By Debra Chong
May 09, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
GEORGE TOWN, May 9 — The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) said today it is “aggrieved” that Utusan Malaysia has been allowed to publish and spread what it called “dangerous lies” that have stirred religious unrest, and wants the prime minister to take immediate action against the Umno-owned paper.
In a joint statement with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, the Christian umbrella body, representing over 90 per cent of churches in the country, said they were concerned that the Malay-language daily has been “spreading dangerous lies that make Christians the object of hate and incite hatred against Christians that may lead to undesirable consequences”.
“We sincerely and strongly urge the prime minister and the home minister to take action against Utusan Malaysia for printing and spreading such dangerous lies that have disturbed the multi-religious harmony of society, created fear and uneasiness amongst Malaysians, especially Christians,” it said.
The CFM, which counts the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF) in its membership, said Christian pastors and churches have always prayed for the nation’s peace, unity and harmony among all races as well as a leadership that is honest and just.
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, also denied that he and his party had asked the clerics to pray for divine intervention or to form a Christian state and have a Christian become prime minister.
Lim said as chief minister he will continue to meet with Christian leaders, bishops or pastors just as he has been meeting with Muslim clerics, Buddhist or Hindu monks.
Utusan carried a front-page article on Saturday claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the country’s official religion.
The report, based on blog postings by several pro-Umno bloggers, had charged the DAP with sedition for allegedly trying to change the country’s laws to allow a Christian prime minister, pointing to a grainy photograph showing what they described as a secret pact between the opposition party and pastors at a hotel in Penang on Wednesday.
The NECF, together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, said the claims against their community were lies, and has refuted the bloggers’ allegations.
Similarly, DAP leaders have denied the report and have accused Utusan of lying and have lodged police reports over the matter.
But the newspaper has continued pushing its unsubstantiated racial and religious rhetoric despite the explanations.
“Now there are attempts by some quarters to anger the majority of this country… the suggestion for Christianity to be made an official religion of the country as well as a Christian prime minister from that religious group cannot be accepted,” Utusan said in an editorial today.
The editorial insisted that Islam is the official religion of the country under Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution, and that other races had no choice but to accept this as a fact.
“For over 50 years since our country achieved its independence, what is in our minds is that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia… this cannot be changed without amendments on the parliamentary level and sanctioned by the Conference of Rulers. We believe this is unlikely to happen,” the editorial said.
But Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution only states that “Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.”
Likewise, Article 43(2)(a) of the constitution states “the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint as Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) to preside over the Cabinet a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of that House”.
#1 by DAP man on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 7:31 pm
Utusan is rabies carrying dog. The disease has been passed to Perkasa and Pembela . The symptoms are madness and convulsions and its seen in all the three.
It must be put to sleep.
But [deleted] UMNO, is protecting the three mad dogs.
There is evidence the dog owner is also infected.
The rakyat have to put all of them to sleep in the next general elections.
#2 by negarawan on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 7:56 pm
If one of the chinese or tamil newspaper prints a headline like “Islam no more official religion”, Najip and his UMNO cronies would have immediately shut down the paper. 1Malaysia = 1BigLie
#3 by monsterball on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 7:57 pm
You think Najib dare to punish Utusan Melayu?
Come on..get real.
That paper is UMNO B’s best local promoter for race and religion politics.
Furthermore…who is the real instigator and encouraging fanaticsm?
It is the two devils that appears to be humans..father of UMNO B and his faithful adopted son.
#4 by Bigjoe on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 8:11 pm
Najib & Hishamuddin think that no one notice that there is no punishment for Utusan if found to be true when they said the report would be investigated. People already expecting Najib & Hishamuddin to cover the Utusan by saying they made a mistake, must be more professional etc..
All it is they are NOT doing their job. Since they don’t want to do their job.. Its time to fire them..
#5 by novice101 on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 9:27 pm
Najib will tell you he has no control over Utusan which is loads of hogwash!
If he has really no control he still could throw the book at it, but he is unwilling to this also. So don’t expect him to act. The next time he tells you anything , take it with a pinch of salt …. a large pinch, yes a spoon full will be better!
#6 by Loh on Monday, 9 May 2011 - 10:26 pm
The fact that Christian leaders have to appeal to Najib to take action shows that the government institutions are no longer doing the duties expected of them. A country waiting for the Prime Minister to act, and he too chooses to act only against his political opponents, Malaysia is no better than a secret society. As a member of the United Nations, and so recognized as a country, Malaysia is a failed state.
Mamakthir said the apparent religious conflicts is because the government is weak. He cited the right symptom, but knew only about politics of bully, and he attributed this to the fact that because Malays now do not blindly support UMNO, and UMNO is unable to turn religious issue as a contest between Malays and non-Malays, since based on logical reasoning, UMNO is unable to impose its own views on all the Malays. In short UMNO no longer able to fool all the Malays bully non-Malays when it chooses.
It is a fact that the government is weak. It is weak because it is unable to win support by the people based government performance. The weak government has chosen to follow the path of divide and rule. Thus Utusan Melayu as UMNO ‘s mouth piece has resorted to spread fears among Malays so that Mamatkhir strategy on its racist politics could work. UMNO is now in dilemma. Malays have now acquired the means to think independently; it is good for Malays but bad for UMNO. UMNO cannot mould the mindset of all the Malays all the time.
#7 by Thinking Two on Tuesday, 10 May 2011 - 9:37 am
It was Najib who said that “we must capture it at all cost”.
That’s why this lying is surfacing. How can Najib going to eat his own words.
A liar is always a liar.
Another BN project.
Najib promoted the email project and said it was a government ideas and costing RM50m.
Next day. a PN17 company director reiterated that is was a government ideas but private funded project.
Subsequently, Najib has to change his statement and said that it was both private ideas and private project.
Worst still, when replying to press question, Najib said why should the Government has to promoto for them.
Excuse me, Najib, it was you who promoted it in the first place. This PN17 company enjoy free publicity. This PN17 company with 30% shareholding held by Najib’s brother’s company.
After a few weeks, the said shareholding was disposed off. In fact, it is not a private project but a related transaction at the expense of the Raykat.
#8 by on cheng on Tuesday, 10 May 2011 - 10:32 am
Christian cannot even hv their bible in bahasa indonesia for so long (stuck at custom), then hv to get stamped n serial nos, so how can Christian threatened others???
If a party/person want to be a fool, go ahead, Don’t try to fool 25 million Malaysian !
Christian cannot build a church with their money without a long, long wait for approval (as long as 17 years, or even never approved), so how can they threatened others, so real brainless report ! Only idiots would believe such report.
All Christians should know not vote whose party, come GE13
#9 by tak tahan on Tuesday, 10 May 2011 - 12:24 pm
Si..la si..la.