KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — Fugitive sex blogger Alvin Tan’s video mocking the azan, or Muslim call to prayer, is an affront to all Malaysians who chose to fix the country instead of fleeing abroad to seek asylum, said a Christian deacon.
Highlighting Tan’s decision to turn fugitive and escape abroad, Rev Deacon Dr Sherman Quek also said the latter’s vengeful attempt to provoke Muslims here was damaging efforts by those who stayed in Malaysia to rebuild frayed interfaith relations.
“Perhaps you were reacting towards the politicisation of religion in Malaysia and meant to spite the select few who have misused religion for certain political agendas.
“In the first place, the way you have done it brings no good to the cause of many of us who have staked our lives in choosing to stay on in this country to participate in the rebuilding of the nation in a constructive and positive way,” the minister wrote in an open letter addressed to Tan.
Quek said that many Malaysians have decided to remain in the country despite its many problems because Malaysia was the land of their birth and the home of their children.
The Christian minister also added that those who stayed did not do so without risk or personal sacrifice, but because of a commitment and desire to see Malaysia improve.
“Because of this, we have chosen to engage in the most constructive possible ways and not cause further social and political damage to our fellow Malaysians only to seek asylum elsewhere while leaving everyone else back home to face the mess we’ve created,” Quek wrote.
“You have mocked everything that we stand for with our lives.”
Tan is currently in the United States where he is attempting to seek political asylum from charges of sedition here over a poster mocking Muslims with an invitation to break their fasts with pork that is forbidden to them.
The fugitive blogger was reported as saying last year that he is fleeing from Umno, the main party in Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition, and had applied for political asylum in the US in May.
In his letter, Quek also wrote that the personal nature of Tan’s attack on Islam with his “cover” video of the azan was tantamount to attacking all religion, adding that the fugitive blogger was “grossly mistaken” in his reading of Malaysia if the latter believed his video was offensive only to Muslims.
“Your mockery might as well be a depiction of the Catholic Latin chants or the Hindu chanting of the vedas, and either way, the fundamental principle of respect for the religious conscience of our fellow neighbours would have been severely violated. For this, your act makes me angry,” Quek wrote.
Quek added that while freedom of expression was needed for society to progress, immature and irresponsible displays that exploit the liberty were a moral crime that damaged the virtues of civilisation.
On Tuesday, Tan again stirred controversy by posting a 2-minute-and-50-second video in which he appears topless and plays a keyboard while reciting the azan in full.
“My latest goal is to get all mosques in Malaysia to play my cover instead of having them old geezers hunched over the mics, straining their vocal chords and cracking their voices,” Tan said in a pointed Facebook update that accompanied the video.
Umno Youth lodged a police report accusing Tan of sedition yesterday, and insisted that the fugitive could be tried and convicted in absentia.
Tan, who first shot to fame here over his sex blog with a former girlfriend, fled the country last September to seek political asylum in the US after authorities prosecuted him for insulting Islam on Facebook.
Tan and his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend, Vivian Lee May Ling, were charged in 2013 under the Sedition Act 1948 for publishing a seditious photo with the words “Selamat Berbuka Puasa” (dengan Bak Kut Teh...wangi, enak, menyelerakan!) [Happy breaking fast with bak kut teh...fragrant, delicious, appetising]” with a halal logo on their Facebook page.
They were also charged under the Film Censorship Act 2002 for displaying pornographic images on their blog, alviviswingers.tumblr.com, between July 6 and July 7 the same year.
Tan’s passport was revoked by the Immigration Department last year.
