Apostate movement getting more blatant, claims daily
The controversial issue of converting Muslims is being done openly although it is against the law, claimed Malay language daily Sinar Harian over what it dubbed as the “apostasy movement”.
The controversial issue of converting Muslims is being done openly although it is against the law, claimed Malay language daily Sinar Harian over what it dubbed as the “apostasy movement”.
“From time to time when we observe their efforts, they are becoming braver. Before, we only hear of instances where leaflets are left in motorcycle carrier baskets, stuck under windscreen wipers or slotted into mailboxes,” said Sinar in its regular Monday column.
The report urged the subtle spread of apostasy to stop and appealed to groups assisting the poor by providing aid to be earnest in their endeavours.
It also featured a converted Muslim religious teacher, who claims to have aided the apostasy of over 200 Muslims when he was in training to become a pastor.
Mohd Farhan Abdullah al-Hafiz, who was formerly known as Yohanus, is the son of a church leader in Kota Belud, Sabah and trained as a pastor before he renounced his faith in 1990.
Despite having been a staunch Christian, Mohd Farhan said he was attracted to Islam as he often felt he was living an unfulfilled life, and therefore he made the decision to profess Islam.
“All my doubts and the feeling of restlessness disappeared (after I converted). Until today I feel at peace with Islam, something I never felt before,” he told the newspaper.
In the past 20 years since his conversion, Mohd Farhan said that he has encouraged and assisted more than 4,000 Christian to profess Islam, in turn.
He said that he has been monitoring the apostasy movement and noticed that the proponents are rampant in abusing the freedom of religion granted under the constitution.
Mohd Farhan added that efforts taken to stop the movement have been futile, as the government gave in and allowed the release some 35,000 impounded copies of Al-Kitab, the Bible in the Malay language.
Tuition centre with ‘evangelist tutors’ shut down
In a related development, Utusan Malaysia today reported that a tuition centre in Jalan Klang Lama had shut down after being ordered to terminate operations by the Education Ministry authorities.
Last week, the Malay-language daily’s editor called on authorities to probe claims that Muslim schoolchildren are being influenced by Christian teachings through free tuition classes.
According to previous reports, the free classes conducted in the tuition centre were a subtle approach to proselytise to Malay schoolchildren from poor families.
However, to fill the void, the Seputeh Umno Youth division plans to get tutors to teach the children instead.
The division’s youth chief, Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii, said that they are currently in the process of identifying suitable candidates to assist the students.
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They failed with race, now they're using religion
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