If Christians had discussed Islam, they would have been hauled up, says Sarawak lawmaker

Christian bodies have raised concerns about the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) seminar which was held two days ago. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 8, 2014.A Sarawak lawmaker said that if Christian groups discussed Islam at a public seminar the way Christianity was discussed at a Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) seminar two days ago, they would have been immediately hauled up for sedition.

"Can you imagine if a Christian group spoke about '10 ways for a Muslim to become a Christian'?" said Tan Sri James Masing, referring to one of the talks at the seminar on the use of the word Allah and Christology which had put forward 10 reasons why Christians should become Muslims.

If that had happened, they would already be in trouble with the law by now, he said.

"We cannot allow discussions like these which could incite religious tension and hatred in a multi-religious country like Malaysia," said Masing, who is Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president.

Meanwhile, Professor Jayum anak Jawan, who is the deputy head for the politics, security and international affairs cluster of the Council of Professors in the Prime Minister's Department, said national leaders need to make a firm stand on the increasingly divisive polemic and close the widening gap between Malaysians of different faiths.

He said there was a need for all sides of the religious and ethnic divide to “cool down” in light of the furore created by the UiTM seminar.

"It takes two to tango, so all sides need to cool down.

"Religion teaches us to be good to one another of the same faith but it does not tell us to be enemies with people of different faiths," said Jayum, a professor of politics and government.

He called on national leaders to close the widening gap “once and for all” between Malaysians of different faiths, cultures and ways of living in order for the country to move forward.

"Only then can Malaysians move on with their previously harmonious lives to achieve visions that have been set and one that is based on a united, developed and progressive Malaysia that stands tall in regional and world affairs," he added.

Following the seminar which featured speakers who warned Muslims against the threat of Christianisation and belittled the Bible as containing "tales", Christian bodies and civil society raised concerns that the public forum that discussed Christianity did not include experts on the religion and hence gave a one-sided presentation.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) said that while it supported academic freedom, it should not have been used to promote skewed statements with no opportunity for facts to be rebutted.

The Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) also expressed surprise that a public university such as UiTM had allowed its premises to be used, saying that this was an indication that academic authorities were willing to tolerate and even promote a certain brand of religious teaching for the purpose of a certain agenda.

It also said that despite frequent occurrences of bigoted views being aired by some extremists groups of late, the government has been lethargic in countering interfaith discourse that fringes on extremism and bigotry.

At the seminar on Monday, copies of a book published by the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) on the threat of Christianisation and alleged evangelism among Muslims in Malaysia were also distributed to more than 1,000 students.

The book entitled "Pendedahan Agenda Kristian", warned Muslims to watch out for "tricks" by Christians to sway them from their faith.

The book also claimed that the main reason there is apostasy among Muslims ‎is because of Christianisation.

The other book, "Obligation to preserve the sanctity of the name Allah‎" explained why non-Muslims, in particular Christians, cannot be allowed to use the word Allah.