COMMENT | The conduct and subsequent actions of Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuching Simon Poh following the announcement of the local Federal Court’s decision concerning apostasy and jurisdiction was, in my humble opinion, quite commendable.

This has little or nothing to do with who Poh is or who he represents, but with how he acted in the face of what happened.

As it happens, Wikipedia tells me that the honorific for archbishops is “Your Grace”, and this appears to be precisely what was demonstrated.

Watching the video, Poh finds himself in an atmosphere that someone in his position could very understandably have found hostile and even somewhat dangerous.

However, Poh can be seen throughout to be unfazed and smiling.

In one of the more touching moments of the video, Poh can even be seen sharing an embrace with a number of Muslim leaders present at the scene.

Credit to the police

Later on, as things get more tense outside the courthouse, Poh is whisked away by security personnel.

Just as we criticise the police when they do not do their jobs, we must credit them when they do.

While imperfect, as perhaps more preventive steps could have been taken beforehand, people who have been in such situations can probably attest to the rather fluid and often unpredictable nature of such crowds.

All said, the police appear to have been sincere and fairly effective in their efforts to diffuse the situation, and deserve at least some credit there.

Focusing on the positive

Following the ruckus outside the courthouse, Poh was quick to communicate his lack of animosity, and instead stated:

"I am not rattled about this, I think there were many people around to make sure that I am okay," he was quoted as saying by the Borneo Post.

Poh emphasised the need to maintain harmony in Sarawak.

"The Muslim authority has been very kind - those who are helping me to make sure I am here.

"I was with IIC's (Islamic Information Centre) Zabariah (Matali) and he said 'We work together, we are friends still' and I think that is important.

"In Sarawak, we work as friends. We maintain the harmony of our state. Let us not allow emotions to overcome everything and I am sure the state authority (including) the chief minister is watching.

"We will do our best to work towards harmony - to rebuild the harmony. I think it was just an isolated incident and I think (for) the majority of people, we are still friends," he said.”

Would that every Malaysian had such a gregarious attitude towards people of different faiths and backgrounds.

Bridge-builders

I believe the takeaway here is that even if and when we face setbacks to one’s goals, or are faced with people who may be looking to peddle animosity and distrust, a positive attitude and focus on silver linings provides the most long-term hope.

Poh laudably chooses to highlight the fact that bonds between at least some Muslims and non-Muslims remain strong.

We must of course acknowledge and highlight the words of Zabariah as well, without which there might be significantly less positivity to highlight.

With regards to apostasy, I suppose we can hope that we continue progressing towards a freedom of religion that more clearly reflects true individual conviction, rather than empty institutional safeguards.

As a nation, we are bound to experience any number of challenges and causes for conflict - this is both essentially inevitable and unavoidable.

What is not inevitable however, is the manner in which we face these challenges. If we demonstrate the bridge-building attitudes of Zabariah and Poh, then we can weather even the worst of storms.

NATHANIEL TAN agrees with the PM that rice isn’t the healthiest, but isn’t crazy about the price of quinoa either. He encourages the exploration of other alternatives.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.