On 18th January, last year, in a post, I asked this of the Malaysian Cosultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism ( MCCBCHST ) :
“Are they for ABU or for UMNO dulu, kini dan selama2nya?”
As I had noted in that post, ” forget the Islamic religious councils, departments and agencies, both federal and states.
We know where they stand on this issue.
In this regard, we can at least be thankful that the largest Islamic body in this country, albeit a political one, PAS, is firmly behind ABU.
What of the religious leaders of the other faiths?”
I still do not know if they stand with the rakyat or with UMNO.
Do you?
On 19th April, last year, I posted here, in relation to the violent attack on our young occupiers at Dataran Merdeka, the following appeal to the leaders of MCCCBCHST :
“…will you not stand in solidarity with them? Shield them?”
No show.
My buddy, Zorro blogged last Saturday that “The World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) celebrated worldwide, since its inception, will take place in early February. The Committee To Promote Understanding and Harmony Among Religious Adherents (Interfaith Committee) formed under the auspices of the National Unity and Integration Department, that comes under the Prime Minister’s Department, has scheduled a series of programmes to mark the event…
…We can be sure that Najib and other BN leaders WILL capitalise on the event and probably be waving 1Malaysia flags to attempt to portray their supposed caring attitude to Malaysians of all faiths, particularly with the General Elections just around the corner. And you can bet that the media and television crew will be in full attendance to highlight to all and sundry what supposedly caring leaders we have. Undoubtedly the Utusan, Harian, NST, Star, Sun (why not?) and even, yes, even the Malay Mail may front-page these events on 2nd and 3rd February.
Shanghaifish
January 28, 2013
Who in UMNO got the balls to touch Perkasa bro ? Najib ? Hehehe. Perkasa is to Mahathir what the Gestapo was to Hitler…. and it is an open secret of Mahathir’s hand in everything despicable that’s happening here in Malaysia. ABU is the solution.
Shanghaifish
January 28, 2013
And Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, a man of the cloth, is another stooge of the BN system. Shameful.
shakuntala
January 28, 2013
Shanghai fish.agree!…….Bravo for that courageous statement, but methinks Murphy. Pakiam is maintaining the peace of Christ, as leader of his flock, so to say……don’t think he is scared. Don’t forget one has a pack of cards in one’s can and dealing it… is important.
Don’t forget too, Christians are a huge flock…..of people, don’t have to go further..
.
S. Menon
January 28, 2013
No. They will “turn the other cheek” as usual. In other words, they may talk big but will chicken out!
We Stand Together
January 28, 2013
The MCCBHST will attend in order to be “non-partisan”. We can be assured of this. This is how religious organisations have been proven to behave.
We Stand Together
January 28, 2013
Besides, these religious organisations can’t be so obvious as to tell their members how to vote. They can however, “guide” their internal discussions on various issues of interest to Malaysians, and encourage Malaysians to vote with their conscience. You see this method works very well in a functional democracy. But it was very poor at defeating Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. It wasn’t even very successful at ending slavery.
Just can't wait for GE13
January 28, 2013
I know my Archbishop Murphy Pakiam is a gone case. Our hope is for the other non muslim religious heads to make a stand and boycott this celebration for it’s all an eye wash to show the rakyat that 1M is moderate and fair. I remember some time back there was some kind of consultation and there was a press statement that everyone agreed to what the PM said, when in actual fact, those at the consultation table did not agree, but they were not given a chance to say anything. So, I hope these leaders will not be a stooge to you know who. One stooge is enough, we don’t need more.
shakuntala
January 28, 2013
We Stand Together…..in our modern times, religion, meaning having a moral conscience did play a part in promoting togetherness among the adherents….take the example of East Germany, the Philippines…..the people in these countries received a moral direction from their leaders to pay attention to what is happening in their countries. The result was that in one, a whole blasted wall of repression, came tumbling down and in the other, God HImself entered the hearts and minds of the People as a whole, to lead them to victory…we have these examples so near to us, in the history of the present time.
Religious leaders, are constantly reminding their followers to beware of their responsibility, their duty to give their conscience and their help…..we may not be a functional democracy, but we sure have leaders who are guiding us. Are the People listening….they are for sure.
YNWA
January 28, 2013
Shakuntala, I think Haris’ buddy’s (Zorro’s)
comment in his blog was not a matter of Murphy
maintaining the peace but that he went way, way
beyond that in accompanying Najib to the Vatican
when he could have chosen not to go to show his
disappointment/dissatisfaction.
Haris’ call here is to find out whether MCCBCHST will boycott
the WIHW in the face of extreme provocation by Perkasa & the
like and the Govt’s inaction and seeming condonation of it? At
the least they should take a stand and walk their talk, not kiss the
hand that bites them. At the least show they have b^\\s and ignore
that hand and boycott the programme.
abdullah37
January 28, 2013
Most of these people are themseves hypocrites, only a handful have any integrity and backbones. They represent the cross section of the non muslim population. Don’t expect much from them.
