COMMENT In my last article on the Taman Medan church, I discussed briefly about the dispute raised by a group known as Concerned Lawyers for Justice (CLJ) against the ruling made by the Selangor Committee for the Welfare of Non-Muslim Faiths (or Hesi) co-chaired by state exco member Elizabeth Wong.

While Hesi had issued its directive that all religious groups can operate from a ‘certified-fit’ for occupation commercial building, without having to further apply for a permit from the local council, CLJ’s attempt to urge Wong’s retraction of her statement is anything but punitive.

In the first place, even Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali ( right ) is crystal clear about the church’s right to place the cross back to its façade, after it was removed following the protest by some 50 demonstrators.

Subsequently, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as president of Umno has also instructed the police to investigate the leaders of the street protest.

Members of the local community led by one activist Ally Hazran Hashim have also extended a gesture of goodwill to the church congregation on behalf of the Muslim moderates in the country.

The little Napoleons

Even from the legal point of view, after consulting lawyers, I do not see how the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 (Act 133) had, in any way, prohibited the use of commercial buildings for religious activities, but in the hands of a few little Napoleons, it is enough to give the religious organisations the run-around just to apply for a permit.

Given that religious organisations do not succumb to the pressure of greasing the palms of local authorities, their permit can take years before it is issued, or after it is issued, it can be withdrawn at the whims and fancies of any individual. This explains why some religious organisations chose not to apply for a permit, because either way, they can be evicted.

All it takes is just a few people to lodge a complaint (which can be easily organised), even though this may have been done out of malicious intent.

Obviously, the Taman Medan case was not as simple as a few demonstrators just wanting to remove the cross, a symbol of Christianity for over two thousand years, if we care to read in-between the lines.

The few so-called local Taman Medan protesters were hoping to displace the church, and in the process put the state assemblywoman, Haniza Mohamed Talha in a bad light because she had won in the last general election with a margin of 4,433 votes, which contributed also to Hee Loy Sian’s victory in the Petaling Jaya Selatan parliamentary constituency.

Stop the rot

If Selangor had taken a timid stand and reverted to the old days when religious organisations needed to apply for a permit, we would be back to square one. We would be allowing a few individuals to decide on the fate of the silent majority.

In less than a week, although unrelated, we have also seen the same thing happening to an entertainment event ‘Thirst 2015: We Are All Stardust’, which was supposed to be held at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre (MIECC), but its permit was revoked a day before the event.

The Serdang district police chief Razimi Ahmad cited objections from the local community as the reason for not endorsing the permit application. This, despite the event planned to be held in a proper convention hall, with sufficient car parks to cater to the event.

Such last-minute cancellation of events not only brings a bad name to the country but is a bane to the meeting, incentives, conventions and exhibition (MICE) industry as a whole.

Event organisers would now have to keep their fingers crossed when they organise such large-scale entertainment events, because permits which have been issued can be cancelled at the eleventh hour because of some ‘objections from the community’.

This is exactly the reason why I know, for example, a certain well-connected top corporate leader who is a Muslim himself, would have brought in a big celebrity entertainer if the government had been more supportive of the entertainment industry instead of giving in to the pressures from a small group of fanatics.

We have fast deteriorated to become a nation that is governed by fanatics and religious bigots that have grown bolder under the present administration. Winding the clock backwards, I have seen such tyranny taking place since the early eighties when Dr Mahathir Mohamad started playing on the sentiments of Malay supremacy and shifted Umno’s moderate Malay stance to what it is today.

Blame not only Najib Abdul Razak, but Umno should realise today why it finds itself losing the support of the non-Malay communities.

And, please do not tell me that this subject that I am bringing up here is anything new, that even the Christian, or even Buddhist and Hindu ministers in the present or previous cabinets knew nothing and did nothing about, despite being ‘divinely’ lifted to such high positions.

Nothing new

For many years, churches and temples have found themselves in a dicey situation, because the local councils can decide to issue a permit or cancel it at their whims and fancies.

One particular reader, VP Biden, commented on my article saying that “it’s time Malaysians (realise) that no land (has been) allocated for house of worship of the non-Muslim populace. They have to foray into houses, buildings (and) shop houses. This is true for not only Christians but Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Baha’i, Jain and Tao communities.”

If the government is serious about such issues affecting the non-Muslim communities, it should immediately emulate Hesi in its directive and address the pressing need for designated land for both religious and burial purposes to meet the growing demand of the non-Muslim population in this country. Every community should be treated equitably.

The freedom to practise one’s faith, as enshrined in the federal constitution, should also be upheld at all times and the need for a permit on top of the certificate for occupation in a commercial building should be scrapped.

After all, the founding fathers of this nation had foreseen the need for a secular state, yet upholding Islam as the official religion and allowing all other communities the freedom to practise their religion in peace and harmony. It is the federal constitution that binds us together as one nation, and one people.

We are all Malaysians who subscribe to the Rukunegara, whose first tenet is nothing but ‘Belief in God’.

With this in mind, the question of whether the senior pastor of Community of Praise church in Taman Medan, Paul Packianathan ( right ) should wait for God’s green light before he puts up the cross need no further deliberation.

A quick reference to the Bible, it is obvious that every Christian is duty-bound to bear the cross. And, “whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

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Solution still sought for houses of worship

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.