COMMENT Inevitably, the 10-point agreement which was signed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the lead-up to the last general election was nothing but a gimmick to win the hearts of the Christian voters.

Najib did the same with one of the Hindraf leaders, P Waythamoorthy, in which he was given a deputy minister post while his brother P Uthayakumar was in jail, but within a short span, even Waythamoorthy saw that Umno’s mentality was simply impregnable.

Recently, a video clip by Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem went viral, showing him strongly condemning “Umno from the peninsular” whose leaders are fond of calling the Chinese “pendatang” (immigrants). It has brought some cheers to his audience during a Chinese New Year event this year - the election is round the corner - in Sarawak.

Adenan ( photo ) also deserves my praise for ‘Operasi Gergaji’ and meeting the people behind Sarawak Report and the Bruno Manser Fund, although the officials at the Malaysian High Commission were anything but polite. This is, provided that Adenan is sincere about what he is doing. If he continues with his campaign, he should be the next prime minister of Malaysia.

However, politicians being politicians, we have to ask them questions that can sometimes make them feel uncomfortable. Only then do we know if they are genuine or merely staging a shadow play.

Given that he is fully aware of Umno leaders and their wayward behaviour in peninsular Malaysia, on what basis can his party continue to collaborate with Umno? Umno is where it is today because of the support of the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and other parties in Sabah and Sarawak.

Unless Adenan is a different species from the other corrupted politicians, he should cut ties with Umno immediately, in the same manner that DAP has cut ties with the current PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. And, from what I know as early as last year, Pakatan will drop PAS if Hadi is re-elected as PAS president in the coming muktamar.

Otherwise, the Christian community is Sarawak (and Sabah) should wake up to the harsh reality of Malaysian politics, already felt by the churches in peninsular Malaysia for the past few decades.

There has always been promises made about the freedom of religion - which is in fact, a constitutional right of every Malaysia - in exchange for our votes. Once given the mandate, everything is forgotten.

Rejecting the new SOPs

Recently, both writer Bob Teoh and the chairperson of Christian Federation of Malaysia Reverend Eu Hong Seng have raised the issue of the new standard operating procedures under the Home Affairs Ministry on the import of Bibles for churches in peninsular Malaysia.

This was sadly presented to the churches by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Joseph Kurup, who gave assurances that the new SOPs would be good for Malaysian churches.

After studying through the SOPs, Rev Eu came out with one statement that the CFM rejects the SOP .

Although this is a new set of SOPs on import of the Alkitab, there is no difference to the old ban that was imposed in 1982 when Dr Mahathir Mohamad first came to power. What Dr Mahathir did in 1982, Umno is beginning to feel the brunt from the Christian community today where we have had enough of the empty promises that were made by politicians.

Briefly, this new set of SOPs is meant to restrict the import of the Alkitab into peninsular Malaysia. Eu is diplomatically firm in rejecting the SOP because it “negates the very guarantee of freedom of religion and the right to manage one’s own religious affairs”.

In the first place, what has the import of the Alkitab to do with the Quranic Text Division of the Home Ministry for import approval, which is currently the requirement?

How would Muslims feel if the import of Quran into the American soil has to first obtain the approval of the American Bible Society?

The new SOPs clearly show an infringement of every citizen’s right to practice his or her own religion, without any interference whatsoever. The imposition of new rules and regulations has nothing to do with the teaching of Islam on the rights of the minorities but, in my opinion, an outworking of the so-called ‘ketuanan Melayu’.

For example, the prophet of Islam never taught its adherents to persecute the minorities during his era, neither did he force the crosses to be removed from the churches. But in Taman Medan, a group of Umno protesters saw fit to create a brouhaha over a small church that was meeting on its premises.

In the same breath, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar could say that the demand to remove the cross (a 20-century old symbol of Christianity) as not something sensitive to the Christian community as “it did not touch on Christianity”.

Despite winning her case, Sarawakian native Jill Ireland, whose compact discs with Christian songs and sermons that she brought back from Indonesia were confiscated at the LCCT, the Home Ministry went on to pursue the case to the higher courts over a few personal belongings.

In the years-long Borders’ case, a Muslim bookstore manager, Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz ( photo ), and an employee of Borders were charged with selling a Malay translation of a book by Canadian author Irshad Manji, ‘Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta’.  

Despite being watched closely by the Malaysian public at large, an ‘arrogant’ Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) sought to appeal against the Federal Territory Shariah High Court’s Feb 26 decision to discharge Borders for selling a book deemed un-Islamic.

It was learnt that chief sharie prosecutor (KPS) Mohamad Adib Husain went all the way to serve the notice of appeal directly to Nik Raina at her workplace, despite knowing that Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill is the solicitor on record.

It was only after both Mohamad Adib and Jawi’s director-general were served a notice that they were in contempt of both the civil High Court and Court of Appeal’s orders directing that the prosecution against Nik Raina be discontinued due to illegality, that the case was finally dropped . In the first place, the book was only banned five days after the raid and Nik Raina is only a manager in charge of the entire bookstore.

Politics the main spoiler

In Malaysia, it is the politics that spoil the fabrics of Malaysian society. Without you and I knowing, there are people with vested interests whenever a certain policy is implemented.

Or the religious police of another religion is willing to even raid the Bible Society of Malaysia, on the pretext that the Malay and Iban version of the Bibles would weaken the aqidah of the Muslims. No one has answered me how an Iban Bible lying in the store of the Bible Society warehouse in Petaling Jaya could influence a Malay Muslim in peninsular Malaysia!

It must be the supernatural power which the Iban Bible exhibits that, when a Muslim looking at certain words in it, would be converted to Christianity. It is either how absurd or how ‘ketuanan Melayu’ has time again rear its ugly head.

The raid was nothing but a political move to hit out at the Selangor state government. Therefore, as far as Umno politicians or supporters are concerned, they will do anything just to remain in power.

Another clear example is when Dr Mahathir first banned the Indonesian Alkitab in 1982. He did the same thing again in 1986. Whenever he could appease a certain group of supporters, Dr Mahathir would do it - in order to remain in power.

Since then, it has always been the case. This has resulted in the erosion of the people’s confidence in Malaysian politicians, who are more opportunists than true adherents of their own faith. If they are true Muslims like the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, a long-term spiritual leader of PAS, Malaysia would be a great place with religious and racial harmony.

This is why in a recent survey, a large percentage of Malaysians say that politicians are the least to be trusted, as a result of what we see in our Malaysian, in particular Umno, politician.

In the wake of another major scandal involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, it is time for us to wake up to the clarion call: Vote for Change, and end the politics of tyranny of the majority.

This is the new Malaysia we hope to see emerging for the sake of our younger generation of Indians, Malays, Chinese, Dayaks, Kadazans and the better protected minority groups in this country. It is time for moderate Malaysians to stand up and be counted.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.