Category: Islam

By Clara Chooi
May 14, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — The DAP claimed today one of its members had likely been coerced into lodging a report against the party in support of Utusan Malaysia’s Christian conspiracy article.

Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi, who was implicated in the Malay daily’s allegations last Saturday, told a press conference here that the member, Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman, could have been forced to lodge the report as the paper has not one single testimony made in its favour to date.

He complained that since Mohamed Razali’s report yesterday, the latter could not be reached over the phone.

“We have tried to contact him but he has not been answering his calls,” Ooi (left) said.

He added that it is now one man’s word against at least 40 others, including eight pastors and at least 13 DAP leaders and members, all of whom had attended the event in Penang where Utusan Malaysia claimed the conspiracy had taken place.

The group, he explained, had been summoned to give statements to the police over the week. Continue reading “DAP claims member forced to back Christian Malaysia report”

by Jeswan Kaur
May 14, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today

COMMENT: ‘Rakyat diutamakan’ or people first tagline parroted by current prime minister Najib Razak is an out and out lie.

If the people are indeed Najib’s priority, he would stop discriminating one race from the other.

The Umno-owned Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia has once again stirred the hornet’s nest through its May 7 article alluding that Christianity would soon oust Islam as the official religion of this country.

Needless to say the report, which Utusan lifted from postings by bloggers, heated up the already tense racial-relationship between Malaysians of different faiths.

And what does Prime Minister Najib do? He continues playing politics, asking the Malays to give their undivided loyalty to Umno so that the party is able to continue its lordship over Malaysia.

That done, he demands a pledge from local leaders of Christianity that they will respect Islam as Malaysia’s official religion.

The leaders were also made to give an undertaking that they will never challenge the provision enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Continue reading “‘Emotionally mature’ leaders put Najib to shame”

By Aidila Razak
May 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini

DAP-Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi suspects possible coercion of the DAP member, who filed a police report on the alleged ‘Christian conspiracy’ yesterday just after the ministry had said there was “some basis” to the allegations.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur today, Ooi said they believe that the man, DAP Bukit Tumba branch committee member Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman, may have been convinced to do so by his relative who is a special branch police officer who monitors political activities in the Jelutong area.

“We were told Mohamed Razali and this officer are relatives, and that it was this officer who was instrumental in helping Utusan Malaysia get the story. I hope the police can start to look into this angle and make a fair and just investigation into the case.

“We don’t know his motive or intention for filing his police report some five days after we filed our police report denying the allegations made in Utusan,” he said.

Ooi added that Mohamed Razali had accompanied Ooi when the MP lodged his police report on May 8, showing a press photograph of the two together at the station. Continue reading “Christian conspiracy: Special branch link suspected”

By Aidila Razak
May 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Police have quizzed eight pastors who were present at the gathering in Penang that Utusan Malaysia had alleged to have hatched a so-called ‘conspiracy’ to make Christianity the official religion.

According to Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi, the pastors were called up in the week following his police report on May 8 denying the Malay daily’s claims.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Ooi who was present at the dinner last weekend where the ‘plot’ was supposedly hatched, said that the police’s questions to the pastors suggests confusion of the authorities over the manner of Christian worship with the taking of a pledge.

“The pastors were commonly asked questions of the same theme,” said Ooi.

“They were asked if there was a conspiracy to install a Christian prime minister and if there was a pledge taken to make Christianity the official religion of the country. They (the pastors) categorically denied this.

“They were also asked if they raised their hands during their prayers, as commonly practiced among Christians, and if they had raised their left or right hand, and how high they raised it,” he said. Continue reading “Police quiz 8 pastors over ‘Christian conspiracy’”

By Terence Netto
May 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini

COMMENT “Two steps forward, one step backward’ was a staple of communist strategy where cagey negotiators make two hard-to-meet demands and then retract one to show they are flexible and reasonable.

Christian church leaders who met Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday over reports in Utusan Malaysia of an alleged Christian plot to dethrone Islam as the country’s official religion, were inveigled into a reversal of this negotiating strategy: they took two steps backward and as a sop, were conceded one step forward.

