KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — The interfaith breaking of fast event in a Sarawak church that went viral online was proposed by Islamic Information Centre of Kuching chief executive Zabariah Matali, said Archbishop John Ha.
Ha, who heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching, said that some members of the church had also fasted in solidarity with their Muslim friends.
“She (Zabariah) mooted the idea during her sharing of the Islamic faith and practices with us, priests of the Catholic Church in Kuching, in February this year,” he said in a blog posting of his address at the event.
“Her openness and the openness of the team that came with her gave us the confidence to accept her suggestion on the spot.”
Ha added that the “ugliness” of suspicion, dislike, aggression, hate and violence stemmed from the harping of differences and struggle for domination, when instead beauty should come from the harmony and peace of a diverse community.
“Harmony and peace are brought about not by tolerance which has been advocated for decades and failed for the most part, but by mutual respect and acceptance,” he said.
“For tolerance by nature implies mutual dislike, mutual aversion and even mutual offence, while mutual respect and acceptance make room for one another in society.”
A picture of Muslims breaking fast in the presence of a cross went viral online recently with praise for the community’s interfaith relations when it was posted on Facebook last Friday.
The event took place at the Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Pastoral Centre in Kuching, Sarawak last Thursday.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on June 5, during which Muslims fast from dawn till dusk.
News of the event differed from those usually involving both faiths, particularly in peninsular Malaysia, which frequently includes allegations of Christian proselytisation to Muslims.
