Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing applauded the action of a group of Muslims who greeted Christians at a Catholic Church in Kajang this morning with oranges, flowers and goodies.

 

The goodwill gesture occurred against a background of rising tensions between Muslims and Christians over the Allah issue.

 

Bishop Paul, head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese who has been vocal on national affairs that affect religious freedom and Christian social teaching, described the gesture by some Muslims at the Holy Family Church in Kajang as a “ripple of hope.”  

 

“Their action has sent out a ripple of hope and crossing each other from scores of Muslim and Christian centres of goodwill and nobility; these ripples will build a current that will sweep away the walls of suspicion and hatred in which Malaysians are being sequestered,” he expatiated.

 

The Jesuit-trained prelate described the group of Muslims who visited parishioners at the Catholic Church in Kajang with tokens of appreciation as “emissaries of goodwill in a time of foreboding and fanaticism in our country.”

 

“They are obviously the children of light who must ever triumph over the children of darkness. This is the promise of our benevolent Creator,” enthused the bishop.

 

Molotov cocktails

The goodwill visit by the Muslim group in Kajang, led by Ally Hazran Hashim, comes almost a week after two Molotov cocktails were hurled into the compound of the Church of The Assumption in Farquhar Street, Penang.

 

Tensions between Muslims and Christians flared anew when Malay and Iban language Bibles were seized from the premises of the Bible Society Malaysia on January 2 by a team from the Department of Islamic Affairs Selangor (Jais).

 

Last October, an appellate court overturned a High Court judgment of December 31, 2009 which allowed the Catholic publication, The Herald , to use the term ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the weekly.

 

The High Court decision triggered a demand by some Muslim groups that the government declares the term exclusive to Muslims.

 

The government appealed the decision which was overturned by a panel of the Court of Appeal last October. The matter is now before the apex court.