Baru Bian
KUCHING: State Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chairman Baru Bian is not surprised that Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Dr Kamarul Yusoff has started to target him.
Kamarul, who recently tried to vilify Selangor State Legislative Assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh by calling her biography ‘Becoming Hannah’ Christian propaganda, is now slamming Baru for saying that the ‘All Borneo Revival Convocation 2017’ is not political.
Baru, who is Ba Kelalan assemblyman, called Kamarul’s actions ‘purely driven by political motives and fuelled by ignorance’.
Kamarul also claimed Baru’s book ‘Long Awakening’ showed the latter mixed his religion with politics, and questioned whether Baru’s stand on the event was effectively PKR central leadership’s stand.
A similar gathering in Melaka called ‘Jerusalem Jubilee’ was recently cancelled following complaints that it was connected to Zionism.
According to Baru, Kamarul failed to understand that because Christianity originated in the Middle East, The Bible – from the book of Genesis to Revelation – is full of historical references to that region.
“Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee, are some of the places mentioned. The very fact that Christians talk about these places and read about them in The Bible does not make us Zionists or traitors to this country.
“Present day Christians use some of these names as spiritual metaphors – as an example, ‘New Jerusalem’ means heaven. Kamarul does not have the understanding of the spiritual significance of our Christian terminology,” Baru said in a press statement yesterday.
On the spiritual revival meeting, Baru questioned the timing of the objections as such gatherings are not new.
“They have been going on as long as I can remember, going back to before I was born. No one had any problem with them, why start now? If there had been anything unlawful going on, the authorities could have prosecuted us,” he said.
Baru pointed out that spiritual revival meetings are part and parcel of church activities, where Christians are encouraged to be obedient to the teachings of their faith, a large part of which is to be good citizens.
“Christians pray for the (Yang di-Pertuan) Agong, the Sultans, the Prime Minister, the Menteri Besars and Chief Ministers, and all the leaders of the country, that they will have the wisdom to rule the country, that they will be just and fair, and that they will reject corruption.
“At every meeting, we pray for the people and the nation. There is no talk about politics, inciting people to rebel against the government or encouraging them to convert Muslims. How can that be unpatriotic?” he stated.
Baru added that he would turn the other cheek when it came to Kamarul’s actions.
“Therefore, in spite of what he says against me, I can only love him as a brother and pray for him, in obedience to the word of God,” he said.
He called on Kamarul to stop inventing a Christian agenda where none existed, as it is unwise to try to drive a wedge between people of different faiths.
In response to Kamarul’s Facebook post against her, Yeoh had lodged a police report, which prompted Kamarul to file his own report claiming that Yeoh’s book tried to ‘plead, influence and incite’ non-Christians to embrace the religion or favour its teachings.