The stamp featuring a church has been issued since 2016, two years before Pakatan Harapan came into power, according to Pos Malaysia in response to Isma president Aminuddin Yahaya's criticism.
“Pos Malaysia issued the 'Places of Worship' second series on May 15. The first series was issued in November 2016,” it said in a brief statement to Malaysiakini this evening.
In a Facebook posting yesterday, the Malay-Muslim NGO leader described the stamp as “another example of Muslims being bullied.”
“So if outsiders label Malaysia as a Christian nation, we should not be angered because we have been portrayed as such,” he said.
In another posting this evening, Aminuddin revealed that he has deleted his earlier remarks.
“Due to my posting on the stamp receiving widespread coverage and there are quarters who are not comfortable, I decided to delete the posting.
“Thank you for all the comments and views... To those who were offended, angered and saddened, I apologise,” he added.
The church pictured on the stamp is the St George's Church in Penang.
Besides the church, other houses of worship featured in the Pos Malaysia series include the Masjid Jubli Perak Sultan Ismail Petra (Kelantan), the Hong San Si Temple (Sarawak), the Sri Karthivel Murugan Maha Parasakthi Patchai Amman Temple (Perak) and the Gurdwara Sahib (Labuan).
At its launch in 2016, Pos Malaysia said the stamps were meant to show Malaysia as a diverse country as well as showcase the unique architecture of each house of worship.
