Sibu result reflects growing Christian vote
SIB church leaders from both sides of the South China Sea complained of the home ministry’s increasingly heavy-handed treatment towards the church and its members, prompting them to file several lawsuits against the government.
Written by Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — DAP’s surprise win in the recent Sibu by-election was the latest message being sent to the Najib administration that it needs to buckle down and deal with the “Allah” issue sooner rather than later.
The party made a special appeal to the Christian voters, citing the need to prevent Putrajaya from regulating the ways and language of worship for non-Muslims, after a landmark court ruling on Dec 31 that allowed the word “Allah” to be used by all.
The rise in a conscious Christian vote came after churches in Muslim-majority Malaysia reported a growth spurt, and leading the pack was the 82-year-old Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), an evangelical movement that worships mainly in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language.
An SIB churchgoer reads from a Bahasa Malaysia Bible, which contains the word “Allah”. — Picture by Choo Choy May
CFM general secretary Tan Kong Beng credits SIB’s growing appeal to “cultural affinities” between the local indigenous community and those from the Borneo interior.
First set up in Sarawak in 1928 and regarded as a relatively young church, the SIB has been making inroads into Peninsular Malaysia in the last two decades.
Some 30 SIB congregations have been set up in the peninsula to date, with more on the way.
Tan sees the SIB evangelists from Sabah and Sarawak to be more empathetic with the Orang Asli groups and so better able to build a closer rapport with the locals.
“Urban West Malaysians are very different from the Orang Asli,” Tan told The Malaysian Insider.
He explained that English — commonly used in the city and town churches — proved a challenge to those living in the rural areas.
The Bumiputera generally speak in their own native tongues, or the national language with outsiders, he said.
The SIB congregation in Shah Alam consists mainly of youths from Sabah and Sarawak. — Picture by Choo Choy May
The church has a dedicated Orang Asli ministry, made up mainly of young working adults and university students who visit the tribespeople and provide a range of social-welfare services, such as basic health checks and free tuition classes, making the indigenous more receptive towards the church.
But even as the church expands, so have its problems.
SIB church leaders from both sides of the South China Sea complained of the home ministry’s increasingly heavy-handed treatment towards the church and its members, prompting them to file several lawsuits against the government.
Earlier this year, a group of Orang Asli Christians in Pahang sued the government for refusing to supply water and electricity to their village church.
The Jahut from Kampung Kubang Pasu lost the case at the Temerloh High Court but were appealing the decision.
