Najib should ask himself does he have the intellectual ability to be among the intellectual elites to give a meaningful discourse

Najib double-talks, double-faces, practices double-standards, and a double headed snake etc in all his ways of doing politics. He preaches one and practices another. He is not a man of his own words

As Najib preaches moderation in Oxford, Christians here call for action on Perkasa

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

As Prime Minister Najib Razak prepares to give a speech on moderation at UK's prestigious Oxford University, Christian leaders in Malaysia urged him to show the world that he meant what he said by taking firm action against an ultra-Malay rights rabble-rouser for threatening bloodshed against their community.

"Unless the prime minister deals firmly and openly with extremism and extremist views in his home country, his credibility will be badly affected," Ramon Navaratnam, a senior lay-Christian leader and past president of Transparency International told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Najib needs to act urgently to should show the world that he means what he says. He needs to step in to stamp out any extremism of any kind from any quarter, race or religious group."

False speeches

The 58-year old Najib is due to deliver a lecture at the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University entitled "Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding". The talk is part of Najib's itinerary during a two-day working visit to Britain.

Malaysian High Commissioner Zakaria Sulong said the lecture was to a group of about 700 people, including academicians and captains of industry. It would also deliberate on the issues of extremism, tolerance and Islamophobia.

This is not the first time that Najib has spoken on moderation and Islamophobia.

The previous time was in late 2010. He had called on the UN general assembly in Geneva to lead a charge of moderates and stem extremism.

But barely two months had passed when Najib vowed before his own political party at home that he would retain power even it meant "lost lives", "crushed bodies" and "ethnic cleansing".

Sprawling in blood

There has been a marked and sharp increase in racial and religious tensions in the country since Najib became prime minister in April 2009. He has often been lambasted for hypocrisy, false speech and gutter politicking.

Over the weekend, the president of ultra Malays rights group, Perkasa, vowed to launch a crusade against Christians if they continued to "disrespect" the Muslims in Malaysia.

Ibrahim Ali, the founder of Perkasa which has 200,000-members the majority of whom are actually from Najib's Umno party, had said that the thought of Christians demanding that their religion superceded Islam made his blood boil.

He vowed to defend Islam even if Perkasa members had to die in the process, "sprawling in blood".

“If they want a crusade, so be it. If they say that the peace that we enjoy is not good enough we shall take up the challenge. Don't take the silence of Muslims as a sign of fear,” he warned during a fiery and many say seditious speech on Saturday night.

“Before our followers fall in this battle, Perkasa leaders will first lay down their lives and die sprawling in blood.”

Who will speak up for the minority in Malaysia

Ibrahim was referring to a religious ruckus stirred up by Utusan - a newspaper owned by Umno. Last week, the newspaper deliberately ran an unsubstantiated report accusing Christian leaders and an opposition party of trying to replace Islam with Christianity as Malaysia's official religion.

Christian leaders have denied the accusations as false. They lambasted the newspaper for trying to sow seeds of racial discord for political motives and urged Najib, who is also Umno president, to take action.

But despite evidence the article was false and the Churches' vocal denial, Najib chose to stab Christian leaders in the back during a Thursday luncheon aimed at conciliation.

Instead of charting a way forward, he made it appear that he had managed to persuade the Christian leaders to drop the idea of turning Malaysia into a Christian state.

“With all the statements made, who will speak for those who have been attacked? The silence of leaders, who do not defend the rights of the minority, raises doubts among the minority. One person inciting religious sentiments would arouse many others,” Rev Thomas Philips said.

Christians form 10 per cent of the Malaysian population of 28 million. Malays and Muslims form more than 60 per cent.

- Malaysia Chronicle