Bishop under fire over his unwarranted Bersih campaign
(Malaysia Outlook) – Malacca and Johor Catholic Diocese Bishop Bernard Paul came under fire from Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) today for mixing religion with politics with his campaign for Bersih 5.0 Yellow Shirt rally.
As a Bishop, said PCM vice-president Huan Cheng Guan, Bernard should focus more on church matters rather than meddling into political matters that were irrelevant to religion.
“Don’t bring religion into politics. It’s unwarranted. I think this is a half past six Bishop. Why urging the people to participate in #Bersih rally?
“A religious figure like him should not encourage the public to go for demonstration or rally. A highly respected religious figure, but he talks like an idiot,” blasted Huan when contacted today.
On Thursday, Huan also posted part of his comments on his Facebook page alongside an image of Bernard’s Bersih campaign digital flyer, in which the bishop had allegedly called on Malaysians to join the Yellow Shirts street demonstration scheduled on Nov 19.
In the flyer, which has gone viral in the social media networks, the clergy has urged Malaysians to light up and place a lamp on their house gates from Nov 14 until the rally day.
“Fill the nation with yellow lights. Overcome darkness,” Bernard has allegedly rallied on Malaysians, adding that participating in the Bersih demonstration was a citizen’s right, not party politics.
In declaring the church support to Bersih, he said the Yellow Shirt street march was not in support of either Barisan Nasional or divisive opposition.
Huan however, questioned on Bernard’s wisdom to support the Yellow Shirt rally when then the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in collaboration with Bersih had disseminated lies to the public in the last general election.
He pointed out that then the Pakatan Rakyat-Bersih axis lied to the public about 40,000 Bangladesh voters and about a non-existent blackout at a polling station during counting.
He recalled on an incident where an Indian Malaysian voter with a Chinese name, as he was adopted by a Chinese family, was beaten up by a group of the axis supporters on the polling day as the opposition spread lies in the social media that the voter was a Bangladesh national.
“Later the opposition elected representative apologised for the ugly and violent incident,” recalled Huan.
