Christians not surprised at being used as bait in Umno plot to topple S'gor MB

Christian leaders said they were not surprised at the latest bombshell dropped by Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad that several pro-UMNO religious authorities in Selangor state had tried to use the threat of 'Chistianisation' to topple PKR Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.

They urged Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Selangor UMNO chief, to set the lead by pushingng that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department or Jais to releases its report on the raid against the Damansara Utama Methodist Centre immediately so as to stop the ruckus from growing and deeping the divide amongst various faiths.

"Given the current political scenario where extremist views are allowed a lot of leeway by the current federal administraion, I am not surprised at the latest development. This certainly doesn't help the situation. You can say the Christians no longer care but how are we going to unite the country then if one group is continuousy made to feel they are being used as bait," Ramon Navaratnam, a lay Christian leader and past president of Transparency International Malaysia, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"All this unpleasantness could have been avoided if the Jais report had been published promptly. It would have nipped in the bud all the unnecessary speculation, the suspcion the Muslims may have felt against the Christians and vice versa."

Najib using religion "in a very cynical way"

On Tuesday night, Khalid Samad had written in his blog that he had received information that the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), Jais, other Muslim NGOs and representatives from the Attorney General had held a secret meeting. They had allegedly planned to submit a memorandum to the Sultan calling for Khalid Ibrahim's removal because of 'Chritianisation' of the state.

The meeting had taken place after a Jasi raid on the DUMC, immediately boosting speculation that UMNO had been behind the move to create hatred among the Malays for the Christians and vice-bersa. Throughout the BN's 54-year rule, it has adopted a divide-and-rule policy so as to maintain its stranglehold on power.

"That UMNO is behind the dynamics of this latest ploy is as clear as day. It is calculated to destabilie Selangor and if they don't succeed, the minimum target would be to create anti-Christian sentiments among the Malays," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"But this is naked political opportunism and puts the PM in a very negative light. Just less than 2 months ago, he visited the Vatican, established diplomatic relations and spoke of moderation there. But now look at him look the other way when religious bigotry pops up in his home country. All this is just a ploy to naively try and win back the Catholics. In the US in the days of McCarthism, this sort of politics was also spawned. Najib, mind you, has never been known for any special affinity to his religion. He is now using it in a very cynical and immoral way. There is no way he can absolve himself from this issue."

Jais and Mais refused to heed Pakatan state executive council

While in name, Mais and Jais are the Selangor state religious authorities, they have always resisted the authority of the Pakatan rakyat state government, choosing to go directly to the Sultan. This has made the DUMC row extremely tricky for Khalid Ibraham to manage.

To many Selangorians, they believe Jais acted on his orders but they did not. Jais not only did not inform him but gave him the runaround when he insisted on a timely report of what happened and if its accusations that DUMC officials had tried to proselytize 12 Muslim gusts at a charity dinner were true.

Initially, Christians angrily lambasted him, egged on by UMNO leaders. But soon it became clear that Jais took its orders from UMNO and the Christians have begun to wise up that this was another UMNO plot, much like the Christian prime minister row in Penang and the Church torchings in the aftermath of the Allah court ruling.

"To be frank with you, I don't think Christians care about what BN says. There may be some especially amongst the senior clergy who are flatteredd by Najib's attention. But speak to the Christians on the ground, most of us will remain skeptical of UMNO-BN until the DUMC report is out, the Allah issue is resolved, the status of the Mala- language bible is confirmed," Keith, a member of the SFX parish in Petaling Jaya, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"In the DUMC issue, some of us feel it was targeted because it was not too big or too small and fit in with the plans of the politicians. Some even say it was a revenge motive because of the Bersih committee members like Ambiga Sreenevasan had been there recently. I agree that we have reached a situation where life has become very weird because everything is being politicised."

Increasing attacks

Meanwhile, Khalid Samad has lambasted Mais for issuing a 'flimsy' denial of the conspiracy plot, urging it to come clean before he exposes further information.

"I will be increasing my attacks over the next two weeks because I want to show people, the system has been infiltrated by UMNO. Politics has become the overriding motive," Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.

As for chief minister Khalid Ibrahim, who is due to leave for Germany on September 11 and return on September, he has told Jais he expects to see the report the moment he returns.

"There are two parties involved in this issue. The one who says that the state is unaware of the role of Jais and the other group claiming that the state is insensitive to the needs of the non-Muslim community," the chief minister said.

- Malaysia Chronicle