MAY 7 — One word sums it all.
Insanity!
That’s how, as an individual, I view the recently concluded seminar organised on “The word ‘Allah’ and Christology in the Malay Archipelago”.
For this reason, I have decided that it is not worth responding to every allegation and insult made by the speakers, because the truth is more powerful.
Soon, people will be able to differentiate the truth from false allegations made against the Christians and the Chinese community, which has contributed towards nation-building for more than a century.
As highlighted by Sir Francis Light in his report to the British crown in 1794, “the Chinese constitute the most valuable of our inhabitants. They are men, women and children… and they possessed the different trades of carpenters, masons and smiths, are traders, shopkeepers and planters. They employ small vessels... They are the only people from whom a revenue may be raised without expenses and extraordinary effort by the government... They are a valuable acquisition.”
In short, the Chinese community has made a significant contribution towards the development of this nation.
I believe we make up one of the biggest contributors to the taxes collected in this country. What continues to baffle me is that our taxpayer’s money is used by people who are out to disrupt the harmony between races and people of different religions.
Taking note of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) calling us ‘intruders who bully the Malays’, I have one simple response that will frustrate the extremists: as the Chinese Malaysians in this country, we will not retaliate against the Malay community at large who do not subscribe to such a fitnah.
I note, in particular, statesmen such as Tok Guru Nik Aziz (former Menteri Besar of Kelantan), the late Tunku Abdul Rahman who is dubbed Bapa Malaysia, and even Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (former Prime Minister of Malaysia). Even Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s daughter, Marina has a totally different view from her father. There are, of course, many other ordinary Malay brothers and sisters, whom we rub shoulders with every day.
Over a brief conversation with a fellow Malaysian recently, we have concluded that being ‘colour blind’ is the best solution for Malaysia to remain a progressive nation. This fellow Malaysian put it succinctly and I quote: “When we were scouting for our fellow students to form a team, we were looking for the best players who could help us win the football game. We did not even for once think about their race or religion! We were Malaysians back then!”
Allow me to echo fellow Malaysian: “Except for a few extremist and bigots, we are all still Malaysians today!” In fact, it is the bigots and the extremists who do not have a place in the Malaysian community.
People like Ustaz Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman (president of Isma) have not only intimidated the Chinese and the Christian community with his bigotry, but I believe that he has to answer to his fellow Muslims because of the way he projected a very negative image of Islam. I wonder how Isma can continue to be funded by the Government, when they are clearly a threat to racial harmony in this country.
If this is spoken by a rascal from the street, I can understand, but coming from an ustaz, I am quite surprised. However, my opinion of all other ustaz’s is not necessary the same as that which is portrayed by Abdullah Zaik.
I have noted that an ustaz from Mukim Batu has made his stand clear against the former Perkasa deputy president, Zulkifli Noordin, when he reprimanded the latter for some irresponsible words. More of this, I believe, will be coming from our Muslim friends who can differentiate the truth from a fitnah.
It is time that Muslims in this country stand up and be counted, instead of allowing their religion to be dragged into the political mud by those who seek mileage in using race, religion and royalty. These same people would not even raise their sandals against corruption or fitnah, but they claim to be pious.
As Christians, we believe that vengeance belongs to God, who is fair to all. Each person shall reap what he sows. The time will come when these extremists in the our midst will be punished by their own kinds. We do not need to retaliate, except to do what is necessary.
Insults against Christianity or the Bible is nothing new. Although one of the speakers, an Indonesian lecturer, Masyud S.M has labelled Jesus as a “human slave”, and the Gospel as “Tales of Jesus”, we will not retaliate by saying the same of either the Quran or Prophet Mohamad. We believe in this simple philosophy: Respect begets respect.
The simple reason is because the Christian community in this country has every reason to rejoice because people like Abdul Karim Omar, president of Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejahtera Masyarakat Malaysia (Muafakat) have more faith than many of us, when he said that by 2100, there will be an equal number of Christians and Muslims – 40 per cent.
I suppose that being a minority group in Malaysia at 10 per cent, with a majority in Sabah and Sarawak, we are such a big threat to the likes of Abdul Karim, whereas the Buddhists who make up 30 per cent of the country’s population are not.
On one point, I cannot help but to straighten the facts. Abdul Karim accused that Christian priests had come to Malaysia under different guises to proselytise and convert Muslims, alleging that these “undercover priests” even worked with Muslim children as football coaches and others.
I suppose many Muslims in this country must have been converted to Christianity as well, when they were attending missions schools. Well-known academicians such as David Boler (Bukit Bintang Boys’ School) and Elena Cooke (Bukit Bintang Girls’ School) must be the priests and priestesses, who were “disguising” themselves as headmasters and headmistresses trying to proselytise the Muslims!
What absurdity is this! I wonder how many Muslim boys and girls have been proselytised by Elena Cooke or David Boler in their capacities as principals of two major missions schools in the country.
On my mind, I remember Syed Hamid Albar as an alumnus of Methodist Boys’ School, but the former Home Minister had not even come close to becoming a Christian till this day!
And, to stretch the point further, in Catholic schools, such as La Salle and St John’s Institution, where the missionaries gave up their luxuries of life in the West and travelled to a rural country as Malaya to be teachers and school principals, often giving us their very best, hardly any Malay Muslim today can testify that they were being converted under their tutelage!
After everything has been said, I can only make one conclusion. The seminar, which was jointly organised the Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies (ACIS), UiTM, Warisan Ibnu Aaby and the Selangor Islamic Council with the support of Utusan Malaysia, Kumpulan Karangkarf, TV Al-Hijrah, Zikay Group and Pantai Bharu Group of Companies, appears to be politically motivated.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of the Malay Mail Online.
