Pakatan Rakyat (PR) insists that the continued intolerance of Christians shows that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent diplomatic visit to the Vatican was “a waste of time and resources.”
But Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers are holding the federal opposition accountable, pointing out that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) is administered by the PKR-led state government.
“The mentri besar and his exco must explain. It has hurt the feelings of all Malaysians especially non-Malays, projecting the view that we are trying to convert Muslims,” Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong told The Malaysian Insider.
The MCA Youth chief also said that coming after 8TV pulled its advertisements depicting a Chinese girl eating and dressed inappropriately in front of Muslims during Ramadan, the raid by Jais only deepened the hurt felt by the Chinese community.
His Umno counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin also said the Selangor government had to explain Jais’ “overzealous moral policing to disrupt a unity dinner for Malaysians of all backgrounds.”
However, PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Jais had to explain “on whose instructions they acted on,” implying that the religious bodies still took instructions from Putrajaya.
The Seri Setia assemblyman said with the religious climate at home still tense, the prime minister’s recent visit to the Vatican was “a waste of time and resources that should have been put into solving Christian problems back home.”
“Theoretically, they might be under Selangor but time and again they have illustrated deviant practices that smack of political interference by their paymasters,” PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said, referring to the Public Service Department that is administered federally.
“Prime Minister Najib should be reminded to right the wrongs in his own backyard before moving on to sound his moralistic trumpet overseas,” the Lembah Pantai MP told The Malaysian Insider.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also said that Najib’s overtures overseas were “pointless” and that the BN chief should concentrate on long-standing Christian issues such as the banning of the use of the word Allah to refer to God and the seizure of Malay-language bibles under the Internal Security Act.
The Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya said that last night’s function was a thanksgiving dinner for its non-profit organisation where only 15 of the 100-plus guests were Malays.
Senior pastor Daniel Ho said “(they came in) on the pretext of a complaint and said somebody made a complaint,” but did not explain what the complaint was.
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