CFM Media Statement - Allah Issue (Court of Appeal)

CFM STRONGLY PROTESTS PROVOCATIVE SEMINAR ON UNFOUNDED CHRISTIAN THREAT TO MUSLIMS

CHRISTIAN FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA
(PERSEKUTUAN KRISTIAN MALAYSIA)
Address: 10, Jalan 11/9, Section 11,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Telephone: (03) 7957 1278, (03) 7957 1463, Fax: (03) 7957 1457
Email: cfmsia@yahoo.co.uk
30th March 2012

CFM MEDIA STATEMENT

CFM STRONGLY PROTESTS PROVOCATIVE SEMINAR ON

UNFOUNDED CHRISTIAN THREAT TO MUSLIMS

The Christian Federation of Malaysia strongly and unreservedly
protests against the seminar to be held this Saturday 31 March 2012
organised by the Johor State Education Department with the
co-operation of the Johor State Mufti’s Office.

The Johor State Education Department and the Minister of Education
who is responsible for the Department as well as the Johor State
Mufti’s Office should be held accountable for the content as well as
the theme of the seminar which had been posted on the Johor Bahru
District Education Office website as : “Pemantapan Aqidah, Bahaya
Liberalisme dan Pluralisme serta Ancaman Kristianisasi terhadap
Umat Islam. Apa peranan guru?” (“Strengthening the Faith, the
Dangers of Liberalism and Pluralism and the Threat of
Christianisation towards Muslims. What is the role of teachers?”).

Once again, Christianity has been identified as a threat to Islam, this
time by a State Education Department of the Ministry of Education.
This is unfounded and unjustified.

Such a move is contrary to our Government’s attempt to showcase
Malaysia as a moderate nation in the international conference on
“Global Movement of Moderates” held in Kuala Lumpur at the
beginning of the year.

Our Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib bin Tun Razak has called on all
Malaysians to work together on the basis of our common religious
principles and values of moderation in nation-building.

Our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin also launched in February this year an annual
programme to promote inter-faith understanding in the schools.

Yet just over a month later, in the Minister of Education’s home state,
tax-payers money is being used to pay for, and civil servants are being
asked to attend, a seminar that seeks to sow disunity and discord
amongst school-teachers and, through their influence, amongst our
school-going children.

Indeed, the chairman of the Cabinet’s inter-faith committee, Dato’
Azman Amin Hassan, has since said that the “provocatively-titled”
seminar flies in the face of the government’s school-level inter-faith
harmony week which is to be an annual celebration in the month of
February.

We condemn the Johor State Education Department’s action in this
matter. We take umbrage at the clumsy attempt in wording the theme
of the seminar as such. Even though there has now been an attempt to
re-name the title of the seminar, the intent of the seminar has been
clearly exposed for all to see.

No government-organised seminar should ever be conducted to
implant fear and foment tensions among our peaceful and harmonious
peoples. It is insufficient to re-name the seminar without changing
the content and structure of the seminar.

Religion must never be used to divide our country, destabilise its
harmony and destroy its unity.

The Government in carrying out its responsibility must take
immediate and concrete steps to put an end once and for all to
concerted efforts to paint Christians in Malaysia as enemies of
Muslims.

As loyal citizens of Malaysia, our churches have always stressed and
emphasised nation-building, religious freedom, peace, harmony and
unity amongst all people living in our beloved country.

Government departments must not be seen to be working and should
not be allowed to work at cross-purposes to the Government’s aims
by instilling hatred and ill-will between religious communities. Such
contradictory objectives will only serve to divide the nation rather
than unite it.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia remains committed to building
a just and equitable nation that recognises freedom of religion for all.
This is the only way to a genuine and lasting peace.

We call on all Malaysians to join us in prayer and action to embrace
moderation and reject the extremism exhibited by the organisers of
the seminar and all those who defend it.

