Najib is God to MIC and not Murugan in Batu Caves

Najib adds to the topsy-turvy view of religion in Malaysia

Written by Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

When Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak attended the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur’s Christmas tea party on Christmas day, Najib’s officials arrived ahead of him and inspected Archbishop Murphy Pakiam’s premises. They wanted to see if their directive to remove crucifixes and other religious symbols had been adhered to.

There were reports that Najib himself had not requested a ban on crosses and crucifixes, or other religious paraphernalia. Everyone seemed to take great pains to deny everything that had been leaked to the press. So who is wrong and who is right?

When the PAS candidate Normala Sudirman went to meet the electorate in Tenang, she stuck to her religious convictions and shook hands using gloves. The MCA president Chua Soi Lek called Normala unfriendly and projected an image that she and her party were not suitable to represent Tenang.

It was obvious that BN had ordered Chua to demean Normala but this plan fell apart and the ensuing public spat between MCA and Umno did not do BN any favours.

Chua was brought up and has lived in Malaysia, a multicultural society. He should have known better than to impose his western views on Normala.

If only Chua would study and learn from what they do in other parts of the world.

Last weekend, the Iranian foreign minister Saeed Jalili met with his European Union counterpart Baroness Ashton, for talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Lady Ashton kept her arms firmly folded behind her back to avoid accidentally causing diplomatic offence. There was no backlash the following day about Lady Ashton’s or Jalili’s “unfriendliness”, just because both avoided shaking hands.

At the recent Thaipusam celebrations in Batu Caves, kavadis and devotees were blessed by the large statue of Lord Muruga overlooking the entire Batu Caves temple complex. However, at the temple gates, there was an even bigger cut-out of Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak towering over everyone.

Najib’s larger than life presence must have been embarrassing to the true devotees of the festival.

If I were Najib, I would have instructed the temple authorities that his (Najib’s) image was totally inappropriate.

Surely Najib must have known that despite the good intentions of the temple committee to promote his 1Malaysia message, the PM’s cut-out in a place of worship stood out like a pork-pie in a synagogue. It seemed to diminish the religious significance of the day.

People must have noticed how the commercialisation of our festivals and profiting from religion has eroded our values.

However, it appears that this is not the first time that Najib’s cut-out has appeared at the Batu Caves temple.

A cut-out of those proportions must have cost a lot of money. This money could have been spent on the good causes supported by the temple like helping the poor, and needy children.

Najib could and should have offered words to that effect to the temple committee, unless of course he prides himself on being compared favourably, with a deity?

A believer should be allowed to practice his or her religion freely. There is no reason why religion should be politicised nor should there be excuses for sycophants to hijack religious causes, just to gain the extra mile in politics.