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Monday, July 25, 2011

Dompok: No magical powers with Vatican ties

However Upko president and cabinet minister Bernard Dompok is confident that ties with the Vatican is a step in the right direction in multi-religious Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s visit to the Vatican was not on a whim and aimed at placating the Christian community, which has been at the receiving end of federal government policies recently.

According to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok, a Catholic, discussions with the Vatican had begun nine years ago and the newfound ties is unlikely to give us ‘magical powers’ to resolving existing issues in the country.

“First of all, we have to take note that the Allah and Alkitab issues are still in court. We all know the story.

“Suffice here for me to reiterate my stand, my party’s (Upko) resolution in calling for the court to resolve the issues soonest.

“It has been dragging too long.

“Secondly, while we hail the diplomatic ties, we must also be pragmatic. Such relations do not have magical powers.

“But I am confident, the ties is a move towards the right direction in our efforts to mould and come up with a real 1Malaysia community.

“Problems concerning ethnic relations, religious freedom and the likes could from now onwards be seen in a broader perspective,” said Dompok who is also the president of the Sabah-based Upko.

Dompok while reminding Malaysians that the country is ‘still maturing and there will be hiccups here and there’, said what mattered most was for ‘us to continue learning and strengthening our unit.’

“I am indeed very happy. It is a mission accomplished, so to speak. It is a significant event (July 18) and will spur further progress for our country and the world.

“On a personal basis, it is kind of sentimental for me, there is a sense of fulfilment. I was there when it was first mooted officially, and now, it is complete.

“For the prime minister, it is a foreign policy shift just as his father steered the country to recognise China,” said Dompok who was part of Najib’s delegation to meet Pope Benedict II on July 18.

Also in the delegation were Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Jamil Khir Baharom, National Fatwa Council chairman Dr Abdul Shukor Husin and Kuala Lumpur Catholic Archdiocesan chief Archbishop Murphy Pakiam.

Najib happy with visit

Badgered by the media to reveal details of Najib’s visit, Dompok said the premier met the Pope his summer residence at the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

“We arrived there at about 11am, and soon after, Pope Benedict granted the prime minister a private meeting.

“Later they ushered us (the delegtion including Rosmah) into a separate room for a meeting with Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.”

Asked if the visit had brought the desired results of betterment for all, Dompok said: “I cannot speak for all, but I do know that the prime minister was very happy with the audience.

“He was able to bring forward his agenda for the moderates to claim ownership of the middle ground in a world where conflicts abound.”

Dompok said that the visit had also brought together leaders from different religious beliefs.

“Archbishop Pakiam had a good chat with Jamil and Abdul Shukor. Such meeting would not have happened easily if not for the visit. That in itself is an achievement and a blessing,” he said.

Recalling the long awaited ties, Dompok said negotiations with the Vatican had begun in 2002 during the tenure of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“July 18 will be remembered as the day when the diplomatic ties between Malaysia and the Holy See materialised.

“The journey however started about nine years ago.

“In 2002 then Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir led a delegation for an audience with the late Pope John Paul II.

“I was there and diplomatic relations was top of the agenda. At that time, personally, I was hoping the ties would be formalised sooner rather than later.

“But when Pope Paul II passed away in 2005, I was sad partly because whatever we had discussed three years earlier remained just that, a discussion,” he said.

Mixture of reasons

According to Dompok, the Barisan Nasional leadership had always been ‘positive to the idea” of forging ties with the Vatican.

“Why there was a ‘delay’ in concluding discussions with the Vatican earlier was due to a mixture of reasons.

“But I do know, however, that our top leadership had always been very positive with the idea.

“We have actually been very friendly with the Vatican.

“That was why the then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asked me to head a Malaysian delegation to represent the country for the funeral of Pope John Paul II,” he said.

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