I suppose that Malaysians already heard the news about few attacks on churches last few hours. It is suprsing indeed for such act, especially there case of “Allah”‘s name usage is still in proceeding… or is it not?
A commentator dropped by and gave me the news this morning. The news report from AFP is as follows:
A church in Malaysia has been fire-bombed in an attack that gutted its ground floor, church officials said Friday, escalating a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.
Related photos / videos
A fire department official said all stations were on alert for more blazes at religious buildings, ahead of planned nationwide protests Friday by Muslim groups angry over the use of the word as a translation for “God” by Christians.
The three-storey Metro Tabernacle church in suburban Kuala Lumpur, part of the Assemblies of God movement, was set ablaze in the attack which took place around midnight, said church leader Peter Yeow, 62.
“Witnesses saw four people smash the glass and throw incendiaries into the church building. They came on two motorcycles,” he told AFP at the scene as fire department forensic officers picked through the wreckage.
There were no casualties in the attack on the church, which occupies the corner lot of a row of shop houses and which Yeow said draws some 1,500 people weekly.
“The fire destroyed the administrative part of the church. We do not know if the prayer hall on the third floor suffered any damage,” he said, warning all other churches to “double their guard” against any attacks.
Anuar Harun, who headed the fire department operation, said that forensic experts were working with the police and a canine unit to probe the blaze.
“We are investigating the cause of fire. We cannot provide any more details. It is a sensitive issue,” he said when asked if it was a case of arson.
“We have asked all our fire stations to be on alert for such fires on religious premises,” he told AFP.
The High Court last week ruled in favour of the Catholic “Herald” newspaper which has used “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section. The government has said the word should be used only by Muslims.
The ruling was suspended on Wednesday pending an appeal, after the government argued the decision could cause racial conflict in multicultural Malaysia, where Muslim Malays make up 60 percent of the population.
The security guard at the Metro Tabernacle church, 65-year-old V. Mariappan, said he had just walked away from the main entrance of the building to use the bathroom when the building erupted in flames.
“When I came back, there was a huge fire inside the church building. There was a few loud explosions like bombs exploding,” he said, adding he saw two motorcycle helmets lying on the road in flames.
The Herald’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew has warned of a campaign of intimidation including hacker attacks against the weekly’s website, protest plans and widespread criticism in the media over last week’s ruling.
“We believe these actions (are designed) to create a climate of fear and a perceived threat to national security so as to pressure the court in reversing its decision,” he said this week.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The row over the use of “Allah” is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being “Islamised.”
Malaysia’s population includes indigenous tribes as well as the large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities — practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
More than half of Malaysia’s Catholics are from indigenous groups, most of whom live on the Borneo island states and who mainly speak Malay.
As highlighted in the comment, there are some excerpts from the report that disturbed me. I stated that:
“When I came back, there was a huge fire inside the church building. There was a few loud explosions like bombs exploding,” but just ““The fire destroyed the administrative part of the church. We do not know if the prayer hall on the third floor suffered any damage,”.. Explosions but just certain part was destroyed???
Interesting… sounded like a Hollywood movie report here… How come, if the fire was huge just destroying admin part only? If it is three story, corner lot.. surely it should bring far more damage?
And any evidence that shows that this is done by muslims? Or this is only a plot to sensationalize the issue? As I just don’t feel right about the news report… very theatrical indeed..
I cannot help but to think that this is a conspiracy and a provocation from chaos initiator. Why? Simple.. It has been made known in the net and across the country that there will be some rallies today to show displeasure and some efforts to collect petitions disagreeing with the High Court’s decision made on the last day of 2009. Even at some mosques/”masjid”s, the khutbah on this issue is delivered, like what was given at Masjid Negeri Shah Alam. Efforts to collect signings were done peacefully (except for a rally done at the the main gate of Masjid Negeri.. which sounds apolitical to me.. “nasib ko le Khalid Samad”).
So, why need to be hasty when there are efforts from muslims NGOs collecting signing for petitions, which were done beyond political agenda (because I do not know if religious organisation like Majlis Agama Islam Selangor is political too.. after all, Selangor is under admin of Pakatan.. and Pakatan agree with decision of allowing the usage of “Allah” by other religion)? Clearly, it contradicts with more conducive effort to show disagreement.
On the other hand, if really it is true done by those who are mad with the decision, should it be a suprise? The decision clearly ignores the sentiment of majority muslims in Malaysia. And by some who arrogantly saying why should muslims worry because “as long as I know Allah is one and it is your fault not to study Islam well”, should not this show us what “those stupid muslims” are capable of doing of when you just taking care of your own ass?
Muslims should be taking care of each other, not leaving others in the dark. IF THIS INCIDENT WAS DONE BY MUSLIMS, somehow, this is what you get for taking care of your own iman and ass and leave other muslims in the dark!!! What happened to “Sampaikanlah walaupun sepotong ayat”?
