By David Martin
May 13, 2011 | MalaysianInsider

I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm when I was helping my brother out with his university assignment back when I was in secondary school.

The story seemed a bit nonsensical to me back then. Talking animals who revolted against their masters. Pigs taking over as the leaders of the farm. A pig named Napoleon, no less.

Then again, when you grew up in the Mahathir era, the rakyat were more gullible back then weren’t they? With the advent of technology in the 21st century, it’s harder to keep a lid on the truth.

I woke up early this morning to read on The Malaysian Insider that Utusan Malaysia was merely given a warning for publishing unsubstantiated news (read: lies) for its front page headline by the all-powerful Home Ministry.

My mind is cast back to several years back when the oldest newspaper in Sarawak, The Sarawak Tribune had its printing permit taken away merely for publishing a photo of a man looking at the infamous prophet’s cartoon. That was deemed serious enough for a suspension which ultimately led to the demise of the daily.

A couple of years back, the same ministry decided to stir things up a bit by hauling up the Catholic weekly, Herald, for using the word “Allah” in the publication. Their reason was a flimsy one at best, that the word was exclusive to Islam despite its widespread use worldwide by Christians predating even the formation of Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

By Terence Netto
May 13, 11 | Malaysiakini

One headline ‘Christian leaders pledge to respect Islam’s status‘ was intimation enough about what went on at yesterday’s meeting between Christian leaders and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Ostensibly called to sooth ruffled Christian feathers over allegedly inflammatory reports in Utusan Malaysia, the meeting, as some had feared, did not just fail to come to grips with the underlying issue; it confounded it, if Najib’s remarks to the media afterwards were a guide.

The PM said he was encouraged by two undertakings given by the Christian leaders he met: one, that they will respect the status of Islam as the official religion of this country; and two, that they will cooperate in nurturing peace and harmony among the various faiths.

By implication, these undertakings had to be rendered because there have been doubts about the track record of Christians in respect of the two matters.

Two chapters of our very recent history ought to be noted for perspective.

Early last year, when the ‘Allah’ issue was rife, a series of arson attacks on churches occurred without stirring Christians to high dudgeon: they knew agent provocateurs were at work and that an adverse reaction would only aggravate matters. Read the rest of this entry »