Young Singaporean and Malaysian politicians have united in speaking out against recent attacks on churches in Malaysia.
Youth wing leaders from the Singapore Democratic Party and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) issued on Thursday a joint statement condemning the attacks as “barbaric and cowardly” attempts to “undermine the racial and religious harmony and understanding painstakingly built over many generations”.
Young Democrats president, Priveen Suraj, and Angkatan Muda Keadilan chief, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, also urged people to exercise restraint and “avoid playing into the hands of those who have vested interests in seeing violence escalate”.
Shamsul Iskandar’s comments echo that by Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim, who last week described the attacks as un-Islamic.
However, such public condemnations from leading politicians, including Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, have so far failed to discourage further acts of violence against non-Muslim places of worship.
About ten attacks have been reported as of Thursday, the most recent of which saw unidentified assailants throwing red paint onto a church in southern Johor on Thursday morning.
According to Al Jazeera English, about eight other churches and a Sikh temple have been subjected to firebombing or acts of vandalism in past week.
The attacks, which began on 8 January, were triggered by the Malaysian High Court’s ruling on 31 December 2009 that the word “Allah” is not exclusive to Islam, and that the Malaysian Home Ministry had no power to ban non-Muslims from using the word.
———-
Joint Statement by KeADILan Youth Wing (Malaysia) and Young Democrats (Singapore)
We, the undersigned, condemn in no uncertain terms, the arson and violence against churches following the spate of controversy over the disputed use of the word “Allah”.
We stand in solidarity with all segments of the society that promote peace and justice and urge all sides to exercise their utmost restraint in dealing with the matter to avoid playing into the hands of those who have vested interests in seeing violence escalate.
It is without a doubt that the recent attacks on churches in Malaysia is an attempt to undermine the racial and religious harmony and understanding painstakingly built over many generations.
Given the close ties and cultural similarities that we have with Malaysia, Singaporeans are watching the incident closely and we, the Young Democrats, stand firmly with our Malaysian counterparts in calling for a peaceful resolution to the matter.
Violence has no place in our world today, and acts of violence at places of worship where the general populace seek peace of mind and solace are especially deplorable. However, these acts of violence should not, and must not be framed in the perception of communal and religious conflict between Muslims and Christians, as they are as much an insult to the tenets of peace as espoused by Islam and all religions, as they are to Christianity.
We enjoin all segments of Malaysian society to condemn this spate of barbaric and cowardly acts, and call upon all groups with differing spiritual, cultural and ideological backgrounds to reach a consensus by rational dialogue.
This statement is also supported by the leadership of Parti KeADILan Rakyat (Malaysia) and Singapore Democratic Party (Singapore)
Signed,
Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Chief, Angkatan Muda Keadilan
Priveen Suraj, President, Young Democrats
Read also: Malaysia’s regime crisis, race politics and the kalimah Allah issue
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
If you like this article, please consider a small donation to help theonlinecitizen.com stay alive. Please note that we can only accept donations from Singaporeans. Thank you for your assistance.Do you have a flair for writing? Volunteer with us. Email us your full name and contact details to theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
soon malaysia would be turnin into east/west timore where churches are goin to be torched..whats next? loot all the chinese shopkeepers as well
and you all think tsunami is just a myth?
it happenned in indonesia not so long ago……….
many chinese/christians sufferred the agony..many chinese indonesians fled to singapoor……
These misled fanatics who went about spewing their fiery hatred are anything but Muslims. Islam has been hijacked by lawless and brainless idiots.
It’s all the more necessary that Malaysians should reject race/communal based politics and political parties. The stage was set in the 2008 elections when PR was able to deny the BN, a race-based coalition, its two-thirds majority in parliament. In the next election, the PR is set to win and take over the government.
It’s good that SDP’s YD is able to identify who the real force is in Malaysia standing up for genuine multi-racial Malaysia and not fall for the bogus DAP that is an offshoot of the PAP.
Whatever will be, WILL be.
Just don’t expect too much given the way politics are being played across the causeway.
In the end, words are just words.
It is the actions that speaks louder.
Right now I see churches burned and vandalised.
I see the interests of minorities sidelined.
The silence of the so called “majority” moderate muslims is deafening.
Malaysia….truely…whatever
Good going, PKR and SDP Youth!
Deafening silence from YP… They are too busy squeezing our local taxpayers.
Whatever the case ,lets hope the issue is over ,concern more on bread and butter first,learn a lesson from here,refrain from any propagating of religion ,respect other’s religion and lets live in harmony.
To the Catholics,
Firstly, Allah is not the word for god in Malay. Allah is god’s name. Tuhan is the Malay word for God. So when Malay refer to Allah is refering to god as HE is the only god.
Allah cannot be compare to others (god). So, IMO, its like wearing your pants on your head. I can see how the muslim reacted to this.
Surah Al-ikhlas from the Holy Quran,
Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem
Qul Huw-Allahu Ahad
Allah-us-Samad
Lam yalid wl lam yulad
Wa lam yakul lahu kufuwan ahad
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
Say: He is Allah, the One!
Allah, the eternally Besought of all!
He begetteth not nor was begotten.
And there is none comparable unto Him.
I agree with Jumbo that the word allah belongs to the muslim.It is the name of their god .Before islam there was no allah until mohamed created allah out of the many ‘lahs’ in existence then. Eg. to mean god there were words like ilah, elah and other variations used by different people of that time.Another evidence of the existence of the similar sounding word to mean god was mohamed’s uncle whose name was abdulah means servant of god. This is a strong evidence of the the existence of ‘lah’ before islam. Allah was created by mohamed and Allah was to be the name of his god and therefore exclusive to muslim.
Christain’s god is NOT allah. He didn’t change his name and no man can his name too.
The malay word for god is tuhan and this should be the word to use for god in the bible and NOT allah. The catholics should re-examine and should not insist on using word special to others otherwise they will be seen as hijacking for ulteriro motives.
It is rather appalling.
I saw on TV a pastor was saying some could not even pronounce the word “god”.
Then, would they understand what are religions about ?
Even some intellectuals are puzzled !
And most recently, there was the newspapers reports of “pig heads”.
If one read histories, then can expect the advent of the crusades soon ?
So it is who will cry foul first ?