Posted on by Kit

If an Inter-Religious Council cannot be formed now to resolve the Allah controversy, then there is no way such a council could be revived under the Barisan Nasional

The failure of the Cabinet yesterday to address the issue of reviving an Inter-Religious Council set up during the premiership of Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early decades of nationhood to resolve inter-racial problems and conflicts starting with the “Allah” controversy is a serious and irremediable setback for the 1Malaysia slogan and policy of the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Not a single Minister, whether from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, UMNO or the Sabah and Sarawak Barisan Nasional parties was brave, principled or far-sighted enough to table the subject for formal discussion and decision at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

In October, Najib was so euphoric about his 1Malaysia slogan that he took it to the world stage to recommend its extension to a “1World” vision!

It was the height of presumption for Malaysia to ask the world to extend the 1Malaysia slogan to a 1World vision when Malaysia and the Barisan Nasional component parties under Najib had never been so disunited in the nation’s 52-year history – even the Makkal Sakthi spawned by Najib to replace MIC caught the disease and quickly split into two factions shortly after its official launch by the Prime Minister.

The 1Malaysia slogan has been shredded into tatters with the country and people torn into unprecedented divisions – with the “Allah” controversy for instance creating the dichotomy between (i) Malaysians who can use the term “Allah” from those who cannot; (ii) Christians who can use “Allah” in East Malaysia but not in West Malaysia; and (iii) the sheer lack of political will to restore an inter-religious council which was initiated by Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early decades of nationhood to resolve inter-racial differences and conflicts and promote inter-racial understanding, goodwill and harmony.

Because of the lack of political will to set up an inter-racial council, we have the sad spectacle of the Gerakan President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and the MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat plumbing for the second-best option of advocating either inter-religious “the tarik” sessions or inter-religious talks which lack proper representation and legitimacy, with the formal mandate and authority whether as a statutory body or other official status to act in an official capacity.

Can Tsu Koon, Tee Keat and all the other Ministers explain why they dare not even broach the subject of establishing an inter-religious council in the Cabinet?

If an Inter-Religious Council cannot be formed now to resolve the Allah controversy, then there is no way such a council could be revived under the Barisan Nasional although it was first established by Tunku in the first decades of nationhood – marking a serious and irreparable damage to Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan.

11 Replies to “If an Inter-Religious Council cannot be formed now to resolve the Allah controversy, then there is no way such a council could be revived under the Barisan Nasional”

  1. What inter-faith teh tarik talk.In Barisan they preach corruption,corruption & corruption.Now Najib is trying to preach 1Malaysia.What a joke.All Barisan coalition parties are gutless.They are toothless dogs that does not bark let alone bite.

  2. Why would MCA and MIC invite trouble? these two buggers seating comfortably on their respective chairs, only desperate GERAKAN who have no choice but open his mouth. They are the worst living proof inhabitat in modern society, unlike DAP and PR who are the only voice for rakyat of malaysia.

  3. Perhaps the BN Government has already run of cashflow for spending extra money in forming a formal inter-religious council, whereby the members of the council will most likely demand for a handsome sum of remuneration from the BN Government. Therefore, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and Ong Tee Keat would prefer an informal session of religious discussion so that all participants would have to pay for their own cup of “Teh Tarik” with an on dutch treat. Perhaps, both Tan Sri Dr. Koh and Dato Seri Ong are great men who both think alike: the Islamic representatives can be “kow-tim” in a much easier way over a cup of “Teh Tarik” than keep on talking and talking on a rountable with no direction from any respectable and capable religious top shot leader from the BN camp (simply because Tok Guru Nik Aziz is in the PR camp)!

  4. If an Inter-Religious Council cannot be formed now to resolve the Allah controversy, then there is no way such a council could be revived under the Barisan Nasional….(Kit)
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    Why must UMNO form an Inter-Religious Council since they have everything to lose (i.e. have to make compromises and concessions) and nothing to gain through the Council? Just let the court take over religious issues, everything will be OK for them (since they have people who can influence court decisions).

  5. Something actually puzzle me about UMNO and the ultras in the party. After 1969, the consensus was that UMNO had to coopt the ultras in order to stay in power and could not rely on the non-UMNO parties to back them up. The ultras are generally those ‘Allah for Malay people only’ crowd.

    The problem is that, it was always known and originally argued by Tunku that THAT crowd would lead to eventual disaster. Those who resisted the ultras originally only caved in because they thought somehow even the party would never forget that fundamental. When Mahathir came into power, he had to back off from many of his early rhetorics and compromised with the non-ultras that founded the party. It had seem the non-ultras was right – the party did not forget its fundamental. But somehow along the way, the forget to remind themselves of that. They forgot.

    So the issue is what should have been done so they would not have forgotten? The mistake made by Tunku was not making sure that there was a way to get rid of the ultras in his party after they were coopted i.e. doing the same thing Lee Kuan Yew did with the communist after he coopted them..He should have made it a pre-condition to stepping down for Razak. But to be fair, he was already out of power too much by the time Mahathir came into power and no way to claw back. His founding of Semangat 46, as revealed by Razaleigh, was a last brave attempt to do to the ultras what Lee Kuan Yew did to the communist.

    So the onus is now on Najib to ‘fix’ the ultras after coming into power. Instead he continue to pander to them. His biggest mistake was not coming up with 1Malaysia and lying about it but did not follow up with ‘fix the ultras-plan’. He did not realise he carried the responsibility of undone job of those that came before him. And it looks like his plan is not to do the job those before him failed to do..

  6. Inter-faith dialogue is the way to go. Laws are far too rigid a tool for use to unravel the clash points between religions. Actually what we now have is a non-issue. It was never an issue. Use of the allah term was never a clash point here or elsewhere. But umno decided to turn it into one for political reason. Now that some umno supporters have gone beserk over the issue umno quietly tugs its hands away. Not me. No. No. Mca, mic and the rest simply followed. And not having express any opinion on the matter so far, these people decided (rather conveniently) to carry on keeping mum.

  7. Probably Pakatan Rakyat should initiate its own inter-faith dialogue, and show to the people of this nation that Pakatan Rakyat is more serious than UMNO’s BN in resolving problems related to our country’s multi-ethnic & multi-religious differences.

  9. There was this chance for OTK or KTK to speak up and defend the so call MCA or Gerakan inspirations and aspirations.
    Time and time again..important issues….MCA and Gerakan leader have shown..what balless hypocrites they are.
    When things quiet down…then you can read the two hypocrites ad racists.. talk something…to support their lord almighty….Najib and UMNO.

  10. ‘Not a single Minister, whether from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, UMNO or the Sabah and Sarawak Barisan Nasional parties was brave, principled or far-sighted enough to table the subject for formal discussion and decision at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting’
    They have to look after their bread and butter and have no ba..s to do so.The Sabah and Sarawak BN parties who brought Najib to power in the GE12 should be ashamed of themself.

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