MALAYSIANS were again plagued by religious issues just days into New Year.
On Jan 2, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) in Selangor was raided, and some 320 copies of the Bibles (in both Malay and Iban language) containing the word Allah, were confiscated by the Selangor religious authorities (Jais).
BSM president Lee Min Choon and office manager Sinclair Wong were reportedly arrested under Selangor’s Non-Islamic Religionv (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, prohibiting non-Muslims in that state from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including the word for God – Allah.
Political analysts believe the raid was strategically planned to divert public attention from other more pressing national issues, foremost of which being the escalating costs of living.
But did it work? If the raid was, indeed, a “diversion tactic,” then I would think it is a very bad strategy because it makes a mockery of the call for a united, peaceful, stable and progressive Malaysia by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his New Year message.
The Prime Minister said: “We must be active in the pursuit of unity. Our stability and our progress depend on it. That is why I have established the National Unity Consultative Council which will report to the Cabinet with recommendations on what we can do to bring Malaysians closer together.
“Our responsibility – and my priority – is to secure the continued peace, stability and progress on which Malaysia’s future rests. Rebuilding our national unity, and encouraging public debate based on respect, is a great part of that. As the New Year unfolds, you will hear more from my government about how we will do so.”
Najib went on to express concern over the rising costs of living, assuring the government is taking steps to minimise their impact on the rakyat with the Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) being tasked to ease the pressures on the spending power of the public.
But how much hope can we put on Pemandu to successfully pull a rabbit out of the hat this time around? Isn’t it the same Pemandu that drew up the 10-point agreement, guaranteeing Christians in Malaysia the right to not only import and use the Alkitab (Malay-language Bible) but also print it locally?
Well, Mr Prime Minister, in the eyes of the people and the world at large, the 10-point agreement has been a total letdown – and no thanks to the latest raid on BSM by Jais.
In case you think the grass is greener on the other side of the political divide, then let’s see how it adds up. Now, isn’t it the same Lim Guan Eng who in 2008 severely criticised the Terengganu government for placing orders for Mercedes Benz cars?
Back then, he said the Terengganu government’s decision to purchase 14 such cars at a cost of RM3.43 million was not right at a time of economic uncertainty, and the Terengganu government should settle for a cheaper brand such as Toyota.
Lim may have bought his S300L Mercedes Benz sedan for a good price (without import tax) or he may be more than capable of defending the purchase but the bottomline is still that in the public eye, the deal – whether tax-free or otherwise – was closed at the expense of the raykat.
The Penang Chief Minister has time and again asked Umno to practise what it preaches. He has frequently said “Umno leaders are living luxuriously while the people are suffering. The party must do something about this.” A case of the pot calling the kettle black?
A complete disappointment in Penang no doubt, and a letdown as well in Selangor when State Assembly members in that state increased their own salaries from 87 per cent to 373 per cent and later justified their action by saying Sarawak assemblymen had also increased their salaries, and that the private sectors are paying their staff even more.
Is there any justification for making the comparison? Name me a private organisation that pays its staff whether they perform or not for five years without any sort of performance evaluation. Name me an organisation that offers a pay hike of 300 per cent and where the employees or the CEO can increase their own salaries.
I would have thought the honorable thing to do is to be frank, not dubious, about it – that you need to have a bigger pay cheque at the end of the month to meet the various needs – instead of dragging someone else who has nothing to do with you into the equation just so that you feel less guilty about giving yourself a big pay rise while knowing “the people are suffering” as some ersewhile politicians are fond of saying.
I would like to share this story told by my beloved pastor at the watchnight service at Trinity Methodist Church I attended from 10.30pm on the last day of 2013 into the first hour of 2014.
The story told of a famous chess champion who loved to visit renowned art galleries. In the famous Louvre Museum in Paris, he came across a picture painted by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch (supposedly between 1898 and 1899) that absolutely mesmerised him. It was an elaborate picture of a very unusual chess game.
On one side of the painting was the devil, laughing and leaning back in his chair as if to say “match over.” On the other side was a young man whose face was filled with fear, his eyes with tears as he looked completely stupefied.
The devil looked anxious with one hand on the chessboard, poised to make his last move and win the young man’s soul forever. Underneath the painting was the word “checkmate.”
The chess champion was fascinated by what he saw and for over six hours, closely studied the painting. Finally, he asked the museum keeper if he had a chessboard anywhere in the premises.
The museum keeper duly came up with one and the chess champion arranged every piece on the board just as it was in the painting, then sat down and continued studying the painting.
Finally, a big smile came over his face. He then looked back up at the painting, saying to the young man in the painting: “It’s not nearly as bad as you think. There is another move which would make you the winner of the game!”
The world is in a mess – protests, corruption, faltering economies, job losses, rising costs of living, broken families, depression, murders, pollution and global warming. It looks chillingly like checkmate, doesn’t it?
There was also a time when a young man had only two small fishes, five loaves of bread and five thousand people to feed. But he still had a move in hand and after making it, the multitudes he fed picked up 12 baskets of left-overs.
Despair not, it’s not checkmate yet. We still have a move to make. There are still many good politicians whom we can count as friends around. So choose wisely at the next ballot – soon very soon.