“In my time, none of this (happened), I got support from all Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, no demands,” said the former prime minister who brooked no dissent during his 22-year rule.
He was commenting on a recent Utusan Malaysia article claiming that the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the country’s official religion.
“These are extremist fringes because they see (the) government as weak, that’s why there’s all these problems.
“The government is weak because last time I got two-thirds majority, now there is no two-thirds majority, weak,” said the longest-serving prime minister in the country.
But the veteran politician did not specify whether that meant he agreed with the Utusan report.
Dr Mahathir said he did not want to comment further on the matter unless there was clear proof.
“I’m not that interested in bringing up issues concerning religion unless there’s clear proof. If we give responses just like that, it will only end in argument.
“I haven’t studied it completely, so I don’t want to make statements. I do not want to harm the country with unsubstantiated opinions,” he said.
Umno-owned Utusan carried a front-page article yesterday titled “Malaysia, a Christian country?” (Malaysia, negara Kristian?) based entirely on blog postings by several pro-Umno bloggers.
The bloggers had charged the DAP with sedition for allegedly trying to change the country’s laws to allow a Christian prime minister, pointing to a grainy photograph showing what they described as a secret pact between the opposition party and pastors at a hotel in Penang on Wednesday.
In a posting headlined “Agong under threat? DAP wants to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?” blogger Marahku (marahku.blogspot.com) accused the DAP of trying to amend the Federal Constitution so that a Christian could assume the post of prime minister.
“The whole point of changing the official religion is to allow a Christian to become prime minister of this country,” the blogger said.
On bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com, another blogger claimed to have received a message that DAP’s Jeff Ooi had organised a dinner for pastors from both Sarawak and abroad at Red Rock Hotel on Jalan Macalister, Penang.
“Among the activities that night included the 35 pastors taking a group oath. They formed a circle, touched each other’s shoulders, and vowed in English to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia and put a Christian prime minister in office,” the anonymous writer said in his blog under the headline “Making Christianity the official religion?”
He also pointed to the same grainy picture he posted at the top of his blog page, which he had captioned “Partying pastors or pastors doing the party do and vowing to have a Christian as Malaysian prime minister”.
The blogger further alleged that the DAP had labelled the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as an “anti-Christ agent” in the run-up to polls in Sarawak, showing the opposition party was “openly against BN on religious grounds and they are now making it their clarion call, their rabble rousing horn”.
He said it was a seditious and religiously divisive statement that was never investigated by the police “or at least they did not tell us about any investigations into the matter”.
The blogger called on the authorities to investigate the allegations of sedition, warning that if the authorities failed in their duty the country may be “shattered again”.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, said the claims against their community were lies, and refuted the bloggers’ allegations last night.
Similarly, Ooi said the dinner had been organised by the Christian pastors in recognition of the DAP team who had visited them while in Sarawak for the state election and that the prayer sessions — one before dinner and one at the end — were a usual part of their worship, and not a pledge as alleged.
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