Consultant Editor
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 – On a day when Christians congregate, other Malaysians, including senior Muslim leaders, joined them in a show of unity and peace, and in defiance of the spate of firebombing and vandalism of churches in recent days.
In an attempt to relegate the attacks to the fringe, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders joined Christians in worship and dialogue even as reports of more attacks streamed in.
BN and opposition politicians made unprecedented visits to churches to reassure Christian Malaysians, who have grown fearful of the attacks.
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said that the government plans to hold a series of dialogues between religious leaders.
Earlier, the BN man sat next to the DAP’s Teresa Kok as they both joined the members of the Metro Tabernacle church in worship at borrowed premises in Wisma MCA here.
The church was the most seriously damaged in the attacks, with its administrative office gutted on Friday.
Also present at the service was CIMB Group CEO Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, brother of the prime minister. He presented a donation of RM100,000 on behalf of the bank to the church.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had visited the church yesterday and described the attacks as “heinous”.
Other leaders like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim from PKR, as well as PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat also visited various churches and held dialogue sessions with Christians.
“The Caliph Umar, who visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 638 AD, was careful to ensure that the Muslims respect the sanctity of Christian places of worship,” said Anwar, reading from a prepared statement, before attending a dialogue at the Lutheran centre in Petaling Jaya.
According to a Reuters report, Malaysians packed churches to listen to sermons of “reaching out in friendship to all, including Muslims” and “keeping the peace in multi-religious Malaysia” but many still felt their religious rights were being trampled.
“There are extremists in this country and the government seems unable to do anything,” said Wilson Matayun, a salesman who attended Mass at St Anthony’s Church in Kuala Lumpur. “I am losing faith in our government. I pray it does not get worse.”
Matayun is from Sabah, where a large number of non-English speaking Christians have worshipped “Allah” for decades. Christians account for 9.1 per cent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.
The attacks against churches have come amid a row over the recent High Court ruling that allowed the Catholic newspaper Herald to use “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia editions.
Police have been quick to point out that it has still not been ascertained if the attackers are Muslims.
Government and Muslim leaders have also taken pains to emphasise that such acts of violence were not representative of Islam.
In an effort to repair ties, six Muslim NGOs also announced today an offer to work with Rela to help protect churches from further attacks.
A church in Miri reported that a stone was flung at the building today, making it the seventh attack against a Christian institution in three days.
This is the first reported attack in East Malaysia where a large part of the population are Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and also the ruling BN’s “fixed deposit” of votes and parliamentary seats in Election 2008.
Four churches in the Klang Valley were hit by petrol bombs on Friday while one was hit last night in Taiping. A Malacca church reported it was splashed with black paint while a priest in Penang had his car splashed with red paint.
A convent school in Taiping was also the target of an attempt with petrol bombs found near its guardhouse overnight. Church authorities believe it was meant for the St Louis Church next door.
The Home Ministry and senior police officers are expected to brief the press and foreign diplomats tomorrow on the attacks, which are blamed on “fringe elements”.
No comments:
Post a Comment