Of Church and politics: Najib's visit to the Vatican

The Power, The Papacy and The Prime Minister's Plot ought to be a retro movie in the Cold War era or the stuff of which the series of 'Vatican Conspiracies' are made of. But strangely, it also describes Prime Minister Najib Razak's visit to the Vatican next week, which has generated much interest among the local Catholics as Malaysia has never initiated any diplomatic ties with the Vatican.

The Pope is the head of State in regards to the Vatican. The current Pope is Benedict XVI. He used to head the Congregation for The Doctrine of The Faith before being elected to the papacy in April 2005 and is widely regarded as one of the sharpest minds in the Catholic Church.

No one can really understand the need for the Malaysian Prime Minister to visit the Vatican although the official reason given was to improve bilateral ties and to enhance Christian-Islam dialogue. Be that as it may, it is still a tad suspicious taking into account the fact that the Najib Administration has unabashedly and some say with deliberate intent committed a number of transgressions against the Christians in Malaysia.

Fine and good if the move is to mend the soured feelings amongs the Christian community here and overseas. But bad and evil, if it is just another public relations ploy, that based on Najib's record so far, it is not unfair to assume.

The lemons

Chief among amomg the lemons as far as Muslim-Christian ties in Malaysia are concerned is the recent Bible issue, where imported Malay-language Bibles were impounded and held at Port Klang and Kuching Port only to be released after much public outrage. And the realeased books also had to bear a defacing stamp from the Home Ministry, which Christians viewed as a desecration. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein rubbed salt into the wound by saying that the Bibles would be "smelly" if kept for too long in storage.

Another incident Christians still feel sore about is the 'Christian Prime Minister row' stirred up by the UMNO-owned Utusan, which tried to incriminate 8 Christian pastors and political party DAP for trying to turn Malaysia's official religion from Islam to Christianity.

In January 2010, more than a dozen churches were torched and vandalized in protest of a court decision to allow non-Muslims to use the word Allah to describe God. In this incident, Najib and Hishammuddin, who is also his cousin, cannot evade the fact that they personally gave the tacit green light for Muslim demonstrations to be held against the ruling despite advice from civil society leaders. Many Muslim scholars also gave the view there was nothing for non-Muslims to use the word as this has been practised for centuries even in the Middle East.

But for political reasons of their own, the cousins ignored the advice. Najib's comment at that time was that he could not stop anyone from protesting and demonstrating if they wanted to. This was condemned as callous and irresponsible remark that could open the floodgates for violence agaiinst the Christians in this country.

Many say the outbreak of 'Christian' madness was because Najib was trying to drive the Islamist PAS away from the Pakatan Rakyat and into a merger with his own UMNO party. To pile pressure on PAS, Najib tried to show his UMNO was the more Islamic of the two Malay-based parties but PAS grassroots - well-rooted in their Islamic knowledge - saw through the drama and rejected all the overtures. At a June annual congress, PAS delegates gave their party leadership the mandate to shift to a less fundamentalist stance. This move sent shockwaves down the UMNO network and Najib has now to beat a hasty retreat to try and reclaim not just the Malay middle ground but also the lost Christian middle ground.

Certainly the record of the Najib administration is nothing much to shout about as far as the Christian community is concerned. It has never been exemplary and reached a low during Najib's two-year tenure as PM. After his much-condemned crackdown against a free-and-fair elections rally on Saturday, Amnesty International has called on the Vatican to make plain its disapproval for Malaysia's weak respect for human rights.

Maniupulation of an institution for personal mileage

The sudden visit of the Prime Minister to the Holy See has also raised the eyebrows of Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

PAS MP for Titit Serong Khalil Idham Lim told Malaysia Chronicle the visit to the Vatican could be a means for Najib to woo the Christian vote. With the Chinese clearly against him, Najib needs the support of the non-Chinese Malay now, said Khalil.

Christians make up 10 per cent of the country's overall population of nearly 30 million. In Sarawak, Christians form more than 40 per cent of the population especially amongst the Kadazans and the Iban. The Catholics make up the largest number of Christians in Malaysia, numbering more than 850,000.

Of course, not all will be eligible to vote but banded together, Christians make up a sizeable number. Therefore, Najib can gain some political mileage out of this public relations exercise of visiting the Vatican as he will be accompanied by the KL Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, opined Khalil.

According to DAP's Seremban MP, John Fernandez, Najib's visit to the Vatican could be a political gimmick aimed at damage control where the Christian vote is concerned as he knows he needs to secure the Sabahan and Sarawakian votes if he is to retain federal power at the next general election.

If Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud does not step down before the 13th General Election, Najib may lose a few more Parliamentary seats in Sarawak. He knows this and therefore is aiming to consolidate his slightly shaky position in Sarawak. Hence, the visit to the Holy See to repair damage done to the Christian sentiments, added Fernandez, who is also a Christian.

However, Catholics also point out that not all the visits to the Vatican can 'cleanse' the Najib administration.

The reasons being that the stand of the Church is that Catholics must vote in a government that is clean, just and fair. During any general election campaign, the Catholic Bishops always exhort the lay faithful to pray for wisdom and discernment from God in order to be able to vote wisely for a clean, just and fair government. No Catholic Bishop would ever issue a decree exhorting the lay faithful to vote for the sitting government or the Opposition, for that matter.

PKR MP for Subang Sivarasa Rasiah viewed Najib's visit to the Vatican as a "manipulation of an institution", saying that Catholics and Christians will not look favourably upon this.

"Of course there will be a few gullible ones but on the whole most Catholics will be able to see through the ploy and it could backfire on Najib if indeed there are no real reforms to the list of grouses Christians now hold him responsible for," Siva told Malaysia Chronicle.

- Malaysia Chronicle