The newly-established Christians for Peace and Harmony in Malaysia (CPHM) will promote its cause by providing financial and technical support to its partners, its chairperson Rev Wong Kim Kong says.

CPHM's sponsorship is to help its partners host events that will promote interfaith understanding. The group is also capable of providing technical expertise such as preparing video presentations, Wong said.

From there, the group will expand by roping in more partners, with Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) already expressing interest in cooperating with CPHM, he said.

"Over the next one year, we will be doing whatever we can to get Malay, Chinese and Indian groups from different places to start having this kind of gatherings or playing games together," Wong ( photo ) told Malaysiakini on the sidelines of CPHM's launch in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The launch and dinner banquet saw the attendance of a full-house crowd at the ballroom of the Majestic Hotel.

Among the 1,200 people present were, among others, representatives of Christian groups, including the Vatican's ambassador to Malaysia, non-Christian NGOs such as Abim and Perkasa and at least four cabinet members.

Event sponsored by YTL

The event, according to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, was sponsored by YTL Corporation Bhd director Francis Yeoh, whose company also owns Majestic Hotel through a subsidiary.

During the launch, CPHM announced its six partners, which are comprised of both government and civil society groups.

These are the Segamat District Council, the Taman Sri Muda Residents’ Association, Kelab Pembangunan Uniti, the Committee for the Promotion of Interfaith Understanding and Harmony, the Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies and the Metropolitan Community Centre in Brickfields.

While the details have yet to be finalised, the events being planned are a dinner function in Segamat, a sports event in Sri Muda, dialogue sessions and tours to places of worship.

"Our approach is a multiplying principle. We sponsor them, say RM20,000 or RM30,000, which they will use to organise their community work, at which they can gather funds from the community.

"So the fund will be used for their purposes and it will multiply and multiply," Wong said.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who officiated at the event, focused in his speech the need for dialogue among different religious groups to establish mutual understanding and the creation of a matured society.

'Limits to freedom of expression'

Najib stayed away recent Muslim-Christian conflicts in the country, save for suggesting the audience that even an imperfect solution was better than no solution.

Najib was seen as referring to objections from the Christian Federation of Malaysia last week to the government’s plans to add more restrictions on the distribution of the Malay language Bible (the Alkitab).

According to the national Christian body, the draft rules include a total ban on importing the Alkitab into Peninsula Malaysia, except for personal use, which it said is "in total violation of the Federal Constitution’s protection on the freedom of religion".

While portraying himself as a moderate and a reformer, Najib said the problem with religions is not differences among the followers of the different faiths, but the extremists who abuse them.

"These are the people who we must confront, deal with and totally reject," he said, vowing not to allow religious conflicts to occur.

However, Najib added, that was also why there are legal limits to the freedom of expression, so that the democratic space given to share differences of opinion do not lead to conflict.

Najib was apparently alluding to the Sedition Act 1948, which he had earlier promised to repeal, only to go back on his word two years later and made the law more potent .

Wong: Think nicely of one another

The law has been criticised by civil liberty groups as draconian due to its vague definitions on what amounts to sedition.

Among the new provisions included in the Sedition Act by Parliament in April include those that criminalise incitement of religious hatred.

Wong, in his speech, lamented that public discourse is dominated by the "negative sentiment override", on which he quoted psychologist John Gottman, who defined it as a condition where "people draw lasting and presumptuous conclusions about one another".

This is in contrast to the "positive sentiment override", where the positive feelings of a person lead the person to overlook the anger or irritability caused by the transgressions of another person.

Examples of the latter category include the pastor of the Taman Medan Church, who told reporters that he forgives the protesters who had earlier demanded that his church removes the cross it had erected on its outside wall, Wong, the former National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) secretary-general, said.

"Promoting peace and harmony requires a positive sentiment override. Therefore let us consider whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things," he said.

He added that while various ethnic and religious groups are finding ways to co-exist in harmony, the way their views and rights are asserted may unconsciously convey confrontation or antagonism instead of a 'cordial expression of views or concern.'

 

“Therefore, many times it triggers suspicions, misunderstandings and a breakdown of communication and if not checked it will cause distrust and animosity,” he said.