By : SHANNON TEOH (TMI)
A CHRISTIAN minister has said he will seek an explanation in the Cabinet on why teachers in Johor were required to attend the state government’s seminar on the 'threat of Christianisation.'
Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili told The Malaysian Insider he will ask Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who holds the education portfolio and hails from the southern state, to explain why the seminar, organised by the state’s education and mufti departments, was allowed.
“I will raise it in Cabinet with Tan Sri education minister and ask why they organised this when this ‘threat’ is only an allegation,” the science, technology and innovation minister said.
Malaysia’s top church council had on Sunday urged Christian ministers to bring up the issue in Cabinet so the issue can be put to rest in a manner that would show Putrajaya’s commitment to inter-religious harmony.
The Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) said Christian ministers should use their office to ensure the Cabinet takes a stand on last Saturday’s seminar after Datuk Seri Najib Razak called for all religions to respect other faiths but did not censure the seminar despite calls from non-Muslim groups for him to “walk your talk” of unity and moderation.
CCM president Rev Thomas Philips also urged the prime minister to commit to his 1 Malaysia concept, which promotes unity, and “censure” the Johor Education Department for organising the seminar.
Christian members of Cabinet include Ongkili (picture), Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas, Datuk Seri Peter Chin and Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
Some 300 religious teachers from Johor national schools attended the seminar entitled “Strengthening the Faith: What is the Role of Teachers?”, which was held in the state capital Johor Baru yesterday.
The seminar had attracted controversy among non-Muslims earlier for focusing on the alleged threat of Christianisation to Islam.
But Muslim NGOs insisted that the government was duty-bound to address the 'threat of Christianisation,' which they repeatedly profess to be real despite the absence of firm evidence.
In response, Johor dropped specific mention of the 'Christian threat' from the seminar originally themed 'Pemantapan Aqidah, Bahaya Liberalisme dan Pluralism Serta Ancaman Kristianisasi Terhadap Umat Islam. Apa Peranan Guru?' (Strengthening the Faith, the Dangers of Liberalism and Pluralism and the Threat of Christianity towards Muslims. What is the Role of Teachers?).
But Johor Mufti Department officials said that while the title of the seminar will be changed, the contents and structure will remain unaltered.
The Mufti Datuk M. Tahrir Kiai Samsudin also insisted the seminar was for the good of teaching Islam.
Christians form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population.
In recent years, the Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word 'Allah', with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word 'Allah' denotes the Muslim god.
Christians, however, have argued that 'Allah' is an Arabic word that has been used by those of other religious beliefs, including the Jews, in reference to God in many other parts of the world, notably in Arab nations and Indonesia.
Conservative Muslim groups have also accused Christians of attempting to convert Malays, resulting in heightened tension between followers of the two religions.
Hopefully this matter will not affect the peace between Christians and Muslim's in the country.
ReplyDeleteThey are so " condemned ".
DeletePolitics and religion are never a good combination, hopefully this can be resolved before it gets out of hand.
ReplyDeleteIsu ni kalau ditimbulkan pasti akan mengundang kemarahan di kalangan penganut agama Kristian. Rasanya lebih baik jika ia dibincang dan diselesaikan secara tertutup.
ReplyDeleteLebih baik bincang secara tertutup supaya tidak menimbulkan sebarang kemarahan kedua-dua penganut agama
DeleteBaru2 ni pun Hasan Ali telah menimbulkan kekecohan berhubung dengan kristianisasi mubaligh Australia. Memang akan 'memanas' lah isu tentang agama ni.
ReplyDeleteHe is racist.Period.
Deleteisu2 agama seperti ini tak perlu dibangkitkan, cuba contohi penduduk Sabah dan Sarawak dimana isu ini tidak timbul walaupun masyaraktnya hidup berbilang kaum agama dan budaya. ada kala dalam satu keluarga ada berbagai Agama. hal ini tak jadi masalah.
ReplyDeleteReligion issue is one of the most issues they want to fire about.
DeleteI don't understand why Christians kept being condemned.
