The statement that as long as these people demonstrating within the Mosque, the government can not do anything to them is weak. When Reformasi movement staged demonstration at the National Mosque, the FRU clearly were inside the Mosque to catch the protester - Tian Chua can tell you a lot about this. And when people demonstrated against ISA, they were called biadap, but our PM is powerless to act when UMNO sanctioned group demonstrated. What is the logic to that statement?
In fact if Najib is wise this would be the right time to display his 1 Malaysia credential and leadership by inviting Church leaders to discuss the controversy. This is clearly a failure of leadership and BN government is very irresponsible and unable to govern from the center but has to gain votes through the fringe group of extremist. Very tragic indeed.
YB Tengku Razaleigh has a good take on UMNO and the Allah issue and below I quoted to sum up the thing I want to say.
"Umno’s position in the present controversy over the use of the term “Allah” by non-Muslims is an example. In a milestone moment, PAS, the Islamic party, is holding onto the more plural and moderate position while Umno is digging itself into an intolerant hardline position that has no parallel that I know of in the Muslim world. Umno is fanning communal sentiment, and the government it leads is taking up policy lines based on “sensitivities” rather than principle. The issue appears to be more about racial sentiment than religious, let alone constitutional principles.
In a complex multiracial society a party and a government whose primary response to a public issue is sunk in the elastic goo of “sensitivities” rather than founded on principle, drawn from sentiment rather than from the Constitution, is already short of leadership and moral fibre. Public life is about behaving and choosing on principle rather than sentiment. Islam, in particular, demands that our actions be guided by an absolute commitment to justice for all rather than by looking inward at vague “sensitivities” of particular groups, however politically significant. It is about doing what is right rather than protecting arbitrary feelings. If feelings diverge from what is right and just, then it’s time to show some leadership."
12/01/2010
In fact if Najib is wise this would be the right time to display his 1 Malaysia credential and leadership by inviting Church leaders to discuss the controversy. This is clearly a failure of leadership and BN government is very irresponsible and unable to govern from the center but has to gain votes through the fringe group of extremist. Very tragic indeed.
YB Tengku Razaleigh has a good take on UMNO and the Allah issue and below I quoted to sum up the thing I want to say.
"Umno’s position in the present controversy over the use of the term “Allah” by non-Muslims is an example. In a milestone moment, PAS, the Islamic party, is holding onto the more plural and moderate position while Umno is digging itself into an intolerant hardline position that has no parallel that I know of in the Muslim world. Umno is fanning communal sentiment, and the government it leads is taking up policy lines based on “sensitivities” rather than principle. The issue appears to be more about racial sentiment than religious, let alone constitutional principles.
In a complex multiracial society a party and a government whose primary response to a public issue is sunk in the elastic goo of “sensitivities” rather than founded on principle, drawn from sentiment rather than from the Constitution, is already short of leadership and moral fibre. Public life is about behaving and choosing on principle rather than sentiment. Islam, in particular, demands that our actions be guided by an absolute commitment to justice for all rather than by looking inward at vague “sensitivities” of particular groups, however politically significant. It is about doing what is right rather than protecting arbitrary feelings. If feelings diverge from what is right and just, then it’s time to show some leadership."
12/01/2010
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