Selangor Islamic affairs exco member Hasan Ali has broken the gag order issued by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim over the Aug 3 incident at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church.
In his opening speech at a Jais-sponsored seminar entitled, ‘The Implementation of Policy and Strategy: The Role of Media in Facing Threats to Faith’, Hasan had defended the action undertaken by Jais, defining the incident as merely a “search” instead of a “raid”.
Turning the tables around, I wonder what Hasan would have said if the New York police had searched a mosque during a Friday afternoon prayer, because it suspected there were possible terrorists in the midst of the congregation. Should this happen half a globe away, would Hasan or politicians who share his sentiments say it was a 'search' and justified for the police to act?
Instead of playing with words, Hasan, in his capacity as a council member of the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) should understand and respect the sensitivities involved. Quoting his own words, since he says the issue "involves Muslims and non-Muslims, involving two religions, so it is very sensitive", Hasan should at least have respected the gag order, out of respect for the Selangor menteri besar.
To straighten things up, allow me to say that it was not a question of raid or search, that has offended the Christian community in this country at large, and worldwide, where the news of this incident is being followed. It is the intrusion into another person's holy ground that is what offends many of us.
Today, it happened to DUMC, and who knows tomorrow, it may happen to the Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh temple, again on suspicion that there are Muslims in the midst of the ceremony.
Jais did not have a search warrant. Its officers, accompanied by the police, had rudely intruded into a function organised by a non-profit organisation, Harapan Komuniti at the Dream Centre in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. The centre is owned and used as a holy ground of worship for the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).
Whether there was a search warrant or not, the logical thing to do would have been to wait till the function was over, and then to speak to the organisers, instead of creating a scene, which amounts to nothing but a raid - or literally, a rude intrusion into the privacy of another religion, outside Jais' jurisdiction. It is not as if the entire meeting was a threat to national security, why the hurry to raid the place?
Although Jais reports directly to the Selangor Sultan, it is nonetheless not above the law. Without a search warrant, and the knowledge of its own director, how could the raid team led by an assistant director have carried out the raid? On what or whose authority did this Jais team have, when its own director was left in the dark before and during the raid?
If Jais has no power to direct entertainment centres in the state to stop operating during Ramadan, as reiterated by its director, Marzuki Hussin, what power does it have to intrude into a building, which belongs to the people of another religion?
And why is Hassan Ali talking about a 'search' when neither Jais nor the police had a search warrant with them? Given the circumstances, anyone who operated the building would have been offended by the 'trespassing' or intrusion into its activities on suspicion that the Muslims were being proselytised during the meeting.
Proselytisation
No one can deny that proselytisation is an age-old issue. It is also a word which has always been played up by the politicians, time and again, to collect brownie points and to gain the sympathy of the majority. In the worst of situations, this issue has always been used to pit one community against another, or simply to justify something that has apparently gone awry. This is what politicians are good at spinning.
In the past, when Malaysia was a British colony, mission schools which operated here and elsewhere, were also accused of proselytisation. Yet, not many of us who have come under the influence of highly-dedicated and conscientious teachers in these mission schools can have the privilege of saying that we were converted by any of them.
Even many of our cabinet ministers who had benefited from the education provided by the mission schools have never been converted.
Conversion is a personal decision, which cannot be forced upon someone. The sanctity of the human will is something that is never disputed even in Christianity. There is no doubt about it that people in any part of the world will choose what they wish to believe in.
Just as no amount of coercion can force a person to believe in a religion, no state authority has the power over individuals who choose to believe in something else. Christians believe that no even God Himself would force people to turn to Him.
There is a saying, ‘They can throw your body into the fire, but they cannot take away your soul’. The freedom to choose one's religion is a basic human right that cannot be taken away from the individual.
If there were Muslims in the function organised by Harapan Komuniti, there is no reason to believe that they were being "proselytised" against their own will. Anyone of the twelve Muslims could have just walked out of the meeting, if he or she felt that there was proselytisation.
Therefore, why has the word 'proselytisation' been played up so much? Can our Muslim brothers deny that they, too, through their dakwah efforts, are trying to convert people to Islam? Why then, when the raid was carried out against DUMC, was proselytisation used as a justification? Why hadn't Jais raided other religious places, which were similarly attended by Muslims?
For example, Marina Mahathir had been invited on numerous occasions to speak on AIDS in Christian churches. Muslim politicians, including former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, have been invited to officiate Christian events in the past.
Why have there been no raids in those cases? With these VIPs in the audience, and the Christian preacher sharing his message, was there no attempt to proselytise in the authorities’ opinion?
In my opinion, the raid was done not because there was primarily a suspicion of proselytisation on the part of DUMC, but that there is a bigger picture to it. I wonder if it could well be a conspiracy, because of the following reasons.
