“The country seems suddenly to have a very powerful minister, who is not elected but appointed — Datuk Seri Idris Jala. Is this really the case?” he said in a statement today.
The DAP adviser also questioned the conflicting statements of government leaders on the matter, pointing out that shortly before Jala’s announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had confirmed that the Cabinet would first discuss the controversy on Friday before making any decision.
But just six hours later, said Lim, Jala’s announcement had hit media headlines with the minister quoting Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail as saying that the release of the bibles would not prejudice the ongoing appeal of Catholic weekly The Herald’s “Allah” case.
The government had earlier won a stay in the High Court’s 2009 ruling that allowed the publication to use the word in its Bahasa Malaysia articles. However, the appearance of the word in the 35,000 Malay-language bibles had caused the shipment to be detained by the Home Ministry — 5,100 at Port Klang and the remainder at the Kuching port.
“What really happened? Why suddenly there is not need for any Cabinet decision to resolve this long-standing issue of the detention of the 35,000 Bahasa Malaysia Bibles?
“The announcement was not made Hishammuddin or Muhyiddin, who had earlier commented on the issue, but by an unelected senator minister. Why was this the case?” said Lim.
The events surrounding the sudden release order, he said, made it clear that the decision had not been made out of respect for the principle of constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion or national unity but rather due to the impending Sarawak state polls, which could be held as early as next month.
He said this was a reflection of irresponsible governance as it clashed with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia policy in creating a nation that transcends race, religion, geography and socio-economic status.
“Religious harmony should not be made into a political football or a vote-getting bait if the government is serious about 1 Malaysia as an inclusive policy to embrace all races and religions,” said Lim.
He also stressed that a cancellation of the “Allah” appeal should come on the heels of the bible release in order for the government to demonstrate its commitment to 1 Malaysia and inter-religious harmony.
“The Prime Minister must demonstrate leadership and example to unite Malaysians by putting an end to fractious and divisive disputes especially over religion.
“The Cabinet can take one such important step in its meeting of Friday — to withdraw the appeal against the KL High Court judgment on the Herald “Allah” case to demonstrate government seriousness and commitment to promote 1 Malaysia, inter-religious harmony and national unity,” he said.
He said that although the order for the books’ release was commendable, questions should be answered over why they had posed as such a big problem to begin with.
Lim said many people have observed that since Najib launched his 1 Malaysia policy, national unity as well as race and religious relations seem to have taken a turn for the worse.
“Academician Farish Noor, for instance, had given the warning in a recent forum on public governance organised by Perdana Leadership Foundation and National Professors’ Council that Malaysia is dangerously close to absolutely breaking down if racial politics is not kept in check.
“He said: ‘I’ve spent more than 10 years studying dysfunctional countries and I believe that we are going down the path of countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh. I have seen enough race and religious riots to see that Malaysia is close to going down that path.”,” he said. - Malaysian Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.