PM calls for cool heads over religious issues

Najib says an investigation will be done on the meeting involving the Church while Mahathir accuses extremists of taking advantage of a weak BN government.

JAKARTA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak has called on Malaysians to calm down and not to exploit religious issues now being played up in the Malaysian media.

“Calm down until we get the facts. It is not going to be of benefit to anyone. Whoever they are, whether they are the opposition or pro-government, they cannot and should not exploit this issue,” he told Malaysian journalists, here after the 18th Asean Summit, Sunday.

The Prime Minister was commenting on a news report over a gathering in Penang where its participants had allegedly vowed to change the country’s official religion to Christianity and the the prime minister will be a Christian. The organiser of the meeting has however denied this.

Najib said the government would investigate the matter and that it should not be blown out of proportions.

“If we don’t put a stop to it, it can lead to serious polarisation in our society,” he said.

Najib said religion was a sensitive matter and everyone in the country must preserve the peace and avoid tension among the people.

“Malaysia upholds the constitution, which means that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia while, at the same time, the people are also free to practice other faiths.

“This is an important principle which was the key in the formation of Malaysia which cannot be disputed.

“If there is anyone who tries to jeopardise national peace, we will not allow it to happen because what is important is national harmony,” he added.

Extremists taking advantage

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad also expressed his views on the matter, claiming that certain extremists are making all kinds of demands – some even requiring change in the constitution – because they think the government is weak.

He said the Barisan Nasional loss of two-thirds majority in Parliament had emboldened these people to create various problems, unlike the situation when he was at the helm.

“During my time, there was none (of this kind of problems). I had the support of all. Christians, Hindus, Buddhists all gave their support. There were no demands,” he told reporters after opening the Cheras Umno division delegates meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

“These extremists are acting this way because they see that the government is weak and they are causing problems to worsen the situation,” he said.

He was asked to comment on the media report which alleged of the secret meeting in Penang between the DAP and Christian priests from throughout the country.

Mahathir said that he did not want to comment further because a statement made without clear proof could make matters worse.

Earlier today, both the Christian Church and the DAP denied that such a matter was raised in the meeting in Penang last week. The Church also lashed out at Utusan Malaysia for carrying the provocative and baseless news based on write-ups found in pro-Umno blogs.

- Bernama