Conspiracy?
Administratively, Jais reports to Mais, In which sits people like Hasan Ali, the selangor police chief Hisan Hamzah and the controversial Selangor state secretary Mohd Khusnin Munawi. Despite Jais being an agency bearing the Selangor emblem, Khalid as the menteri besar has no jurisdiction to even instruct Jais to carry out the raid, but he had to intervene by virtue of the fact this incident happened in Selangor.
Till now, it is not clear what transpired between Mais and the Attorney-General's Chambers and several Islamic NGOs on August 5, in which the menteri besar was left in the dark; instead, what is obvious from the statement by Mais chairperson Mohamad Abzib Mohd Isa, is that Mohamad Abzib does not appear to be in good terms with Khalid and PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.
Otherwise, why, as a respected religious leader, did Mohamad Abzib make a statement out of what is still largely a rumour, to drive another wedge further into Khalid's administration; is he not afraid of fitnah? I quote Mohamad Abzib's statement: "On the contrary, what is heard is that those around the MB are trying to topple him."
In a spirit of goodwill and a matter of courtesy, has Mais even attempted to brief the menteri bear of the status of the investigation? Or, does it see itself as more superior than the Menteri Besar's Office, that it is willing to stoop down to brief certain NGOs, but not the good office of the menteri besar himself? There is something seriously wrong about the way the meeting was conducted.
Whether Mohamad is from the other political camp or has links to it, there is undoubtedly the element of politics behind the DUMC raid. It is more than just the issue of proselytisation which is being hyped up by various quarters.
As non-Muslims, we do not view the disunity amongst the Muslims as something to be exploited, but universally, there is this cognisance of the fact that where humans are, there will always be conflict of interest between individuals - even if they belong to the same organisation.
Hence, even Hasan Ali's stance cannot be viewed as the official stance of PAS. His adamant position has been vehemently disputed by Khalid Samad, also from PAS. What is clear is that Hasan has been dropped from his official position as the Selangor PAS commissioner. It is fair to say that his actions, therefore, do not reflect the official position of PAS or the Selangor government.
In fact, in the aftermath of the Jais raid, it was also PAS's attempt to meet up with both DUMC and Jais to seek for a peacemaker's solution. When the meeting with Jais was postponed on the advice of the Selangor Sultan, the church also decided to postpone the meeting indefinitely. PAS, in all fairness, had done what it could to mend the relationships.
It is also interesting to note that MCA president Chua Soi Lek had immediately hit out at the DAP for keeping silent over the raid by what is seen as a Selangor agency. We all know that most of the constituencies in Petaling Jaya have fallen into the hands of Pakatan, and to win back the constituencies once held by MCA, the MCA president had to immediately swing into action, as if the DAP was keeping quiet over the Jais raid, without realising that on the same day and at the same time, Malaysiakini had earlier on carried a story where Lim Kit Siang had lambasted Jais.
Christians in this country will remember that, when the controversy over the holy name of the Almighty erupted after the High Court lifted the ban on the name Allah, which led to a number of protests in mosques and incidents where churches were firebombed, it was PAS spiritual adviser, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, followed by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who came to the defence that there is no reason to ban non-Muslims from using the name of Allah.
At the peak of the crisis, wild boar heads wrapped in plastic were being tossed into two mosques in Taman Sri Sentosa. Despite this being a threat to national security, there were no arrests made to date, but one cannot help but to ask whether this was the work of some political individuals? In the first place, I have always asked, why were the boar’s heads wrapped in plastic?
On another incident, when Serdang assemblyperson Teo Nie Ching was invited for a morning exercise session outside a mosque compound, why was there another big outcry? Also, over the Selangor menteri besar's decision to relocate a Hindu temple to Section 23 of Shah Alam, why was a cow’s head being paraded, stomped and spitted upon?
In my opinion, the DUMC raid was part of an overall scheme to destabilise the Selangor administration, which is currently held by Pakatan. One cannot help but recall that Prime Minister Najib Razak had vowed to take back Selangor under its ambit. Could this be just part of a conspiracy, spelt with a capital C?
Mutual Respect
With due respect, the immediate effort by Khalid Ibrahim who, upon learning about the raid, was to immediately contacted the church leadership to express his regrets and said he would meet up with them.
Because this incident has happened within Selangor, Khalid, in my opinion, has demonstrated what is exemplary of a leader who believes in mutual respect. although nowhere in the hierarchy does Jais report either directly or indirectly to the menteri besar's office.
Whatever it is, all sorts of gutter politics should cease immediately and let the sound minds prevail, for the betterment of our Malaysian society.
