Non-Muslim group: Time for Najib to walk the talk
Even as Umno Youth joined hands with their counterparts from the opposition to condemn the latest attacks, its members were also busily stepping up an ‘Allah for Muslims Only’ campaign on Facebook. And even as the Jakim panelists rapped Umno-BN politicians for not defending Islam, the fact that civil servants were allowed to attend shows the conference had the covert blessings of top Umno leaders.
By Wong Choon Mei, Harakah
Amid a rash of informal meetings and dialogue, the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hindusism, Sikhism and Taoism has called on Prime Minister Najib Razak to take time out and sit with them and their Muslim counterparts to formally chart a way forward from the Allah row.
“Perhaps it is time for the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to take more concrete steps to put an end to these senseless violations and desecration,” Reverend Dr Thomas Philips, president of the council, told Harakahdaily. He was speaking at the sidelines of a dialogue organized by the MCA.
The call from the group of non-Muslim religious leaders could not have come at a better time.
Several dozen kilometers away at the administrative capital of Putrajaya, Muslim participants at a Jakim-sponsored conference blamed Christians for degrading Islam when they challenged a Home Ministry ban on the use of the word Allah.
One participant even warned of a repeat of the May 13, 1969 racial riots if Christian groups did not agree to drop the use of Allah. “Who knows, there might be a Feb 13?” thundered Zamihan Mat Zin from the Institut Latihan Islam Malaysia.
Jakim or the Islamic Development Department is mostly staffed by clerics and officers who are either Umno members or affiliated to the party. The forum participants were referring to a landmark High Court ruling won by a Catholic magazine that reinstated non-Muslim rights to use Allah to describe God.
The decision set off a spree of arson and vandalism against places of worship, culminating in Wednesday’s desecration of two mosques in Selangor, where severed pig heads were flung into their compounds.
Police have yet to identify the culprits but the cleric of one of the affected mosques has urged for calm, warning Muslims not to react rashly as the perpetrators could well be Muslims out to stir racial tensions in the country.
“I want the police to act fast, we ask Muslims to be patient, there is a possibility Muslims could be behind this incident,” said Imam Zulkifli Mohamad of the Taman Seri Sentosa mosque.
Malaysians can smell a rat
Indeed, the realization that the entire episode may have been orchestrated or designed by certain quarters with vested interest has already dawned on Malaysians.
“After 50-odd years of living together through thick and thin, Malaysians can sense it. This is why despite the series of provocations – firstly against the churches, then a school, a temple and then the mosques – the people have not over-reacted. Neither Muslims nor non-Muslims have been impulsive and this is a most encouraging sign of maturity,” said Reverend Thomas.
“But we must not take it for granted, Because it is also clear that those who want to destroy harmony in the country are quite ruthless and there’s no telling if they will succeed in lighting the fuse the next time. This is why it is imperative for our Prime Minister to walk the talk. We hope he will sit down with us and all the other interested parties and begin a proper dialogue.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away in Kota Bahru and in sharp contrast to the Jakim racial invective, PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat hosted lunch to some 200 leaders of various faiths who had congregated in Kelantan at his invitation for a special dialogue.
“The responsibility for the attacks against the houses of worship including the latest incidents involving the pig heads must be borne by Umno now and forever. Racial tensions have arisen because of its refusal to drop their nationalist stance and put Islam first,” Nik Aziz said in his welcoming speech on Thursday.
Saving Umno at the expense of Islam
Indeed, Najib and Umno have been widely blamed for instigating the outbreaks of religious bigotry in a bid to rally support from the Malay electorate.
Even as Umno Youth joined hands with their counterparts from the opposition to condemn the latest attacks, its members were also busily stepping up an ‘Allah for Muslims Only’ campaign on Facebook. And even as the Jakim panelists rapped Umno-BN politicians for not defending Islam, the fact that civil servants were allowed to attend shows the conference had the covert blessings of top Umno leaders.
“Can’t you see there is an overall design in the chain of events? Firstly, the Umno-led Facebook campaign, then the mass demonstrations sanctioned by Najib and the Home Minister, followed by the arson and vandalism of the non-Muslim places of worship first and then only the suraus and now the mosques,” an Umno watcher told Harakahdaily.
“It is quite clear they are trying to instigate a communal flare-up but they are also getting worried now because Malaysians including the Malays are not reacting as they had expected. At the same time, Umno is getting a very bad name over this.
“So what they are now doing is to pass the buck over to their sponsored NGOs and religious departments to create the sense that it is not Umno but the Muslims themselves who are insisting on a hard line approach. But has Umno realized that by saving themselves, they will end up tarnishing Islam?”