Taipan
January 28, 2013
The congregation of people from the various faiths can take it upon themselves to boycott these events contrary to the stands taken by the MCCBCHST. They need to send this one message to those in the MCCBCHST that they can ONLY represent themselves but NOT the believers of the faiths they so represent. Let them hang down their heads and cry like Tom Dooley for their hypocritical stands.
shakuntala
January 28, 2013
You are right Taipan, the People have the power…….we are a sea of human beings,not one or two…..we also have the right, to think and act as we think fit,in a peaceful manner, without the use of force or violence.
And YNWA….my comment was tongue in cheek, who does not know that Murphy Pakiam was gagged the day he accepted his earthly title, which made him I think, a Tan Sri?
These so called leaders know how to play their games, but they cannot fool the People. While followers give them respect, they do their own thing, as the saying goes. What do you expect from a constantly informed public…….useful knowledge.
What I meant to say was there are at this very moment church leaders not all, but some,who are reminding the People that they have a moral duty to do the right thing, to vote wisely on polling day. In fact they are also leading the People in prayer, to be aware of the abuses of power by the UMNO/BN government.
rajan
January 28, 2013
Bro !
Me think i made a stupid mistake by saying that i wont vote for PAS because of some instant emotional streak i had.
After thinking a lot about what you said and wrote, im convinced that i have no choice but to vote PAS. To make up for my idiotic doubts, I will go all out to do what i can and visit the PAS branch nearest to my residence and offer them my services.
TQ bro harris. Count on me to do what i have said.
I too HOPE you’d be asked or requested to be a candidate in GE13 , Wangsa maju is yours for the taking though i dont live there i’ve got enough ‘free labour’ to support you there.
VETRI VEL VEERA VEL ABU ABU ABU The way to go !
Syabas, bro.
Candidate? No, I will continue to serve you and the rest of the rakyat from the outside to watchdog those we put inside parliament
Francis Pereira
January 29, 2013
I feel compelled to write especially since so many have only negatives for Archbishop Murphy Pakiam. He may be caught between a rock and a hard place, but he certainly lacks neither courage nor wisdom, and that church leaders have and continue to speak out loud and clear against continued infringement of religious rights is evidence enough that people will not be cowed ( pun intended!!) by the tactics of the BN. Come GE 13, we will vote with our conscience …….. conscious also of the fact that whenever events such as the Allah issue demanded statesmanship, none was to be found in the Najib of the empty 1Malaysia slogan!!
S. Menon
January 29, 2013
When you have your back against the wall (i.e. between a rock and a hard place), there is no option BUT to push back.
The Muslim preachers, in the mosques, have openly declared that the non-Muslims are a source of concern. It is high time the Christian leadership sent an unambuguous message to BN, that they WILL NOT accept being pushed around, being made a electoral scapegoat of! This is NOT the time to turn the other cheek!
Francis Pereira
January 29, 2013
Pushing back we are but lets agree to disagree on how hard the pushback should be because in the final analysis, the ballot box is what matters. On what is supposed to have happened at the mosques, I think that you may be referring to the Jakim endorsed sermon and if you are they were just reading off the BN script. I have too many Muslim brethren, preachers included, all devout and God fearing people and I have yet to come across one who makes an issue of non-Muslims referring to God as Allah. The naysayers are, fortunately for Malaysia, just a BN inspired minority!
Francis,
You miss the point altogether.
The Friday sermon will be carried with greater vitriol into the Malay heartlands by RTM, TV3, Utusan, Berita Harian, etc, in combinaton with highlights on the contrived distribution of bibles to muslim students in penang etc, etc.
Dear pakcik and makcik in the kampungs have no internet.
How?
We Stand Together
January 29, 2013
Remember to fight only on our own terms and the ground of our choosing, not at the enemy’s provocation.
Time to distribute ABU materials to the kampungs as far and widely as possible.
S. Menon
January 29, 2013
It is far too late now. This IS NOT the time for semantics or word play. This issue has gone on for several years now, and UMNO has continued playing good-guy bad-guy, with the reptilian Ibrahim Ali playing monkey-in-the-middle. Time to put a stop this recurrent theme. Time to let UMNO/BN know that enough is enough, that we are asking all Christians to view this sort of behaviour with extreme prejudice!!!
S. Menon
January 29, 2013
PS: I am not a Christian, just a non-believer. A very very long time ago, I realised that God was on strike, and I have been “Working To Rule” ever since.
Sabah Arise!
January 29, 2013
Sadly, AMNO, with its sub-cons Perkosa-Pebela-Pekim-Jasa has made every rakyat, every govt institutions, religious groups, and even its own component parties becoming a turkey. Our children will be raised up as just obedient listeners, never dare to think,ask or do anything extraordinary, just ikut perintah dari atas. But their children sent overseas studying will come back to continue ruling over us simple minds.
YNWA
January 29, 2013
There comes a time in the lives of all men when justice demands that they stand up for what is right.There comes a time in the lives of all leaders that they should grasp the mantle of leadership and courage and turn their backs on cowardice, or else step aside and relinquish their position. For men of the cloth, especially, there can be no perceived neutrality between right and wrong. Truth stands out clearly distinguished from Falsehood.
As the late Cardinal Sin,Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, had to say: “To shut oneself away from the demands of political transformation … is in a sense a denial of Christian identity.” Murphy Packiam has now to decide whether he is in fact Eddie Murphy.