Whatever it is, either it was done by non-muslims or muslims, such act is not agreeable. I support to condemn the act.
I wonder what happen to us since we are reported as one of the friendliest country (reported in Forbes)? Perhaps, our TPM’s advice is heeded.
DON’T TAKE ACTIONS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS!!!
To Malaysian Muslims: Think before you act. Don’t be driven by your anger.
“Sesungguhnya jihad yang paling utama adalah melawan hawa nafsu”
Discussion on the street: Who are the provocateurs?
On Da Street 
well done ODS!
a conspiracy it should be, as the preparations was well-setup so that people will assume a Muslim who does it…
ODS: Maybe, or maybe not.. what ever it is, it is unacceptable.
Salam ODS,
Siapakah dalangnya ? Siapakah yang bakal mendapat keuntungan sekiranya umat Islam yang berhimpun bergaduh dengan penganut Kristian yang ingin menuntut bela, seterusnya merebak dan menimbulkan keadaan huruhara ?
Jika Malaysia huruhara, siapa yang untung ?
ODS: Siapa dalangnya? Entahlah.. saya cuma merasa sesuatu yang tidak kena dengan kejadian tersebut..
Yang untung? Yang mempunyai agenda tersembunyi.. 🙂
I think it is a conspiracy. Remember the bombing which happened in US, the one which they said it was the Muslim terrorist who did it, and then found out it was actually US citizen itself – an army even!.
Im starting to think there is hidden hands trying to create chaos and tension between Muslim and Christians for some God knows what gain.
Muslims be prepared. it is indeed the end of time and Muslim will be facing the biggest fitnah in the world. I think it is happening now. Even in our country – a Muslim’s country.
ODS: Muslims has been associated with terrorism since 9/11.. However, muslims Malaysia have yet to be tested in similar way (as Indonesia has faced various events that have been pinned to Islam extremists)..
A conspiracy? I don’t know.. but I do hope the provocateurs will be caught.. period!!!
the title used by AFP is unfair. provocative.
sehingga ke saat ini, masih belum ada bukti menunjukkan ia perbuatan masyarakat Islam di Malaysia.
Walaupun isu ini panas diperbincangkan,namun saya yakin umat Islam di Malaysia masih waras dalam bertindak.
Jika kejadian ini adalah alat propaganda atau provokasi,ia menjelaskan niat jahat pihak-pihak tertentu.
Andai ianya benar-benar dilakukan oleh individu muslim, ia adalah satu tindakan yang di luar kewarasan.
Apapun, saya tidak suka hal ini berlaku. Apa juga tindakan, bertindaklah secara matang.
ODS: Atau pepatah moden kata, tepuk dada, tanya iman, ilmu dan taqwa. 🙂
pandangan:
1. memang Muslim yg buat. Waras manusia ada batasnya, tetapi perbuatan ini boleh jadi dilakukan oleh orang islam, sebagai contoh, kita ambik kes rusuhan penyokong bola sepak Kelantan hari itu, majoritinya islam, tp abis harta benda stadium. .Wa’llahualam..
2. bukan islam yg buat. manalah tahu ada api dalam sekam.
Sepatutnya this is the time Muslim stand together. but sadly politic still on top of all..
ODS: Er.. yang “pandangan” bagi “1” dan “2” tu jika salah satu yang buatkan?
It looks like Marina Mahathir already assumed something in her blog. I’m not going to link her blog here, simply because I dont like it, not worth my time.
Soon the “torching” occured, she seems in a hurry to say something in her blog but could not do so. Tak sabar-sabar to show her “colors”.
She then soon made a posting “moving people” to sign petition. I like Fatimah’s comment at Marina’s blog.
I also commented something like this:-
“When they threw pig heads into surau/mosques last time, MM was not so quick to move people, or did she ever start a petition?”
The “colors” of Marina Mahathir are really showing.
ODS: And her colour is…?
The color is quite complicated, sir. Not quite brown, not blue, not yellow and not black. Perhaps multi-coloured and confusing.
Here’s what blogger Apocryphalist said elsewhere:
“.. some outdated arguments by DPMM herself, and I am sure her cohorts like Anas etc parrot the same principles too:-
‘1. A confident Muslim is unfazed by the issue of God’s name. God speaks to all of humankind in the Quran and never said that only Muslims could call him by the name Allah.
2. A confident Muslim has 99 names to choose from to describe that One God. My favourites are Ar-Rahman (The All-Compassionate) and Ar-Rahim (The All-Merciful).
3. A confident Muslim never gets confused over which is his/her religion and which is other people’s. For instance, a confident Muslim knows exactly what the first chapter of the Quran is. And it’s not the Lord’s Prayer.
4. A confident Muslim will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word ‘Allah’ and then think that he or she is in a mosque. A confident Muslim knows the difference.
