Sunday, January 10, 2010

What's next after church attacks in Malaysia?

He could lose votes in the states of Sabah and Sarawak which have larger Christian populations. Sarawak has 31 MPs and Sabah 25, home to just two opposition MPs. The government has 137 seats in a 222-member parliament.

Malaysian Muslims rallied on Friday to protest against Christians using the word "Allah" for God after a spate of attacks on churches which threatened to stoke racial and religious tensions.
Following are some questions and answers on what lies ahead in this majority Muslim Southeast Asian country of 28 million.


IS THERE A RISK OF ETHNIC CLASHES?
The risk is small but analysts do not discount tensions coming to a boil between the majority Malays who are Muslim and ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who practice a range of faiths such as Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.

It mostly depends on whether Prime Minister Najib Razak's government comes down hard on the arsonists who attacked the churches. Usually at any sign of trouble the government uses the Internal Security Act that allows detention without trial.

The government says the attacks have been carried out by disaffected or criminal youths and that they are not coordinated.

What may hold back ethnic clashes is the memory of the bloody 1969 riots that divided the country.

Protests on Friday at mosques against the non-Muslim use of the word Allah have been peaceful although the language on banners and speeches suggests growing anger.

ARE RELIGIOUS TENSIONS IN MALAYSIA AN INVESTMENT RISK?
After the arson attempts against the churches, possibly. Religious disputes are a risk mostly in their potential to increase ethnic tensions, making it important for investors to see how the government handles the issue.

Investors have been avoiding Malaysia due to the lacklustre government of Najib's predecessor and Najib is working hard to implement economic reforms to win back investment.
Malaysia was one of the worst-performing stock markets in Asia in 2009, ranked fourth from the bottom. Malaysia's benchmark share index rose 45 percent in 2009.

During a meeting with investors in New York last year, Najib was asked about the government's stand over the caning sentence meted out to a Muslim woman for drinking beer under rarely-enforced Islamic criminal laws.

An escalation of religious tensions in Malaysia could weaken Najib's ability to push through economic reforms.

WHAT COULD HAVE SPARKED THE PROTESTS, CHURCH ATTACKS?
The issue stems from a Malaysian Catholic newspaper's successful legal bid last week to overturn a government ban against the paper's use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God in its Malay language edition.

Their argument is that use of the word Allah has been common among non-English speaking Malaysian Christians in the Borneo island states of Sabah and Sarawak for decades.
The government since has obtained a stay of execution on the judgment this week amid growing Malay-Muslim anger. The case is also before the Appeal's court and the verdict there can still be challenged at the Federal Court, Malaysia's top court.

It is illegal for non-Muslims to proselytise to Muslims but freedom of worship for the mainly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu religious minorities, who make up 40 percent of the country's population, is guaranteed under the constitution.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT'S STANCE?
The coalition, which ruled Malaysia for 52 years, suffered its worst-ever setbacks in national and state elections in 2008 after being abandoned by non-Malays in part due to unease over an increasing Islamisation.

Religious tensions will jeopardise Prime Minister Najib Razak's ability to win back ethnic Chinese and Indian voters in the next general election, which must be held by 2013. The opposition and some political commentators say that Najib failed to show leadership on the church issue.

He could lose votes in the states of Sabah and Sarawak which have larger Christian populations. Sarawak has 31 MPs and Sabah 25, home to just two opposition MPs. The government has 137 seats in a 222-member parliament.

AND THE OPPOSITION?
The three-party opposition People's Alliance led by former Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim is regarded as having played the religious row much more skilfully than the government.
While stressing its Muslim credentials, the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has appealed for tolerance as has Anwar. PAS has also managed to keep its Islamic credentials intact.





By Niluksi Koswanage, Reuters

(Reporting by Razak Ahmad, Niluksi Koswanage and Soo Ai Peng; Editing by David Chance and Sugita Katyal)


Kelantan 1977 revisited: to understand Selangor 2010

ABIM, TERAS, PERKASA, PPIM, PKPIM, PEWARIS, KIMMA, PEKIDA, etc. What do all these NGOs, associations and movements have in common?

Well, they all serve the Umno agenda under the guise of ‘protecting’ Islam.To understand Umno's agenda you have to take a walk down memory lane, all the way back to Kelantan in 1977.

In 1977, Umno wanted to bring down the PAS state government of Kelantan. So Hussein Ahmad ‘imported’ some gangsters from across the border town of Golok, Thailand, and paid them to burn Chinese shops, houses and cars.(Hussein Ahmad used to be a rice smuggler in Rantau Panjang before he became a Cabinet Minister so he had good links with the Thai underworld in Golok).

Kota Bharu was in utter chaos so the federal government had ‘no choice’ but to declare an emergency in Kelantan and suspend the Kelantan State Assembly for a few months. Then, fresh state elections were held in March 1978 (only for the State Assembly and not for the Parliament seats) ahead of the 1978 General Election.

Invariably, Umno swept Kelantan and PAS was kicked out where it remained in the opposition until Umno split into two (Umno Baru and Semangat 46), which enabled PAS, in ‘joint venture’ with Semangat 46, to take back the state in the 1990 General Election.Read: Kelantan Emergency of December 1977 (http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/echoes_of_the_past/kelantan_emergency_of_december_1977.html)

Remember Malaysia Today wrote some months ago that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak plans to take back Selangor around January 2010? Pakatan Rakyat of course denied that this would happen. Maybe they thought Najib was going to pull off another Perak exercise by buying over some Pakatan Rakyat State Assemblypersons.Of course, in Perak this was possible because of the narrow three-seat majority that Pakatan Rakyat had whereas Pakatan Rakyat has a much larger majority in Selangor.

