Police record Ooi’s statement
By Lee Keng Fatt and Elvina Fernandez, NST
GEORGE TOWN: Police yesterday recorded a statement from Jelutong member of parliament Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun over his alleged involvement with a group purportedly trying to make Christianity the country’s official religion.
Ooi said he gave his statement at 10.30am and also lodged two reports — against Utusan Malaysia and the owner of the blog bigdogdot.com.wordpress.com for unwarranted and unsupported claims on the issue.
The Jelutong DAP denied that he had hosted the dinner in a hotel here on Thursday evening and clarified that there was no pledge among those who attended the dinner to have a Christian as the country’s prime minister.
Ooi also demanded that Utusan Malaysia and the blogger offer sincere apologies to all, including the Christian community, within 24 hours.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, said the claims against their community were lies, and refuted the bloggers’ allegations last night.
“The prayer sessions — one before dinner and one at the end — were a usual part of their (the organisers’) worship, and not a pledge as alleged,” said Ooi, who said he was also lodging the report on behalf of the DAP’s central executive committee. The organisers, in a joint statement yesterday, vehemently denied they had met on Friday to discuss making Christianity the official religion, claiming it to be unfounded and totally untrue.
The organiser of the Unashamedly Ethical marketplace conference is also perturbed by the claims in the blog that a special convention and meeting later that evening in Jalan Khaw Sim Bee was to ponder over having a Christian as Malaysia’s prime minister.
“The so-called special convention was in fact an Unashamedly Ethical marketplace seminar organised to discuss and address the issue of bribery and corruption in the marketplace and Christians’ contribution in addressing such issues. It has nothing to do with political succession.
“While it is true that several Christians and pastors gathered at a hotel in Jalan Macalister for dinner, the gathering was never with the intention to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia nor was it with a vow to have a Christian prime minister.
“The dinner was held to honour several pastors from Sarawak who were in Penang for the Unashamedly Ethical marketplace conference held on Friday morning.”
Utusan Malaysia carried a front-page article on Saturday headlined Malaysia, Negara Kristian? (Malaysia, a Christian country?) based on postings by several bloggers.
Bigdogdotcom claimed to have received a message that Ooi had organised a dinner for pastors from Sarawak and abroad at Red Rock Hotel in Jalan Macalister.
The blogger called on the authorities to investigate the allegations of sedition, warning that if the authorities failed in their duty, the country might be “shattered again”.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Catholic Church has also refuted claims of a conspiracy to turn the country into a Christian one with a Christian prime minister.
Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Nicholas Pakiam said the meeting that the bloggers and Utusan Malaysia had written about did not take place in a Catholic Church-owned venue.
“It is clear that this reporting is baseless and highly irresponsible as the reporters and editors of the above newspaper have not taken any reasonable steps whatsoever to verify the allegations made by anonymous bloggers.” Pakiam urged the authorities to take action against any individual or group which threatened racial harmony in the country.
“A thorough investigation into the matter should be made to determine the source of these insidious, provocative and malicious lies and take action against those behind it.” Pakiam said the Christian community in Malaysia had never advocated hatred, antagonism or animosity towards any other religion or group and called upon all Malaysians to “pray, hold dialogues and work together to strengthen national unity”.