Yours sincerely,
Bishop Datuk Ng Moon Hing
Chairman and the Executive Committee,
The Christian Federation of Malaysia

CFM - New Year Message

CHRISTIAN FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA 

(PERSEKUTUAN KRISTIAN MALAYSIA) 

Address: 10, Jalan 11/9, Section 11, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia 

Telephone: (03) 7957 1278, (03) 7957 1463, Fax: (03) 7957 1457 

Email: cfmsia@yahoo.co.uk

4th January 2012  

(This is the New Year message which was to be delivered by Bishop Datuk Ng 
Moon Hing, chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, as an expression 
of CFM’s concerns to the Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia at a lunch 
hosted by the Prime Minister on 4 January 2012. However, Bishop Datuk Ng 
was not given the opportunity to present this formally at the lunch.)    

YAB Perdana Menteri Dato’ Sri Hj. Mohd. Najib bin Tun Razak,  Tan Sri-Tan Sri,
Datuk-Datuk and distinguished guests.
Happy New Year! Greetings and Best Wishes to all who are present. We thank
you for extending your kind hospitality to us in organising this lunch.
Christians have been experiencing a roller coaster year since 2010 that has
been fraught with both blessings and painful encounters. This meeting at your
invitation has given us an opportunity to reflect over the past events and
especially the Christmas Hi-Tea of 2010 where you graced our function with
your presence and the luncheon in May of last year where you played gracious
host to us.

We thank you for always encouraging us to be frank with you. We welcome
more opportunities for constructive and open dialogue on a regular basis and
not just in times of crisis only. Our counterparts from Sabah and Sarawak have
also reminded us of the meaningful meetings that they had with you.
There has been a passage of time since our last meeting.  I would like to take
this opportunity to reiterate some of the points which we had raised with you.
However, due to the constraints of time today, we will only refer to the
relevant memoranda that had been submitted previously and highlight some
recent developments in the past year.

The issues that concern all non-Muslims including Christians which have been
raised over the years are summarised in the following documents:

1. Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, 
Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) memorandum entitled “RESPECT THE
RIGHT TO PROFESS AND PRACTICE ONE’S RELIGION dated 25  October
2005 and revised in a document entitled “UNITY THREATENED BY
CONTINUING INFRINGEMENTS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM” dated 15 June
2007. The issues mentioned here include –
1.1. The refusal of civil courts to adjudicate cases where the Islamic
ingredient is present.
1.2. Conversion cases that cause hardships to families.
1.3. Land for places of worship and burial grounds.
1.4. Lack of consultation on issues which affect non-Muslims.

2. Christian Federation of Malaysia’s memorandum via a letter dated 21
December 2010 handed to you at the Christmas Hi-Tea in 2010 which
include the following issues:
2.1. Standard policy for places of worship, land for worship, cemetery,
foreign religious workers, etc.
2.2. Standard policy for schools and education policy. (In this regard, we
want our mission schools to maintain its character and the
management and operations should be under our control).
2.3. Tax exemption status for religious organisations and charities,
welfare centres and homes.
2.4. To have a Minister in charge of religious affairs (in particular for
religions other than Islam)
2.5. Freedom of publications and usage of religious / Scripture books of
each religion.
2.6. The lifting of the ban on the usage of the word 'Allah' in the whole
nation. (In particular, the lack of resolution of the Herald, Jill Ireland
and SIB Sabah court cases).

Whilst some issues have been attended to after decades of having been
repeatedly raised, there seems to be an inertia in resolving all remaining issues
constructively and expeditiously.

We wish to express the frustration of our churches and all Christians in having
to deal with lengthy bureaucratic red tape and ever-changing goal posts. We
have exhausted meetings at the highest ministerial level and have made
attempts to dialogue at various levels and yet we often find the most effective
means for action to be taken is when the issues are raised in the public sphere.
Apart from the above, additional problems have arisen in the past year that
have added to the pain and disappointment of Christians. We have witnessed
unprecedented incidences where Christians have been made victims of
unwarranted and unfounded accusations, vilifications, insults, even police
reports and have indeed been made to suffer because of certain actions.
We would have expected our political leaders and the relevant authorities
including the police to have contained and refuted the allegations in the
interest of national harmony and unity and yet their silence seems to be
acquiescence and further condemnation of our Christian community. What
more we see the official organs of government including government controlled
media being used for this purpose with impunity.

We also note that many of the past as well as present issues are based on a
selective reading of the Federal Constitution that is intentionally used to
legitimise discriminatory laws and practices which favours one community over
another. We reiterate that the Federal Constitution guarantees equal rights for
all Malaysians. In particular, there should not be a denial of public space nor an
encroachment of religious freedom.

