Azrul Mohd Khalib (pix below) is organizing a ‘Malaysians for Malaysia’ event today to show solidarity with the Community of Praise church in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya.
Update (10.50am):
The J-Star top story today calls it the “Beacon of Hope church” – Show of support as Taman Medan church holds service.
DAP evangelista politicians turned up to show their support – Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Bukit Gasing Adun Rajiv Rishyakaran and PKR’s Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian.
Azrul Mohd Khalid and his fellow NGO groupies were also seen at the church.
“Cross is not a threat to anyone”
The Malay Mail reports Azrul – who “works on HIV/AIDS, sex and human rights issues” – as saying, “It’s to provide an opportunity to learn for everybody, that a cross is not a threat to anyone, that a church is not a threat to anyone”.
Junz Wong – who “works for freedom, democracy, justice, integrity and liberty” – said the protesters have committed a criminal offence in contravening a provision of the Peaceful Assembly Act. He wants the Taman Medan G50 arrested without delay, reports news portal Kinabalu Today.
Wong (tweet above) is DAP Sabah organizing secretary cum Likas Adun. He added that Sabahans will be watching closely what the federal government would do to protect the sanctity of Christianity and other religions.
BELOW: Hannah Yeoh screaming at extremists!
See related:
“Barbaric !” – Guan Eng on Taman Medan protesters
The video above was tweeted as well as uploaded on YouTube by J-Star reporter Nicholas Cheng. It has received 32,953 views to date
Azrul, who is also a Malaysian Insider columnist, insists that a cross is not a threat to anyone but not everybody agrees though with the LGBT activist.
Muslim NGOs look at the Taman Medan church issue instead as reflecting the naivete of Malay Muslims with regard to the sneakiness of the Christian evangelists. In the NGO’s idea of the scheme of things, Azrul seems like he could be a part of Plan B as detailed below.
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Is it true, as Azrul argues, that a cross is not a threat to anyone?
Actually, given the history of the cross and its crusaders, it is only rational for any individual of sound mind to be most wary of this crucifix symbol.
And then the Christians came …
The Aborigines were the natives of Australia. And then the Christians came …
The Maoris were the natives of New Zealand. And then the Christians came …
The ‘First Nation’ tribes and the Inuits were the natives of Canada. And then the Christians came …
The ‘Red Indians’ were the natives of United States. And then the Christians came …
The Incans were the natives of Peru. And then the Christians came …
The Aztecs were the natives of Mexico. And then the Christians came …
The Mayans were the natives of the Yucatan peninsula and spread from the highlands of the Sierra Madre to the lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. And then the Christians came …
… and took their lands and supplanted their ancestral religions.
You don’t have to be a Muslim in Taman Medan to have a fear of the cross.
So who’s afraid of the cross?
The Taman Medan protest by the 50-odd Malay demonstrators has been slammed as “disgraceful” and an “embarrassment” – see tweet above.
Hannah Yeoh calls it an act of “extremism” while Lim Guan Eng calls it an act of “barbarism”
Just like how the Malay protesters in Taman Medan are now being labelled as “barbaric”, non-Christians in their own native lands during the past conquest by the Conquistadors were savages in the eyes of their conquerors and their traditional religions deemed as demonic.
Why shouldn’t natives fear the cross?
After all that history has shown us, a fear of the cross by the original inhabitants of countries which have been successfully Christianized would be well founded indeed.
The Christians colonized America and created countries named after Christian monarchs, like the Philippines which is named after King Philip II of Spain.
The Christians colonized Africa and created countries named after the colonial master, like Rhodesia after Cecil Rhodes.
The Christians colonized America and created countries named after the 3G (Gold, Glory & Gospel) white explorers and generals, like America after Amerigo Vespucci, Columbia after Christopher Columbus and Bolivia after Simon Bolivar.
El Salvador (see map) translated literally means “the savior” — Jesus Christ.
Love-love-love media spinning hate against the G50
To cast the natives as the bullies, in the vein of how Hollywood has framed the Red Indians as the bad guys in the ‘Circle the Wagon‘ movie scenes, is just so sneaky.
Licik reporters – who are prominently Christian in Malaysia’s English-language media – have similarly projected the Community of Praise pastor as fearing for his safety and his flock as poor victims being harassed by bigoted bullies.
Those media controlled by the opposition, and even the ones Umno-controlled like the NST, have described the Taman Medan G50 as “thugs“, “mobsters” and “racists”.
“Their action has since drawn outrage among various groups and the masses”, adds the NST.
It is only expected that The J-Star should spin their stories to cast the Taman Medan Christians in a favourable and sympathetic light. But now it appears that the NST has jumped on the same bandwagon.
Helen Ang 
That church and that cross which it used as its “fig leaf” to cover the rorts and the degradation of Christianity within and what the “Church” engages in is a threat to all civilized people.
Removing the cross is a duty to us all. Many Christians silently let out a sigh of relief at the action because the old established Churches are threatened by the spread of this cancer called “Churches”. These are the Hannah Yeoh type of churches that sell Christ like Amway sells soap. They are not Christian Churches.
