By David Martin May 09, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

The past couple of days had not been pleasant ones when I received a number of text messages and emails from my Muslims friends who have been alarmed by the infamous headline on Utusan Malaysia trumpeting the alleged plot by Christians to ensure that Christianity would be the official religion of the Federation in the near future.

Most were asking me if it was true, to which I sent a standardised text in response.

“When pigs fly bro/sis . . . When pigs fly . . .”

Seriously, can anyone of you see that happen? I mean Christianity replacing Islam as the religion of the Federation, of course, not the one on flying porcine.

My first reaction when I received the first of the text messages at around 8am on Saturday was; “What the f**k?”

Brushing my teeth in record time, I splashed some water on my face before picking up the newspaper that the delivery man deposited into the mailbox. I quickly scanned the pages of the English daily but read nothing of the alleged plot.

Thus I decided to fire up the computer and went to the bookmarked Malaysian Insider site where the news was breaking. And within 10 minutes of waking up to a new day I uttered my second profanity of the day when I said to myself out loud; “F**king hell”.

As the day progressed, I saw all kinds of reactions from different quarters in the country. The first few to jump on the bandwagon that’s criticising and condemning Christians are the usual suspects. Ibrahim Ali, Hishamuddin Hussein, Zahid Hamidi and the DPM himself no less, to name a few.

Ibrahim Ali as usual was spewing all kinds of b******t as he basked in the limelight. He spoke of at least 10 police reports lodged in different states in the primetime news on Saturday as he urged the authorities to clamp down on the supposed “trouble-makers”.

Hishamuddin Hussein, the Home Minister no less, put on his serious face as he claimed that the actions of the followers of one religion would cause the follower of another religion to react. I’m hedging my bet that the statement was a veiled threat to the Christian community to not stir the hornet’s nest that is the Muslims in the country.

Heck, for all we know he’d be up to his old shenanigans again and unsheathe the keris that’s probably collecting dust somewhere. Instead of focusing on the unsubstantiated accusation levelled at the Christian community by two anonymous bloggers, his guns are pointed at the accused.

My response to his statement is simply this. Mr Home Minister, it works both ways. I believe that the Christian community has been so accommodating up until recently as one controversy after another that’s reinforcing the notion that the community is systematically persecuted by the Malaysian Government. Maybe it’s time we stand up, speak out and fight for our rights once and for all as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federation for all Malaysians.

Judging however by the past records of the Home Ministry where the Christian community is concerned, I guess that I’m expecting that when the issue is proven to be baseless accusations, it would be swept under the proverbial carpet. Just look at what happened to the Herald Weekly as well as the Al-Islam covert operations in St Anthony’s Church Pudu a couple of years ago.

Another text that left me bemused was one that accused DAP as the purveyor of all things evil in the country and is currently s**t-stirring to cause a fracture in the inter-racial and inter-religious relations in the country for political gains. He even went so far as describing DAP as a communist party. What made it more amusing was because it was sent to me by a fellow Catholic brother.

I opined that if the government of the day is unable to guarantee our rights to freedom of professing our faith, then it’s high time to remove a government that can best be described as incompetent. When you defend your “rights” at the expense of others, then where does that put you, conscience wise?

If his response was anything to go by, obviously he wasn’t as bemused as I was when receiving his text message — “Whatever lah . . .”

Another issue that left me somewhat dumbstruck was the fact that Utusan Malaysia, a “respected” newspaper, had actually abandoned the basic principles of responsible journalism and instead taking on a sheen that’s looking more and more like a sensational tabloid daily. Gutter journalism has no place in the society that is as diverse as Malaysia, no matter what the justification.

In view of the recent issues that are probably orchestrated by some hidden hands, it’s time for all Christians to stand up in one voice and say once and for all that we will not take such oppression any longer. We have to stand as one to ensure that our rights as enshrined in the Constitution are not trampled upon for the sake of political expediency.

Faith is a personal matter between a mortal and the Almighty, at least where Christians are concerned. It’s not meant to be convenient always as we journey on this road of life. It’s when faith is under fire that the depth of our faith is revealed by our actions. It’s high time that we stand up for that faith as Paul did when persecuted by the authorities of his time.

It’s high time that we reiterate our allegiance to the Constitution that is the building blocks of this nation and not be swayed by the rumour mongers and s**t-stirrers that’s actively pursuing their agenda of squashing our rights to religious freedom. A leader of a political party even went so far as describing that the actions of Christians constituted treason.

Where have we gone wrong, Malaysia?

I feel a shudder of fear within as I write this. I fear for both the repercussions of my writing as well as the effect the recent events will bring on Christianity in Malaysia.

For now, I surrender fully to the Lord My God that His will be done.

* David Martin treated mum to an ice cream cake in conjunction with Mother’s Day. Mum was horrified when she heard that he was going to put his thoughts into words on cyber space but he does it anyway. He has faith that Malaysia would return to the olden days of yore when racial and religious lines in the society are blurred by the respect and unity of Malaysians.