First the churches, then the surau. We mustn’t allow misguided individuals involved in arson attacks on places of worship to threaten our peace and harmony.
Click here for my On The Beat today.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The view from the other side
We need to move on, as we try to seek a consensus over the Allah controversy, and set up a national consultative body on religion to hear each other out and resolve issues.
We all want an early settlement to the controversy over the use of the word “Allah”. The country needs to move on with other issues, particularly economic concerns that need our attention.
There is this perception that seeking an appeal at the Court of Appeals to overturn the decision of the High Court would be a quick fix.
It won’t be because confidence and trust have been shaken. Angry Muslims feel the High Court decision was reached because the judge was a non-Muslim.
So, we can expect the same kind of reactions if the majority of the three sitting judges are Muslims, even if the judgment is legally sound.
The Muslims would be receptive to the decision if it favours them but the Christians, who want to use Allah in reference to God, would be dejected and make assumptions that the court hasn’t been fair.
Read the rest of my column, On The Beat, published in The Sunday Star today here.
We all want an early settlement to the controversy over the use of the word “Allah”. The country needs to move on with other issues, particularly economic concerns that need our attention.
There is this perception that seeking an appeal at the Court of Appeals to overturn the decision of the High Court would be a quick fix.
It won’t be because confidence and trust have been shaken. Angry Muslims feel the High Court decision was reached because the judge was a non-Muslim.
So, we can expect the same kind of reactions if the majority of the three sitting judges are Muslims, even if the judgment is legally sound.
The Muslims would be receptive to the decision if it favours them but the Christians, who want to use Allah in reference to God, would be dejected and make assumptions that the court hasn’t been fair.
Read the rest of my column, On The Beat, published in The Sunday Star today here.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Douse the fire of madness
IT’S the sort of religious madness that one might expect in India or Pakistan but certainly not here in Malaysia.
Except for a few cases in the past, destruction of places of worship is unheard of as we have long learnt to respect each other, way before cross-culturalism became a fashionable word in the Western world.
Last week’s torching of the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati in Kuala Lumpur was a rude jolt to religious relations in the country. It was a black day in our history, to put it bluntly.
Read the rest of On The Beat column here.
Except for a few cases in the past, destruction of places of worship is unheard of as we have long learnt to respect each other, way before cross-culturalism became a fashionable word in the Western world.
Last week’s torching of the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati in Kuala Lumpur was a rude jolt to religious relations in the country. It was a black day in our history, to put it bluntly.
Read the rest of On The Beat column here.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Get out of the time warp
Another year gone. Just like that, in the blink of an eye. But in Malaysia, there is always this recurring frustration that we are trapped in some kind of a political time warp.
A new year is supposed to bring new hopes, new commitments and new aspirations.
A new year is supposed to bring new hopes, new commitments and new aspirations.
We can see and feel that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is setting new targets and plans to take the country ahead.
To read the rest of the On The Beat column, click here.
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