Utusan's Christian-state: Is Najib playing games with God

Written by Selena Tay, Malaysia Chronicle

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour - that is one of the 10 Commandments as listed in the Old Testament in the Bible.

And in the Book of Proverbs it is stated:

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. – Proverbs 6:16-19

Due to a Malay daily putting on its front page a report that Christian leaders are in league with DAP to form a Christian state, Christian leaders have come out strongly saying that they have never advocated and will never advocate any idea for a Christian state. They have stated that at all times they respect the Federal Constitution and the position of Islam as the country's official religion.

Of course the local Malay daily, which published the lies that Christian leaders intend to set up a Christian state, can be only described as ridiculous if not for the fact that the publication of such lies would create fear among the Muslims.

In doing so, this local daily could have stirred up animosity between the Muslims and the Christians, but thank God this has not happened. Or is widespread enough to be seen.

News-paper or Lies-paper

Being the mouthpiece of UMNO, it is perhaps the intention of the daily and its political master to woo the Malays before the 13th General Election widely tipped by political pundits to be held this year.

This daily is no more a newspaper but has become a 'lies-paper' or propaganda tool of UMNO.

According to Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, "there has never been a shadow of a doubt that the daily has been lying all along and in doing so has succeeded in its evil intention of raising religious and racial tension. If one reads this paper, one must take in its contents with many tablespoons of salt."

This 'newspaper' has made no worthwhile contribution to society and is of little value in terms of real news, the PAS leader added.

Islam forbids its followers to slander others and it is amazing that the Malay editors and reporters of the paper who are Muslims are publishing such outright lies that can cause racial and religious discord.

"It is also significant to note that Prime Minister Najib Razak has chosen to keep quiet concerning the misdeeds of this Malay daily. His deafening silence is significant as he has chosen neither to chastise or reprimand the paper's editors or reporters for putting as 'news' the slanderous lies of some bloggers," noted Khalid.

It is amazing that the two bloggers' unconfirmed and unsubstantiated views can see the light of day in a daily national publication, and this deserves the accusation it was malicious reporting with a hidden agenda to suit the evil purpose of the 'higher-ups'.

Playing games with the Master

Perhaps Najib is keeping mum as he is still weighing the pros and cons of this religious storm cooked up by his lackeys.

"Whether or not Najib started it, he is still hoping to gain some political mileage out of this Christian issue since it has already exploded. This is a very unfortunate event and this plot is hatched up completely in UMNO's interest," remarked Khalid to Malaysia Chronicle.

Whatever it is, the Christians have again become BN's bogeyman to instill fear in the Malays so that BN can continue to stay in power.

It may indicate that BN is running short of ideas to gain support from the Malays. From the DAP to the Chinese and now the Christians, one can only ask what next?

Khalid's PAS colleague, Dr Siti Mariah, the MP for Kota Raja is of the view that "BN is going to create more and more havoc before the general election and it will someday end in their own implosion. Everyone should be on the alert now with regards to BN's foul methods."

To the ruling BN coalition, it appears that even religion is not sacred anymore.

There is an unconventional Catholic saying which goes thus: Do not play games with God or God will play games with you and you will then see who is the Master of the game.

Najib must know that if he tampers with religious matters, he has dragged God into the Malaysian political scene and therefore God is in the game. Is he that foolish to play games with the Master?

Malaysia Chronicle