Hope Has Not Been Bombed Out

Sun2Surf,

11 January 2010

PAKATAN Rakyat could not be happier. It has been handed a “gift” with the fire-bombing of the churches. Naturally, it has been making political capital of it – PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim call the incidents “unIslamic”. On the other hand, Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be on the defensive although he has strongly condemned the violent acts. Don’t point fingers at Umno, he says. Meanwhile, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin refuses, on Al-Jazeera, to say that the fire-bombings are connected to the Allah issue and conveniently leaves it to the police to decide that. Sure, sure, it may well be a coincidence.

The arsonists did the Barisan Nasional government a great disservice by their mindless, cowardly acts. Immediately after the results of their handiwork came to public attention, tongues were wagging that Umno was responsible. Well, even if it wasn’t, its key leaders are liable to be held indirectly accountable for their ambivalent stand regarding last Friday’s proposed protests.

Just like its stern stance when it came to public protests, against the ISA, for example, the government should have sent a strong message that the planned mosque protests against the “Allah” ruling should not be held. Those in charge of national security should have said from the outset that any public gatherings organised to protest against the issue would be deemed illegal and action would be taken against the perpetrators.

The arsonists have also presented BN a problem. The acts of arson could so incense the Christians of Sabah and Sarawak that come the next general election, they could withdraw their support for BN, something that is now evidently crucial if BN is to stay in power. The bombings would also have further alienated the non-Malays whom the ruling coalition has been trying to woo back with 1Malaysia. How should Najib proceed now?

Ironically, something positive seems to have emerged from the Allah issue, the bombings and the protests. Although the raising of such a sensitive religious issue could have led to ethnic clashes, it did not happen, further reinforcing the post-March 8 belief that the May 13 bogey has effectively been exorcised.

It certainly helped that sensible Muslims did not agree with the protesters and said so publicly. Although a Facebook group formed to oppose the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims has drawn almost 200,000 members, the relatively thin turnout at the mosque protests indicates that Malaysians will not simply take up any cause irrationally.

Those at the protests advocating violent action, like the individual in Shah Alam who yelled at the crowd to “bakar gereja” , reportedly met with silence. This individual also threatened that “appropriate action” would be taken if the Court of Appeal does not decide in favour of Islam.

One wonders why he hasn’t been arrested for sedition.

On the positive side, there have been heartening developments in the wake of the bombings.

There is nothing more reassuring for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity like ours than to see Muslim individuals and groups coming out to condemn the incidents. The group of multiracial youths giving out flowers to passers-by in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday, in a gesture of goodwill, helped to spread the message that “everything’s gonna be all right”. And the

initiative of blogger Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman to collect donations to rebuild the damaged premises gives a sense of hope amid the tumult.

Christians have not missed the opportunity to come out smelling like roses either, with the leaders of the damaged Metro Tabernacle Church saying they forgive the arsonists for what they have done. Heartfelt though that may be, it’s still good public relations.

The church’s pastor summed it up aptly when he said: “It is a very sad day for

Malaysia but a great day to know that most Malaysians do not think like (the arsonists).” He would have been referring to people like Marina Mahathir, who has made one of the most sensible comments on the whole episode – that Muslims have to be strong in their own faith, so strong that they can rise above a mere issue like the use of a word.

In the aftermath of the fire-bombings, we have, it seems, arrived at some kind of threshold. The sensible people of Malaysia may yet be the ones to lead us forward. At the very least, their numbers can only increase. Now we need to open the door and cross the threshold towards better understanding among the different faiths.

Why not have that interfaith commission that was proposed a few years ago but got deferred because Islamic groups did not seem in favour of it? It’s a great step to take. We should be positive and take it.

Kee Thuan Chye is a free-thinker and author of March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up.

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