selling boots with the term” Allah written on them.”
Chai Kee Kan and his family, Loh Siew Mui, who is a company director, were accused of “wounding the religious sentiments of others”.
They pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could be jailed for up to a month.
Two weeks ago, the boots caused a stir, with some calling for the network to be boycotted.
KK Super Mart and their Indonesian provider, Xin Jian Chang, had apologised. Additionally, they were removed from the shelves by the business.
However, the conflict persisted as the images of the boots were shared online and received criticism from Malaysia’s prince and political leaders. By Monday, authorities reported receiving close to 200 problems.
The use of the term Allah, an Hebrew term for God, by non-Muslims as sacred, has previously been controversial in Malaysia.
The Malaysian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Islam, however, is the country’s recognized church, and Malay-Muslims make up more than two-thirds of its 34 million people.
Last year, Malaysia’s prince, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, condemned Mr Chai’s network and called for” harsh action” against those dependable:” Blunders in relation to spiritual and race problems such as these are unacceptable”, he said in what was seen as a rare rebuke from the house.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for “firm action” while urging people “not]to] continue discussing it as a massive disaster”.
A popular Malaysian retailer known as KK Mart, which has hundreds of locations across the nation. It has filed a lawsuit against Xin Jian Chang, alleging that the company had lost money and caused harm to its reputation. In response to the controversy, the business has also claimed that it was forced to postpone listing on the Malaysian stock market.
On Tuesday, Soh Chin Huat and Koh Lee Hui, the supplier’s two directors, were facing abetment charges.
The supplier, in turn, is reportedly considering suing the Chinese company that shipped them the socks.