Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing described MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s opinion that silence was not an option for PAS if Christians continue to be vilified in Malaysia as “remarkable by the standards of a Malaysian politician; extraordinary when you consider he’s a Muslim one.”

 

“Christian bashing has become a sport for miscreants from among the media and political class over the last few years, so Mujahid’s assurance that to his party silence is not an option is a pronouncement of historic moment,” remarked the head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese.

 

“When you bear in mind that he is from a party whose principal leader pronounced some four decades ago that Christians in this country were a greater threat than the communists, you can see how far he has come - and if it’s true that his party feels the same as he does now about Christian bashing - how far it has traveled,” noted the Jesuit-trained prelate.

 

“The biggest menace in this country is the lack of regeneration among members of its political class – their inclination to parrot the received wisdom on an issue,” observed the bishop.

 

On Mujahid, the prelate expatiated: “I was fortunate to meet the man in Kuala Lumpur several weeks ago. I found him to be amiable of disposition, moderate of counsel, earnest in intention, intelligent in conversation, and rational in argument.

 

“From what he has been doing the last few years, going round to churches espousing conciliation and convergence rather than division and discord, I must say that I salute his bravery, respect his intentions, and bid all churches where he intends to hold forth to welcome him as a guest of high honor.”

 

Bishop Paul Tan ( right ) predicted that Mujahid would derive more and more strength for his campaign of peace and goodwill between Christians and Muslims simply from the “now mounting body of evidence that the vast majority of Malaysians are not reacting to the acts of arson and provocation committed by agent provocateurs.”

 

“The aim of these agent provocateurs is to inflame the feelings of sections of the public but, praise God, nothing like that is happening,” asserted the bishop.

 

“This must be a source of great frustration to the paymasters of these agent provocateurs but it is of no surprise to anyone with an inkling of sociology - that the presence of a big middle class is the antidote to emotive outbursts on religion, on language and the like.

 

“I understand Mujahid to be a member of this middle class, with experience of multi-religious and multi-racial interaction in his make-up, added to the sophistication of his tertiary education.

 

“I say the more Mujahids we have the higher will be the incidence of peace and goodwill among Malaysians,” opined Bishop Paul Tan.