Ibrahim’s take on what led to Utusan report

Perkasa chief welcomes Christian leaders' assurance of respect for Islam and gives his version of what may have led to the Malay daily's report.

PETALING JAYA: Perkasa chief, Ibrahim Ali, has described Utusan Malaysia’s report of an alleged Christian conspiracy as a “wake-up call” for the Christian community.

According to him, the Umno-owned paper did a “good job” in publishing the front-page report regardless of whether it had any truth to it.

“It serves as a ‘lesson to the Christians’ to not tread on sensitive matters relating to Islam,” he said and proceeded to give his version of what led to the Malay daily’s report.

The Pasir Mas MP said it was unlikely that the meeting’s agenda included a plot to take over the country as reported by two pro-Umno bloggers and Utusan.

“Here’s what I think happened at the meeting,” he said. “Many attended the meeting and perhaps a few talked about the Al-Kitab issue.

“They may have expressed satisfaction over what seemed to be an equality of all religions in the country. Someone else may have overheard this unofficial conversation, misinterpreted it and repeated it.

“This misintepretation would have reached the bloggers who wrote about it. And then it was picked up by Utusan.”

“The Utusan report may not be 100% accurate but that doesn’t matter because it is a lesson to the Christian community that when you tread on sensitive matters, everything else you do will arouse suspicion.”

Ibrahim likened the situation to a child being punished for returning after a midnight curfew.

“Let’s say your child returns home at 3am every night,” he said. “Then one night he returns at 1am. You will still punish him because you would have assumed that he returned at 3am based on past experience.”

Christian must walk the talk

Perkasa also issued a reminder to the Christian community to walk the talk in their respect for Islam as the country’s official religion.
At a luncheon with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak yesterday, Christian leaders denied the Utusan report and pledged respect for Islam as the official religion.

Ibrahim said that Perkasa was “momentarily relieved” by this assurance as it wanted to see sincerity in the Christian leaders’ statement.

Nevertheless, he still asked: “If you are sincere in fostering mutual respect, then why did you push for a Malay-language bible?

“And why isn’t ‘God’ interpreted as “Tuhan” instead of “kalimah Allah” to the extent that this issue has been brought to court?”

“Be sincere in your acceptance. Make sure the sweetness of your words don’t just remain on your lips.”

Meanwhile, Perkasa secretary-general, Syed Hassan Syed Ali, released a statement this afternoon condemning other dailies and news portals for publishing “baseless statements by unrelated parties” that have done worse damage than Utusan Malaysia’s report.

He was referring to a news report by The Malaysian Insider that quoted a Malay constitutional expert as saying that there is no provision in the Federal Constitution that states that Islam is the country’s official religion.

“That statement is false and needs no further investigation,” said Syed Hassan. “It is Utusan’s report that needs investigation as it may contain elements of truth.

“If certain quarters in the community believe the Christian pastors’ denial, then you also need to believe the bloggers. But let us allow the police to conduct their investigations and not slander any party any further.”