KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Calling it yet another conspiracy plot, a PAS MP and a Catholic priest both spoke out today against the latest news linking church charity groups to covert conversions as a ploy to pit Muslims against Christians.
Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad suggested it was it was a political move calculated to claw back the support of Malay-Muslim voters ahead of the 13th general election, expected to be called by year-end.
Earlier today, Umno-owned Berita Harian and its sister newspaper Harian Metro had accused certain Christian groups of buying over Muslims in an attempt to swell their ranks by offering cash, free food and housing to poverty-stricken Malays.
Rev Father Michael Chua dismissed the allegations as old news, saying the stories about mass conversions of Muslims as well as the entry of large numbers of “priests” or “pastors” brought in intentionally for this purpose have repeatedly surfaced within the Muslim community.
“Past allegations have never been substantiated by any proof or evidence. I believe that such rumours are often used to frighten Muslims and to create hostility against Christians,” said the Catholic Church’s ecclesiastical assistant in charge of ecumenical and inter-religious affairs in the Kuala Lumpur area.
“[But] This is the first time I’m hearing of a ‘priest’ training programme involving former Muslims as alleged by the two persons interviewed in the Malay dailies,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
According to witness accounts as reported by the two newspapers, they embraced Christianity after attending talks by Christian evangelists from east Malaysia and Indonesia and being given copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia besides listening to Christian religious tapes.
“Given the sensitive nature of this issue, I believe the matter should not be left to ‘trial by media’ as the sensationalising of this issue would only result in reinforcing lies, half truths and prejudices,” the Catholic priest said.
In the latest census results released a few months ago by the Statistics Department, Malays, who are constitutionally Muslim, make up the biggest race and religious group nationwide at 61.3 per cent. In comparison, Christians form only 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million population.
The reports by Berita Harian and Harian Metro come three months after another Umno-owned daily, Utusan Malaysia, frontpaged a report headlined “Kristian agama rasmi?” (“Christianity the official religion?”) based entirely on the words of a handful of pro-Umno bloggers claiming a secret pact to install a Christian instead of a Muslim as prime minister and oust Islam as the religion of the federation.
Putrajaya’s severe actions in limiting the import of the Alkitab, the Malay-language version of the Bible, from Indonesia plus delays in moving forward the legal tussle over the use of the word “Allah” to also refer to the Christian god has stirred anger among the community, especially in east Malaysia, long considered the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s vote bank.
The allegations by BN-controlled media that depict Christians as working hand-in-glove with communist insurgents and opposition politicians to topple the government of the day and supplant it with a Christian prime minister have stirred a storm of protests that saw thousands take to the streets in a public rally organised by electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 on July 9.
1 comment:
I went to the Post Office to register to vote; and upon checking my identity card, the Post officer asked which religion I belonged to. Why? I do not know. Therefore, we must reform the Department of Religion. Right now, only Islam is recognised as the religion in the Department of Religion. Therefore we need reforms. We need to divide the Department of Religion into two branches: one branch to deal with Muslim Affairs, and another branch to deal with non-Muslim Affairs.
Another alternative is to persuade the Malays to separate Penang Island from Peninsular Malaysia. It may be that non-Muslims are the majority in Penang. More and more non-Muslims from Peninsular Malaysia should be encouraged to relocate to Penang. Once Penang becomes a non-Muslim majority state, then the Penangites can ask for greater autonomy from KL. Penang should be allowed to make its own laws for itself. I think the Malays should be happy if more non-Malays relocate to Penang. An increase in non-Malays in Penang will result in a decrease in non-Malays in Peninsular Malaysia; and therefore Malays should be happy. Malays should encourage non-Muslims to relocate to Penang. Since Singapore is a non-Muslim majority nation, Penang should also become a non-Muslim majority state. The non-Muslim citizens need a hub and space of their own; and the hub and space would be Penang. Those non-Muslim citizens who are unwilling to accept a second class citizen status inside Peninsular Malaysia should relocate to Penang Island.
If you are non-Muslim Malaysian and do feel socially, politically, or economically shortchanged, then stop complaining and fretting. Do something. Instead of fretting and complaining, please make arrangements to relocate to Penang. If you have non-Muslim friends who fret and complain, then immediately persuade them to relocate to Penang.
If you are non-Muslim Malaysian and do feel socially, politically, or economically shortchanged, then stop complaining and fretting. If non-Muslim taxpayers feel shortchanged, then stop the sweating, brooding, complaining, and having nightmares. There is a solution to the nightmares and depression. Do something. Please relocate to Penang.
If non-Muslims feel that Muslim Malaysians, as taxpayers, are having a parasitical relations with non-Muslim Malaysians, then the non-Muslims must do something. What should non-Muslims do to thwart the parasitical relations with Muslim Malaysians? If you are non-Muslim, please relocate to Penang Island. The solution is relocate to Penang Island; and the Muslim Malaysians also should encourage non-Muslim Malaysians to relocate to Penang.
Please make sure you go to the nearest Post Office to register to vote. Please exercise your right to vote.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
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