Civil groups want Putrajaya to take action against varsity over ‘Christian agenda’ forum

Civil groups and a Christian organisation have expressed grave concerns over a forum at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) yesterday which warned Muslims against the threat of Christianisation and belittled the Holy Bible as containing "tales".

The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) Malaysia said in a statement today that it was appalled at the UiTM programme, on the use of the word "Allah" and Christology, which it deemed as negative and not promoting peaceful co-existence and harmony among Malaysians of different faiths.

NECF Malaysia secretary-general Eugene Yapp also said that if such programmes were allowed in other higher institutions of learning in the days to come, it would cause confusion and a sense of prejudice among Muslim students against people of other faiths.

He added that institutions of higher learning should be promoting mutual understanding and acceptance.

NECF also questioned whether it would be acceptable if the roles were reversed and non-Muslims questioned the way the Quran was written.

"How would Muslims feel if followers of other faiths were to invite their experts to interpret how the Koran should be written?

"This seminar smacks of gross insensitivity and goes against the grain of Prime Minister Najib’s 'One Malaysia Policy', "Yapp said.

He added that it was truly disappointing that the seminar was allowed to be held in the first place.

Copies of a book published by the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) on the threat of Christianisation and alleged evangelism among Muslims in Malaysia were also distributed to more than 1,000 students who attended the seminar yesterday.

The book titled "Pendedahan Agenda Kristian", contained warning to Muslims to watch out for "tricks" by Christians to sway Muslims from their faith.

The book also said that the main reason there was apostasy among Muslims ‎was because of Christianisation.

The other book, "Obligation to preserve the sanctity of the name Allah", explained why non-Muslims, in particular the Christians, cannot be allowed to use the word Allah.

This is in light of the tussle over the Arabic word, which means God, between the Catholic Church and the federal government.

Lawyer Annou Xavier, who is part of the legal team in the Allah case by Catholic weekly Herald, now pending at the Federal Court, said that despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak efforts to portray to the world that Malaysia was a moderate Muslim nation, there was instead growing extremism in the country.

"New Muslim NGOs are springing up like mushrooms after the rain, and they have a common trait of creating insinuation with no truth or evidence at all, Annou said in condemning the contents of the UiTM seminar.

He called on civil society groups to sit down with "these confused NGOs" and educate them that Christians who predominantly speak Bahasa Malaysia, have used the term Allah to refer to God since 1900 and that even the father of Modern Malay Literature, Munshi Abdullah, helped translate English bibles to bahasa Melayu back in 1815 in Melaka.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Movement secretary-general, Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, who also expressed concern over the seminar, said that in the first place, discussion on other religions without the leaders of that particular faith present, was not the way it should be conducted.

"I am a firm believer in freedom of speech but matters presented by the speakers at the seminar seem to be impressions rather than facts.

"It does create alarm, doubt and will definitely prejudice hearers, it was very irresponsible and they came up with irrational analysis and conclusions," Denison added.

He said that as opposed to the contention that Christians were proselytising to Muslims, there were many cases of Christians and Hindus being converted to Islam in the country, adding that even globally, there were more conversions to Islam than from Islam to Christianity.

"Some parents have complained of their underage children being converted in residential colleges and hostels," said Denison, who is also a joint secretariat member of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies and the National Unity and Integration Department.

As such, he called on the Home Ministry, Department of National Unity and the police to act against the organisers of the UiTM seminar.

"They must be asked to clarify what they said and also their statements that could create alarm in society must be reviewed against the Penal Code," he added.

He also called on leaders in public office to step up to their public duty and advise extremists groups to stop these kinds of talks.

"The political leadership must find solutions, this is the reason you were elected.

"You must not be selective in application of the law, please do your job in the best interest of the nation and for all Malaysians without fear or favour," Denison said. – May 7, 2014.