The Illogicality Of It All
By Masterwordsmith
This would have been a non-issue from the start had mutual respect and tolerance been practised. Despite the delicate situation, a few leaders continued to flex their muscles to intimidate and to fan the flames of fear raging then. Subsequently, an inter-faith dialogue was held but what has that achieved besides the usual pathetic and token attempts to white-wash issues?
In 1986, the government ban on the use by non-Muslims of the word “Allah”, and three others — “solat”, “Kaabah” and “Baitullah”. By 2009, the High Court allowed the church to use the word, but an appeal from the Home Ministry has left the decision hanging. Post “Allah” controversy, a few churches and a Catholic school were torched and threatened in January last year.
This would have been a non-issue from the start had mutual respect and tolerance been practised. Despite the delicate situation, a few leaders continued to fan the flames of fear raging then. Subsequently, an inter-faith dialogue was held but the status quo remains.
In March ’11, the Home Ministry seized 35,100 Malay-language bibles which were released just ahead of the Sarawak state election in April. However, copies in Peninsular Malaysia had to be chopped and marked with a cross and the words “Christian publication”.
Then in May, Penangites were stunned when a meeting between the Penang Chief Minister and Christian leaders was turned into a flaming controversy with ridiculous claims that the participants discussed making Christianity the official religion. Thereafter, Utusan Malaysia went to town. They front-paged two blogs making such a claim. (Read my blog post Truth Please, NOT Distortions of Reality!) Now the whole issue is in the back burner while another highly illogical controversy broke forth.
Last month, the PM went to the Vatican to establish diplomatic ties. On his return, the PM said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government would work with Christians who wished to uphold world peace and harmony as it was committed to the “global movement of moderates”. At Kompleks Bunga Raya, he said, “We wish to tell our friends, the Malaysian Christians . . . if they respect us, we will also respect them,” he told some 200 BN supporters here.
When you don’t practise the 1Malaysia policy, talk is cheap.
A few days earlier, Media Prima Bhd was forced to axe a controversial series of Ramadan commercials on its 8TV channel after scathing public criticism and claims that the advertisements were racist and highly insulting in nature. The advertisements depicted a Chinese girl eating greeding and dressed inappropriately in front of Muslims during Ramadan.
Guess who owns Media Prima, which in turn owns 8TV, and other channels like TV3 and TV9?What did they hope to achieve with those advertisements?
Two days ago, during an NGO Harapan Komuniti dinner in appreciation for its volunteers, leaders, supporters and members of the community who have benefited from its work, twenty odd police officers barged into the premises of Dream Centre. They disrupted the dinner and started taking videos and photographs and took down details of the Muslim guests. The dinner was non-religious in nature but held to celebrate the work of non-profit organisation Harapan Komuniti in helping women, children, HIV/AIDS sufferers and victims of natural disasters.
Apparently, the official ‘intruders’ came without a warrant on a complaint made by somebody but did not explain what it was. No arrest was made but they seized the function’s programme sheets and questioned the dinner organisers and guests. The raid was linked to attempts to preach to Malay Muslims about Christianity.
Public outrage followed. Politicians then played the blame game while Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) secretary-general Rev Hermen Shastri hit out at Selangor’s Islamic religious authorities for “storming” a Petaling Jaya church last night on flimsy grounds.
The raid was linked to attempts to preach to Malay Muslims about Christianity. Apparently, they on the pretext of a complaint made by someone but did not explain what it was.
1. Is it justified for Jais to conduct its investigations without first checking with the church leaders and worse still, to enter the religious places of other communities and conduct their investigations?
2. Where is respect for the activities and premises of those from other faiths?
3. Isn’t the month of Ramadhan supposed to be a month of tolerance? In the Qur’an, Muslims are commanded to fast so that they may “learn self-restraint”.