5. A confident Muslim is generous, inclusive and doesn’t think that his or her brethren is made exclusive through the use of a single language. The confident Muslim is well aware that in the Middle East, all services of ANY religion are in Arabic because that’s what they all speak.
6. A confident Muslim knows the basis of his/her faith are the five pillars of Islam and will not be shaken just because other people call God by the same name.
7. A Muslim believes in only One God. Therefore it makes sense that other people should call God by the same name because there is no other God.’
I know, I know. We have all seen these kinds of arguments before. We would normally snicker at the immaturity of such ideas. Notice that nowhere here is a solution given of how a “confident muslim” should handle the case of a Catholic conniving an unsuspecting Mat Rempit or Kamping Bohsia into believing that the Allah that we now share since 31st December 2009 actually has a Son and that YOUR salvation, Mat and Minah, depends on your acceptance of this Son who died on the cross for all of us, Hallelujah Goddammit.
In actuality, what DPMM has done is this. She has imaginary reduced herself (and entices her readers to do the same too) to the level of the Rempits and Bohsias and try to convey to us that if such a situation comes to HER, HER faith would be strong enough to dispel all these false dakyahs. Now how conceited can one get? To not be able to rise above one’s own coccoon and think for the general ummah? To equate that the station of faith of the ummah is actually where HER station currently resides? If HER faith is as strong as she claims it is, to which I reserve my opinion, what makes her think that all others in the nation, particular our unsuspecting younger ones, are modeled according to her station too?”
Her station is also difficult to say. I doubt if it is liberalist or intellectualistic. It’s more of the pseudo type – pretending or appearing to be. And gullible non-Malays/ non-Muslims exploit her to suit their own purposes – give her column space, invite her to make speeches, simply because she carries her father’s name.
It’s pseudo-liberal or pseudo-intellectual for the simple reason that the arguments above are false and not applicable to the average Malay/ Muslim. A liberal or an intellectual would have taken cognizance of the simple fact that the avverage Malay/ Muslim is not highly educated and would not understand, even become confused, by the word Allah if the Christians use it to refer to the Trinity of their god – The Father, The Son and The holy Ghost. The Malay/ Muslim knows only Allah that is Esa – one and only one.
ODS: Thank you for your comment. 🙂
dah baca dah tentang statement MM tu. malangnya, beliau berhujah tanpa mengetahui sejarah Islam.
Janji-setia itu adalah perjanjian antara pemerintah Islam dengan masyarakat kristian di sinai mesir.
Ia tatacara Islam untuk menjaga kemakmuran negara kerana dalam Islam, golongan kafir zimmi ada hak-hak dan batasannya.
Di Malaysia, semua ini sudah selesai puluhan tahun lalu dengan adanya Perlembagaan Negara yang menjamin hak masing-masing. Maka mengapa perlu ada yang cuba mencemarkan kemakmuran ini?
Buat seluruh rakyat Malaysia, kita telah hidup dalam situasi harmoni dan unik selama ini. Ramai masyarakat luar yang mencemburui keharmonian kita.
Lalu janganlah dibiarkan pihak asing mencemarinya.
ODS: Terima kasih atas komen anda. 🙂
Tuan Ibrahim: CC PAS bincang isu gereja dibakar esok
Oleh G Manimaran
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — PAS dijangka mengeluarkan kenyataan berhubung pendirian rasminya mengutuk keras serangan ke atas empat gereja di Lembah Klang, dan agar diadakan dialog melibatkan masyarakat pelbagai agama bagi membincangkan isu-isu sensitif semasa.
Parti itu telah mengeluarkan pendirian rasminya ekoran keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur membenarkan akhbar mingguan Katolik, Herald menggunakan perkataan “Allah” Isnin lalu.
PAS juga sudah pun menyatakan pendiriannya mengutuk serangan itu semalam.
Petang tadi Presidennya Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang melawat gereja di Desa Melawati yang menjadi sasaran serangan bom api tengah malam kelmarin.
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak juga petang tadi.
“Saya fikir parti (PAS) akan membincangkan isu ini dan menggunakan satu kenyataan rasmi, kenyataan yang tegas mengutuk kejadian yang berlaku,” kata naib presiden PAS Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man ketika ditemui The Malaysian Insider di sini hari ini.
Dalam kejadian semalam selain Gereja Assumption dan Gereja Life Chapel di Petaling Jaya dan Gereja Metro Tabernacle di Desa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur menjadi sasaran serangan koktel molotov.
Bagaimanapun, lontaran koktel molotov ke atas Gereja Metro Tabernacle menyebakan letupan disusuli kebakaran.
Satu lagi gereja menjadi sasaran serangan – yang keempat di Lembah Klang sejak tengah malam kelmarin tetapi premis terbaru ini hanya mengalami kerosakan kecil.