‘Backward’ here is not intended as a description of the nature of the two assurances they gave the PM – that they will respect the status of Islam as the official religion and they will continue to cooperate in fostering interreligious harmony in the country.

Instead, the word is used to describe the concessions Church leaders had to make when there was no substantive reason to suspect them of disrespecting Islam’s special status and being only dubiously for interreligious concord.

In return for the two steps backwards, Church leaders, upset over rabble rousing reports in Utusan, had the meager satisfaction of knowing that the Home Ministry had reprimanded the paper’s editor for irresponsible reporting. Ditto, one step forward for the Church leaders. Continue reading “Church leaders take one step forward, two steps back”

By S Pathmawathy
May 13, 11 | Malaysiakini

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says there is “some basis” to Utusan Malaysia’s report on is a conspiracy to make Christianity the official religion of the country and install a Christian prime minister.

Hishammuddin said this in view of new evidence provided in a police report lodged in Penang today.

It is believed that he was referring to a police report this morning by Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman, a DAP member, who attended the function mentioned in the report.

Yesterday, the ministry issued Utusan a letter of reprimand over its front page article on May 7 titled ‘Kristian Agama Rasmi?’ (Christianity the official religion?).

The letter was handed to Utusan’s editor-in-chief Aziz Ishak yesterday, when he was called to the Home Ministry to give an exaplanation on the report.

Hishammuddin (right) said Aziz’s explanation was similar to the police report lodged today.

“He (Aziz) was saying that there is some truth to what is reported, and today I was informed that there is a police report (lodged) that there is some basis to (the Utusan report),” Hishammuddin told reporters at the launch of drug rehabilitation centre in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading “Hisham: ‘Some basis’ to Utusan’s report”

By David Martin
May 13, 2011 | MalaysianInsider

I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm when I was helping my brother out with his university assignment back when I was in secondary school.

The story seemed a bit nonsensical to me back then. Talking animals who revolted against their masters. Pigs taking over as the leaders of the farm. A pig named Napoleon, no less.

Then again, when you grew up in the Mahathir era, the rakyat were more gullible back then weren’t they? With the advent of technology in the 21st century, it’s harder to keep a lid on the truth.

I woke up early this morning to read on The Malaysian Insider that Utusan Malaysia was merely given a warning for publishing unsubstantiated news (read: lies) for its front page headline by the all-powerful Home Ministry.

My mind is cast back to several years back when the oldest newspaper in Sarawak, The Sarawak Tribune had its printing permit taken away merely for publishing a photo of a man looking at the infamous prophet’s cartoon. That was deemed serious enough for a suspension which ultimately led to the demise of the daily.

A couple of years back, the same ministry decided to stir things up a bit by hauling up the Catholic weekly, Herald, for using the word “Allah” in the publication. Their reason was a flimsy one at best, that the word was exclusive to Islam despite its widespread use worldwide by Christians predating even the formation of Malaysia. Continue reading “Najib’s Animal Farm”

By Terence Netto
May 13, 11 | Malaysiakini

One headline ‘Christian leaders pledge to respect Islam’s status‘ was intimation enough about what went on at yesterday’s meeting between Christian leaders and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Ostensibly called to sooth ruffled Christian feathers over allegedly inflammatory reports in Utusan Malaysia, the meeting, as some had feared, did not just fail to come to grips with the underlying issue; it confounded it, if Najib’s remarks to the media afterwards were a guide.

The PM said he was encouraged by two undertakings given by the Christian leaders he met: one, that they will respect the status of Islam as the official religion of this country; and two, that they will cooperate in nurturing peace and harmony among the various faiths.

By implication, these undertakings had to be rendered because there have been doubts about the track record of Christians in respect of the two matters.

Two chapters of our very recent history ought to be noted for perspective.

Early last year, when the ‘Allah’ issue was rife, a series of arson attacks on churches occurred without stirring Christians to high dudgeon: they knew agent provocateurs were at work and that an adverse reaction would only aggravate matters. Continue reading “PM-Christian meet confounds more than clarifies”