PKR vice-president John Tenewi Nuek said today he regards Deputy Information, Communication and Culture Minister Joseph Salang Gandum’s statement describing the Christians as fools as very distressing and sad.

 

“Describing the Christians as fools is against the federal constitution. It is a form of intimidation. He knows that we have freedom of religion.

 

“Under the constitution, everyone has every right to practise his or her religious belief,” he said at a press conference today he called to admonish Salang.

 

NONE Nuek, a former Malaysia ambassador, said Salang ( right ) is trying to instil fear among the Christians in Sarawak.

 

“As a Christian himself, it is sad for us to hear that he was making such a statement, which is a form of intimidation,” he said.

 

Asked whether Salang was misinformed over what was going in Sarawak, Nuek said such a question should be directed at the deputy minister.

 

To another question whether Salang should apologise for his remark, Nuek said he would leave the matter to Salang, as a Christian himself, to answer.

 

He said there should be no reason for anyone to call other people names.

 

“Is he a fool for being a Christian?” he asked.

 

“We should adopt this policy of co-existence among equals in this country. Our strength is that we are able to live in harmony, and not make any attempt to suppress it,” Nuek said.

 

“You are Dayaks or Malays or Chinese, but we have no reasons to quarrel among ourselves because of religion,” he said.

 

He said stamping the Malay-language Bible with the words “For Christians Only” was a form of suppression by not allowing the Christians the freedom of religion.

 

He said there is no religion which is better than the others.

 

“They are all good, “ he said.

Salang, who is also the Julau member of parliament, was reported to have dismissed a Christian prayer rally at the Association of Churches Centre in Kuching last night as a gathering of people making fools of themselves.

About 3,000 Christians attended the prayer gathering organised by the Sarawak Ministers Fellowship.

Salang made the remark at a dinner attended by foreign and local media representatives in Kuala Lumpur.

‘Expressing their feelings to God’

Meanwhile, Sarawak PKR election director of strategy Nicholas Bawin said he was present at the prayer gathering last night.

“The reason that the Christians gathered on that matter was because of the manner in which the 30,000 copies of the Malay-language Bibles were detained by the Home Ministry,” he said.

nicholas bawin pkr candidate for batang ai state seat 270209 01 Bawin ( left ) said only the Home Ministry knows why the Bibles have to be stamped and given serial numbers before that could be released.

“Christianity has been in Sarawak for hundreds of years, and that no such conditions have been imposed in the state.

“There must be a reason for the current government to impose the reasons, which we all do not know,” he added.

“When the Christians people gathered in a big crowd, there are very serious about their Christian way of life. We are very serious about our relationship with God.

“It is more than just going to church on Sunday,” he said.

“When Christians get together like this, how things are done, against the wishes of the Christians, they come together to express their feelings to God.

“We are not making fools of ourselves, not are we making fools of our God,” he said.

Bawin said when the Christians feel that they are suppressed and oppressed, they pray to God.

“Nobody should make comments that we are fools, and nobody should say that the Christian God is a fool. Please, you are answerable for what you say about God.

“No such statement should come from anybody,” he said.

He said he is leaving it to authorities to decide whether describing Christians as fools is seditious.