Gereja terbaru yang tersenarai dalam serangan pihak bertanggungjawab ialah Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
Pengurusan gereja berkata bangunan gereja ini yang terletak di Petaling Jaya Old Town dipercayai dibaling dengan bom api antara malam tadi dan pagi ini.
Tuan Ibrahim yang juga pengerusi jawatankuasa disiplin berkata “kita melahirkan rasa duka cita dengan tragedi ini sebab ia bercanggah dengan dasar Islam.”
“Kami juga bimbang di sebalik isu ini ada tangan lain yang cuba mengeruhkan keadaan, cuba mewujudkan suasana gawat.
“Kita harap pihak polis akan membuat siasatan segera dan ambil tindakan segera,” katanya.
Tuan Ibrahim menambah PAS juga duka cita dengan tindakan ‘kebenaran’ yang diberikan untuk mengadakan protes dan demonstrasi kerana agama dan kaum adalah isu sensitif yang hanya boleh diselesaikan menerusi dialog.
Begitu juga isu apabila perkataan “Islam” diminta digugurkan dari nama parti politik lebih satu dekad lalu, kata beliau.
“Kita minta Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu menyelesaikan isu berkenaan.
“Oleh itu saya bersetuju dengan pandangan (bekas perdana menteri) Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad bahawa dialog adalah cara untuk menyelesaikan apa jua masalah,” katanya.
Dalam pada itu seorang lagi naib presiden PAS Datuk Mahfuz Omar berkata beliau terkejut dengan kenyataan Perdana Menteri berkaitan isu melemparkan bom api dan pembakaran gereja bertajuk “jangan menuding jari pada Umno”.
“Saya menyifatkan kenyataan tersebut menggambarkan betapa Perdana Menteri menyedari bahawa Umno-BN sedang dibicarakan oleh mahkamah rakyat dan meletakkan parti dan pimpinan Umno di kandang orang salah.
“Perbicaraan di mahkamah rakyat menggambarkan Umno sudah tidak mendapat kepercayaan rakyat lagi,” katanya.
Kata beliau, rakyat menuding jari pada Umno dan pemimpinnya adalah berasaskan sikap pemimpin Umno yang rasis.
Sambil merujuk kepada kenyataan dan peristiwa-peristiwa sebelum ini kata Mahfuz, beliau mempertikaikan keikhlasan Umno dalam menyelesaikan isu penggunaan kalimah Allah.
“Umno ingat dia boleh gunakan isu penggunaan kalimah Allah oleh penganut Kristian untuk tujuan politik murahan.
“Tapi jelas senjata makan tuan, rakyat tidak lagi mempercayaai Umno. Inilah petanda Umno-BN telah kehabisan dan kehilangan hak untuk memerintah negara,” katanya.
ODS: Hmm.. isu agama itu rasis ya? Apa tujuan saudara arah memberikan artikel ini? Kerana, ini lebih menunjukkan PAS lebih kepada politik ketika ini. Ada seorang lagi yang komen isu ini dari sudut bangsa. Rujuk sini.
Terima kasih.
‘Umno members among Tabernacle arson suspects’Jimadie Shah Othman
Jan 27, 10
6:46pmA PKR vice-president has claimed that Umno members were involved in the arson attack against the Metro Tabernacle church in Desa Melawati earlier this month.
Azmin Ali said he is in the process of collecting evidence and will release the information in the near future.
He was speaking at the Masjid Jumburiyah in Taman Dato Harun, one of two mosques desecrated with two wild-boar heads today.
Azmin, who is Gombak MP, said at least four of the eight remanded over the attack are Umno members from the Gombak and Ampang divisions.
“The Umno president should explain why these members were involved. This was a cowardly act by Umno Youth,” he said.
He told reporters that the full name, Mykad number and Umno membership number of those involved will be made public as soon as possible.
“It will not be difficult to obtain these details. I even know which branch they are from,” he claimed.
Azmin, who visited the mosque alongside Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and state assemblypersons Dr Xavier Jayakumar and Ronnie Liu, strongly condemned the desecration as “un-Islamic”.
He urged the police to take swift action in the public interest, rather than only to safeguard the interests of Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Similarly, Khalid said that differing viewpoints should be addressed through dialogue, and not through acts such as this.
Those who committed the acts not only disrespect Islam, but all faiths, he said after meeting with residents in the area.
“Selangor residents should remain calm and pray that this issue will not escalate further. Do not fall into the trap of those who intend to sow the seeds of discord,” he said.
I’ll be waiting for further news.
The difference here is, Pakatan will try whatever they can to bring down UMNO and Barisan, even though matters that being done are not in political context.
I wonder if leaders of Barisan ever said and commented that Aduka’s doing is due to TGNA, PAS and Pakatan’s teachings…
I wonder…
Anyway, thank you for your comment. 🙂