Yoursay: An ugly debate over the ‘lit cross’ controversy

YOURSAY | ‘It’s time we keep our religion at home. All of us.’

'Lit cross' - PAS accuses developer of 'Christianisation' agenda

BlackMoonRising: Since when has anything with a "cross" becomes a sign of "Christianisation"?

What kind of mentality is this?

The Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) satellite terminal is cross-shaped if someone cares to take an aerial view to look at it.

Penang DCM II P Ramasamy, in trying to be politically correct, you are actually supporting the gradual "Islamisation" of our nation at the expense of the rights and freedom of religion of minority groups, an act which is against our Federal Constitution.

Repeat your stand when you are campaigning in GE15, and let the Penangites judge you with their votes.

The Wakandan: I’m not sure what PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan is objecting to. He must explain why anything in the shape of a cross is not allowed.

If it represents the Christian faith, then he must explain why the Christian faith is not allowed. The last we heard, all religions can be practised freely in this country.

Perhaps, Nasrudin exemplifies the intolerant Talibans that try to ban all other religions. If that is so, then he does not represent the voices of the multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysians.

Sama2: My view is that PAS has a good point here. It’s time we kept our religion at home. All of us. There seems to be a race to prove who is more superior. Christians make big structures and Muslims follow suit, and the game goes on.

Antibend: Having closely examined the issue of the cross in the apartment building, it does not take a lesson in rocket science to realise that there was a deliberate attempt to light a portion of the apartment building as a cross.

But at the same time, why there is such a hue and cry over this matter, whether deliberate or not?

Even if the evangelist developer has lighted a cross, what is the big deal? Just tell the developer that the matter should be rectified. Why is PAS, a party devoid of meaning and purpose, making such a hue and cry over this incident as though Islam is under siege?

You can display a cross in a church but you cannot surreptitiously display one in the form of lighting in an apartment where members of different religions live and interact. I hope the developer is penalised for showing no regard for the concerns of others.

Anonymous 281631469076763: The only people trying to insult the intelligence of the population is the uneducated PAS leaders who obviously think that Malay Muslims are so weak in their religious beliefs that an illumination they think is a cross will cause them to renounce Islam.

So, one must assume that PAS thinks all Malay Muslims are weak and are not firm believers in Islam.

Not the Malays I know.

Ipohcrite: As a religiously neutral person, I would imagine that the cross, as a religious symbol, relates to Christians only.

It has no bearing on Muslims whatsoever, unless one chooses to manufacture a dumb excuse that it is insensitive to Muslims or imagine (read: hallucinate) that it serves a Christianisation agenda.

I hope right-thinking citizens should express their outrage at this nonsense; otherwise soon will come a time when an exercising person can't even raise his arms and hold them in a horizontal position while standing straight up as that would represent a cross in the minds of these self-induced-offended religious extremists.

Vijay47: The parable of the Good Samaritan is not only about loving thy neighbour, it includes the wider issue of who indeed your neighbour is.

But when we have to confront on almost a daily basis the insane frothing hostility from creatures produced by PAS, the cross becomes especially heavy to bear.

How does a Christian or any non-Muslim cope with persons so blinkered in their religious vision, so shallow in their faith, so entrenched in fanaticism that they cannot see beyond the dark glasses of their blind eyes?

Does it never occur to them even for the briefest moment that Muslims are the only ones so vulnerable to elements of other religions that seem to further weaken their fragile faiths and confuse them?

How is it that non-Muslims remain so steadfast in their own beliefs despite the countless manifestations of Islamic ways upon us from dawn to dusk to dawn?

Rather than being inspired and enlightened by non-Muslim love and good neighbourliness, the likes of PAS leaders Abdul Hadi Awang and Nasrudin only see it as another occasion to impose further shackles on others.

I have never heard of Anne Choo but how does any recognition she enjoys from the Nehemiah Project, an organisation I have never heard of either, become a danger to Malaysian society?

In fact, I would be more justified if I warn that the education minister’s pedigree of having studied in the Middle East, taught at International Islamic University, and having written books on 'Formulating the Articulation of Islamic Governance' is a grave threat to a multi-religious Malaysia and an overt effort at converting all of us to Islam.

Don Quixote tilted at imaginary windmills, Nasrudin and friends’ passion is crosses.

David Dass: Would the sight of the cross advance the 'Christianisation' agenda of any group of Christians?

The cross, of course, has profound significance and meaning to Christians but to non-believers, it probably means very little.

If in fact a Christian group somehow incorporated the cross in the design of the lights for the apartment block, then it was a silly thing to do.

Anyone would have anticipated the controversy it would provoke and it would have been a put-off for those intending purchasers who are not Christians.

It is also hard to see how lights shaping like a cross in a building could result in any one person converting to Christianity. It is this kind of irrational sensitivity that has resulted in many mission schools being required to change their names and to remove all the icons of the Christian faith from the schools.

It is the same nonsense that caused authorities responsible for approving building plans for churches either not approving the same or imposing conditions that would result in churches being designed in such a way that they do not look like churches.

Kneazle: I had been hearing the ‘azan’ call all my life but I am still not a Muslim. Why?

A mere sight of anything that looks like a cross, and Nasrudin will start to lose faith in his religion.

Anonymous #07988903: Like it or not, the strategies PAS and Umno use in fanning religious and ethnic fear are effective in instilling fear among the Muslims regarding the so-called Christianisation of this country, and also the alleged dominance of non-Malays among the present administrators of the country.

The Pakatan Harapan government seems to be clueless on how to deal with such an approach. If Harapan does not take the initiative to lead the narrative, but only reactive, it not only will lose the next election, the country will be pushed more towards Talibanisation.

Anonymous 2419401464142136: Respecting religious sensitivities? Only, in Malaysia, it’s a one- way street. Everyone has to respect Islam and that is fine.

But do people like Nasrudin respect other religions? It doesn't seem like it. It should be a quid pro quo situation, no? If you don't give respect, you really can't expect respect.

Worried Sick: Personally, I don't see why so many people are uptight about this matter. I am not a Muslim or a Christian but a Hindu.

Whenever I see a church, mosque or temple (Indian or Chinese), I say a silent prayer for the health and happiness of my family and friends. I am a happy man. - Mkini