A national non-Muslim council has urged all parties not to stoke further the 'Christian Malaysia' issue.
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taosim (MCCBCST) has called on the media to stop sensationalising the Christian Malaysia issue.
It has also urged all relevant parties not to ‘jump into conclusions’ and to wait instead for the full report on the incident to be released.
Speaking to MCCBCST president Rev Thomas Philips said it was important not to “jump into conclusions and create more issues”.
“The police are conducting an investigation, the (Home) Ministry has already come out with a statement, the Christian leaders have come up and said that there was no such (pledge)…there is no need (for other parties) to make (other) unnecessary claims and sensationalize the matter,” he said.
Thomas said no one should doubt that Islam is the religion of the federation and “everyone accepts this fact”.
The alleged “Christian plot” made headlines in Utusan Malaysia recently claimed that the DAP government in Penang, together with Christian leaders, was conspiring to replace Islam as the official religion and to install a Christian prime minister in Putrajaya.
The Utusan report was based on two pro-Umno blog posts. Both the DAP and the Christian leaders have denied this.
Police are currently investigating the matter.
The Home Ministry also announced on Thursday that Utusan has been given a warning over the article, a move some said was too light a punishment.
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had met with a group of Christian leaders over the matter.
Najib did not apologise to the community but instead said that the Christian leaders had given a pledge to respect Islam as the official religion.
No apology
Tan declined to speculate on whether the PM was ‘sincerity’ in wanting to tackle the issue as no apology was rendered.
Earlier today FMT reported another Christian leader, Bishop Paul Tan of the Malacca-Johor diocese as being extremely “displeased and disgusted” with the outcome of the meeting with the PM.
He said the Christian leaders had become like “sheep being led to their slaughter” because they had not set a clear agenda for the meeting and hence had walked into the “trap” of conceding that Islam be safeguarded and the Christians agreed to this.
Following the 2008 general election, relious issues have been among issue which has reared its head.
In August 2009, group of Muslims protesting against the construction of a Hindu temple in Selangor paraded in front of the Selangor state secretariat with a severed cow’s head.
The group had marched with the bloodied cow’s head from a mosque to the Selangor menteri besar’s office where some of the protesters stomped and spat on the head and made fiery speeches.
The incident riled Hindus nationwide. Cows are considered sacred animals in Hinduism.
In January 2010, Muslims raged and ranted over a Dec 31, 2009 High Court ruling allowing Catholic weekly, The Herald, to use the term “Allah” in their Bahasa Malaysia publciation. The Home Ministry has appealed the decision.
But it led to widespread arson against churches and a gurdwara.
More recently the federal government detained around 50 000 copies of the Malay language bible Al-Kitab.
According to the federal government the issue has since been ‘resolved’.
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taosim (MCCBCST) has called on the media to stop sensationalising the Christian Malaysia issue.It has also urged all relevant parties not to ‘jump into conclusions’ and to wait instead for the full report on the incident to be released.
Speaking to MCCBCST president Rev Thomas Philips said it was important not to “jump into conclusions and create more issues”.
“The police are conducting an investigation, the (Home) Ministry has already come out with a statement, the Christian leaders have come up and said that there was no such (pledge)…there is no need (for other parties) to make (other) unnecessary claims and sensationalize the matter,” he said.
Thomas said no one should doubt that Islam is the religion of the federation and “everyone accepts this fact”.
The alleged “Christian plot” made headlines in Utusan Malaysia recently claimed that the DAP government in Penang, together with Christian leaders, was conspiring to replace Islam as the official religion and to install a Christian prime minister in Putrajaya.
The Utusan report was based on two pro-Umno blog posts. Both the DAP and the Christian leaders have denied this.
Police are currently investigating the matter.
The Home Ministry also announced on Thursday that Utusan has been given a warning over the article, a move some said was too light a punishment.
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had met with a group of Christian leaders over the matter.
Najib did not apologise to the community but instead said that the Christian leaders had given a pledge to respect Islam as the official religion.
No apology
Tan declined to speculate on whether the PM was ‘sincerity’ in wanting to tackle the issue as no apology was rendered.
Earlier today FMT reported another Christian leader, Bishop Paul Tan of the Malacca-Johor diocese as being extremely “displeased and disgusted” with the outcome of the meeting with the PM.
He said the Christian leaders had become like “sheep being led to their slaughter” because they had not set a clear agenda for the meeting and hence had walked into the “trap” of conceding that Islam be safeguarded and the Christians agreed to this.
Following the 2008 general election, relious issues have been among issue which has reared its head.
In August 2009, group of Muslims protesting against the construction of a Hindu temple in Selangor paraded in front of the Selangor state secretariat with a severed cow’s head.
The group had marched with the bloodied cow’s head from a mosque to the Selangor menteri besar’s office where some of the protesters stomped and spat on the head and made fiery speeches.
The incident riled Hindus nationwide. Cows are considered sacred animals in Hinduism.
In January 2010, Muslims raged and ranted over a Dec 31, 2009 High Court ruling allowing Catholic weekly, The Herald, to use the term “Allah” in their Bahasa Malaysia publciation. The Home Ministry has appealed the decision.
But it led to widespread arson against churches and a gurdwara.
More recently the federal government detained around 50 000 copies of the Malay language bible Al-Kitab.
According to the federal government the issue has since been ‘resolved’.
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