ReplyDeleteSemoga Ongkili dapat menyelesaikan masalah ini.
ReplyDeleteReligion shouldn't be made into an issue in the first place. It will only cause harm to the country's peace.
ReplyDeleteEach and everyone of us must practice the 1 Malaysia concept which was introduced by our PM. We must live in harmony with different races and religion.
ReplyDeleteThe people should respect each other irrespective of race and religion. What is 1 Malaysia ? The people should have the free will to choose their religion and not underduress ...
ReplyDeleteMuslims who wish to convert from Islam face severe obstacles. For Muslims, particularly ethnic Malays, the right to leave the Islamic faith and adhere to another religion is a controversial question.
ReplyDeleteThe legal process of conversion is also unclear; in practice it is very difficult for Muslims to change their religion legally.
DeleteIn 1999 the High Court ruled that secular courts have no jurisdiction to hear applications by Muslims to change religions. According to the ruling, the religious conversion of Muslims lies solely within the jurisdiction of Islamic courts.
DeleteThe issue of Muslim apostasy is very sensitive. In 1998 after a controversial incident of attempted conversion, the Government stated that apostates (i.e., Muslims who wish to leave or have left Islam for another religion) would not face government punishment so long as they did not defame Islam after their conversion.
DeleteHowever, whether the very act of conversion was an "insult to Islam" was not clarified at the time. The Government opposes what it considers deviant interpretations of Islam, maintaining that the "deviant" groups’ extreme views endanger national security.
DeleteIn 2005 international media attention focused on the Sky Kingdom sect whose founder Ayah Pin claimed to be God, and whose members – mostly Malays – were accordingly charged with religious "deviancy" and "humiliating Islam."
DeleteIn the past, the Government imposed restrictions on certain Islamic groups, primarily the small number of Shi'a. The Government continues to monitor the activities of the Shi'a minority.
DeleteIn April 2000, the state of Perlis passed a sharia law subjecting Islamic "deviants" and apostates to 1 year of "rehabilitation" (under the Constitution, religion, including sharia law, is a state matter). Leaders of the opposition Islamic party, PAS, have stated the penalty for apostasy — after the apostates are given a period of time to repent and they do not repent — is death.
DeleteMany Muslims who have converted to Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other religions lead "double lives", hiding their new faith from friends and family.
DeleteGeneral interpretation about the freedom of religion as described in the constitution in Malaysia is that a person has a right to practice his or her religion freely. This freedom does not grant a person a right to change his or her religion "at a whim and fancy".
DeleteFor example a Muslim who wants to convert to another religion must get an explicit permission from a syariah court.
DeleteThe syariah courts rarely grant such requests, except in cases where a person has actually lived his or her whole adult life as a person of different religion, and only wants to change the official documents to reflect this fact.
ReplyDeleteThe Islamic interpretation of the situation is that only the syariah courts can decide who is a Muslim and who is not. A person does not have such freedom, and so cannot have a say in the judgement given in a syariah court.
DeleteThe Lina Joy case challenged this view of the situation by taking the problem of apostasy to the Federal Court in 2007.
DeleteLina Joy lost the case and was denied identification as a Christian on her identification card. This cleared the situation about the overlapping areas of jurisdiction between the Islamic and the secular courts in Malaysia.
DeleteKenapa tiba2 banyak betul isu pasal kristian2 ni. jangan politikan agama.
ReplyDeletePerkara ini sebenarnya tidak susah diselesaikan. Namun yang merumitkan apabila ada pihak yang cuba memutar belitkan cerita ini.
ReplyDeletefreedom of religion is enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution. first, Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practice his or her religion and (subject to applicable laws restricting the propagation of other religions to Muslims) to propagate it. second, the Constitution also provides that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony (Article 3).. all Malaysian should look and try to understand this Malaysian Constitution contents..
ReplyDeletethe status of freedom of religion in Malaysia is a controversial issue. questions including whether Malaysia is an Islamic state or secular state remains unresolved. In recent times, there have been a number of contentious issues and incidents which has tested the relationship between the different races in Malaysia.
ReplyDelete