Given the enormity of the issues facing non-Muslims, together with our
partners in MCCBCHST, we reiterate our proposal for the setting up of a
Ministry of Non-Islamic Affairs to safeguard and protect the interests and
rights of the non-Muslims. This is merely a first step as we are not naïve to
assume that all issues can be resolved by this single Ministry.  It requires the
commitment and collaboration of all other Ministries and organs of
government.  We hope that there will be maximum consultation in respect of
the structure and operations of the Ministry.

The Government should respect the High Court decision in the Herald case
with regard to the use of the word Allah and begin the process of dismantling
laws, regulations, policies, guidelines and directives which restrict and prohibit
other religions from the use of the word Allah and other words.

We thank you for making the time and effort to meet with us.  We would,
however, like to see substantial breakthroughs achieved during the term of
your office in particular in the areas that we have highlighted above and also in
the widening of public space for freedom of expression, a fair electoral process
and the continuous eradication of corruption.

Our Christian churches have often kept your administration and the
Government in our prayers. We always pray that our leaders will be rightly
guided by Almighty God to administer and govern with righteousness, fairness,
justice and wisdom.

There is a very wide and alarming disconnect between  what you intend to
happen and what is happening on the ground.  The policy of moderation which
you uphold does not seem to have filtered down to all levels of government.
If left unchecked, it would be murdering and destroying your own vision of
moderation and goodwill among Malaysians which you have espoused.
We are pained by those ugly manifestations which trample upon moderation.
We Christians would like to work with the Government for the sake of our
beloved Malaysia. In the spirit of Muhibbah we would like to bring the gift of
peace to this country.

May God bless you and the country for the well-being of all Malaysians!

Bishop Datuk Ng Moon Hing
Chairman and the Executive Committee,
Christian Federation of Malaysia

Media Statement: Authorities must take action against irresponsible, baseless and provocative reporting

Media Statement: Authorities must take action against irresponsible, baseless and provocative reporting

A national Malay language daily, Utusan Malaysia, today (7^th May 2011) carried a report under the headlines “Malaysia negara Kristian?”, (Malaysia, a Christian country?) where it was alleged that Christian leaders (paderi-paderi or priests/pastors) who at a closed door meeting in Penang had vowed to make Malaysia the official religion of Malaysia and to install a Christian as its Prime Minister. It was further reported that a meeting was to take place this evening at the Catholic Christian Centre (Pusat Kristian Katolik) in Penang and a public lecture will be organized tomorrow.

On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Malaysia, I would like to categorically refute the allegation that such a meeting had taken place or will take place in a Catholic venue in Penang. It is clear that this reporting is baseless and highly irresponsible as the reporters and editors of the above newspaper have not taken any reasonable steps whatsoever to verify the allegations made by anonymous bloggers. Furthermore, this report comes after the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), one of the organizers of the above meeting, having refuted the claims of those bloggers and the same was carried on online media. The NECF has further clarified that this meeting only covered the topic of ethical leadership and had no treasonous agenda as alleged by the bloggers and news report.

It is clear that such reporting has the effect of creating religious disharmony, inciting hatred and heaping odium on Christians. We therefore call upon the authorities and the police to immediately make a thorough investigation of this matter to determine the source of these insidious, provocative and malicious lies and to take the necessary action against those who seek to threaten the multi-cultural and multi-religious harmonious make-up in this country.

We, Christians constantly pray for good governance by political and civil authorities. We also teach our people to be God fearing, law abiding citizens and conscientious decision makers based on justice which is reflective of moral and divine laws. In the recent statements of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) regarding the Al-Kitab issue, we had always reiterated our commitment and readiness to dialogue and work together with the government and all parties for a just and reasonable solution. It is clear that our position has never been treasonous nor have we advocated hatred, antagonism or animosity towards any religion or groups of persons.

I continue to call upon all Catholics, Christians and all Malaysians to pray, dialogue and work together to strengthen national unity and harmony. May God bless our leaders with a firm vision and the courage and strength to uphold and realise it. 

Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Pakiam DD

Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur

President, Catholic Bishops of Malaysia 

7^th May 2011