So it is not that easy.But there is more than one way to skin a feline and who better than Najib when it comes to skinning pussies? In fact, he can even make the fairer sex and their immigration records disappear if he wants to.

That is how good he is with pussies.And another way of skinning felines of any kind is to do a repeat of Kelantan 1977. Trigger another chaos in the state, declare an emergency, suspend the State Assembly, and a few months later call for new state elections with maybe an ‘Operasi Lalang 2’ thrown in for good measure.

Notice that the church burnings and car smashing are only in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur? Kelantan and Terengganu have a Muslim population of more than 97%. And there are churches in these predominantly Muslim states as well. Why are there no problems there?

In fact, other than Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, there are no problems in any other parts of Malaysia.Simple, really -- the target is Selangor, the jewel in Pakatan Rakyat's crown. Najib wants back Selangor and he wants it back this month.

So Umno has to do a Kelantan December 1977’ revisited to get back Selangor in January 2010. And that is why Umno paid its goons to burn churches just in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur but not in any other area in Malaysia.

Yes, I know, they are now going to make another police report against me for this article. But with about 15 or 20 police reports made against me over the last year alone, does one more make any difference?Now let’s all sing the song ‘Get me to the church on time’! (See video on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScSd03OjVx4)


Malay rights group Perkasa has lodged a police report against Malaysiakini over a comment posted by a reader in the online news daily.The report, which was made by Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali late yesterday, said that the comment could offend the sensitivities of the Muslim community.

The National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students (PKPIM) lodged a police report against Herald for its usage of 'Allah' in its Catholic publication.The report was lodged at the Dang Wangi police station today at 3.30 pm following a protest at the Kampung Baru Mosque earlier today.

Abu Qasim Nurazmi, the deputy president of PKPIM accompanied by Muhamad Raimi Abdul Rahim, the secretary-general of ABIM filed the report.They alleged that The Herald is using 'Allah' in their publication with malicious intent and that their action is mala fide."We urge the police to conduct a through investigation on the motive of The Herald for insisting on using 'Allah' in their publication," said Abu Qasim said.

In the police report, the Muslim group said The Herald should respect Article 11 (4) of Federal Constitution and not try to confuse the Muslim community.Article 11 (4) states that State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.

According to Muhamad Raimi, state Islamic departments in 10 states have issued a fatwa against propagation of other religions to Muslims."Thus, we feel that The Herald is disregarding the provisions of the Federal Constitution and disrespecting Islam, creating disharmony among Malaysians," he said. Abu Qasim agreed and felt it could lead to further chaos in the country if The Herald does not respect that Islam is the official religion in the country.

Earlier, cries of 'Allahu Akbar!' and 'Takbir' were heard moments after Friday prayers concluded in the Kampung Baru mosque.About 50 people gathered within the compounds to protest against the usage of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims.Calling it a "Youth Awareness Campaign", the group proceeded with their speeches despite calls to "go home" by other Muslims who were leaving the mosque."

The churches have already been blown up, and now you want to 'blow up' here as well? Just go home!" said one man. However, the group's leaders were quick to add that they condemned the incidents of arson on the three churches.

'Accept the fact, Islam is the official religion'

Representing 38 NGOs including Abim, PPKIM and Sahabat Insan dan Iman, the group presented a declaration titled: "Declaration for Harmony between Religions".

It said all must "understand and respect sensitivities of Muslims, and accept that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia and that the constitution was written based on this fact."It also said society must "realise that the consitution has placed Islam in a special place and this has been agreed upon by those of different religions and races in Malaysia.

"Thus, the NGOs called for "a halt on all claims on matters pertaining to Islam that disrupts and hurt the feelings of Muslims, and undermines national safety".They also said matters like the 'Allah' issue must be "handled out of court".

However, Muhammad Raimi said they supported the Home Ministry's decision to appeal the lift of the ban on the usage of the word 'Allah' by the The Herald.He stressed that they respected the court's decision, but are gathering to show their dissatisfaction regarding the issue.

'Don't test our patience'"We want to send a message that this is a sensitive issue. Leave 'Allah' for the Muslims," he said, matching banners which read: "The word 'Allah' is only for us".Others who spoke included Zaim Shaari from Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia who said: "We don't want our land to be colonised."

"There is a limit to our patience; don't challenge us or try to incite our anger. We do not want to invite altercations. If we can respect other religions then why can't they respect us and not try to mix everything in one bag?" he asked.PKPIM president Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz called on all Muslims leaders in the country to produce a joint statement "to defend the word 'Allah'".

"This is not a political issue, so I urge the leaders to overcome the political divide and to unite in the name of 'Allah'," he said.Despite what the group claimed that the use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims offends all Muslims, members of the faith appear divided on the matter.

Groups like the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) supported the lifting of the ban.

Muhammad Raimi said: "Perhaps they have this view because they are a minority (in North America). They are entitled to their own views but we don't agree with them."





by Malaysiakini