The recent death of TV Evangelist Reverend Robert Schiller who for decades preached through a private TV channel and made literally hundreds of millions from desperate Americans revealed the corruption and decadence of the lifestyles of the elders of these Churches. No different to the Hannah Yeoh’s and their “elders”. The same occurred with Jim and Tammy Baker evangelistas, the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart and more recently of course the Palestinian American Benni Hinn a crook by any other name.
http://theevangelists.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/hall-of-shame.html
The FBI used a tank and a flamethrower led by agents all armed, to burn to the ground with all its preachers and congregation in it in Waco Texas in 1993 the Branch Davidian Church killing 80 .
The Branch Davidan cult which like this one and Hannah Yeoh’s “Church” is a cult. It is not a Church. Nothing to do with God or religion, but everything to do with a perverted way of life and politics. They seek to ram it down everyone’s throat and are very undemocratic.
The government of Germany has forbidden the Church of Scientology a similar cult from having “Church” or religion status there. The same applies to such “Churches” in many other countries.
These new evangelista “Churches” are cults. Get rid of them now
Quote: “That church and that cross which it used as its “fig leaf” to cover the rorts and the degradation of Christianity within and what the “Church” engages in is a threat to all civilized people.”
Er, what precisely are you alluding to with regards to what churches do that pose a threat to all civilized people? It would be good to know considering you are advocating removal of crosses as our moral and legal obligation.
Cheers
exactly what I said
How disappointing.
Considering the now defunct Davidian branch is not planning any revival in Malaysia and Socientology is not even a Christian organization nor does it uses the cross as their symbol, the call for cross removal is hardly justified.
TV evangelists? Well, those conmen ripping off vulnerable Christians’ are hardly what I would call a threat to national security. Wait, or is it the fact churches are pitching Christ like Amway? Btw, you are not from Cosway, right?
OK, I will just dismiss your comment as mere rantings from an angry individual.
But you haven’t. My comments do affect you as it has touched a raw nerve. You have taken the time to write because it does concern you. No need to pretend.
They never did have a branch in Malaysia (thank God). So they cannot be planning a revival. But they did belong to the same council of churches the Hannah Yeoh Churches of Malaysia and Singapore belong to.
You can dismiss my comments all you want. They are not comments but an essay on the subject. Don’t forget to pay your tithes and enrich your pastors.
The Davidian branch was never in the same council of churches as City Harvest. But then you probably already know considering you pride your writing as an essay, which essentially meant some effort has been put in.
Your pre-emptive initiation in removing crosses on such filmsy basis somehow does not jell with what you alleged to be thoughtful work on the subject. Just saying.
Helen – it feels very lonely, doesn’t it? To be in a group that is being slammed by the mainstream (English) media and by the authorities?
How does it feel like to be part of a minority? On the wrong side of public opinion voiced by moderate Malaysians?
Are you scraping the bottom of the barrel by venting your anger on pro-LGBT activists? Maybe that’s indicative of the poverty of your agenda that hasn’t resonated or gained traction with mainstream moderate Malaysians.
And what’s with your crusade against Christians and Christianity? Are you saying that there is no place for Christians and Christianity in Malaysia? That there should be no religious pluralism in the country? That Malaysia cannot be peaceful, multiracial and multi-religious?
Be upfront and nail your colours to the mast and declare publicly what you stand for, if you have the courage of your convictions, instead of making snide comments and denigrating remarks about people and a religion that you don’t agree with or detest.
Don’t hide behind the facade of being a “concerned social commentator” who is only looking out for the best interests of the country!
re: “To be in a group that is being slammed by the mainstream (English) media and by the authorities?”
When the ‘Red Indians’ circled the wagon, they’re slammed in the Hollywood westerns as “savages”. Westerns are made by the movie moguls and require hundreds of millions in capital to be produced. These studio bosses are not native Americans and the story is not told from the point of view of the Red Indians but from the POV of the white cowboys.
The white “authorities” evicted the Red Indians from their land. After many “Trail of Tears”, the Red Indians were herded into reservations and and deprived of their livelihood fishing, hunting in the Great Plains and robbed of their traditional way of life. They were killed and butchered. The Red Indian population has been decimated by the White Man who speaks with Forked Tongue.
re: “How does it feel like to be part of a minority?”
I’m with the silent majority.
It is the vocal minority who are loud and domineering bullies. The minority may be powerful and they may control the whatever public voices that are heard due to their thorough domination of the English media but it doesn’t mean they’re right.
The minority Chinese are eight out of the Top 10 Malaysian billionaires as listed by Forbes.
Below are the Top 10 richest men in the Philippines last year according to Forbes:
And here are the Indonesian top 10 billionaires of 2014:
The Chinese are also the top billionaires in Thailand like the Thaksin family and others.
Evangelistas belong to the same ethnic group as this super powerful ethnic minority. But you’re not the majority race nor opinion (perspective) in Nusantara.
re: “On the wrong side of public opinion voiced by moderate Malaysians?”
I’m on the right side of history. It is not sustainable for a powerful minority to bully the teeming masses majority despite how the media that you control try to label yourselves as “moderate” and the protesters as barbaric, uncivilized, intolerant, extremists, racists, bigots and haters.
re: “Are you scraping the bottom of the barrel by venting your anger on pro-LGBT activists?”
No. It is your kind that is snapping the end of the patience of ordinary Malay Muslims.
re: “Maybe that’s indicative of the poverty of your agenda that hasn’t resonated or gained traction with mainstream moderate Malaysians.”
Are you so sure that you are the mainstream just because you control the mainstream media? The J-Star has thousands of employees but Islam has 18 million adherents in Malaysia.
What makes you think the majority are acknowledging the evangelistas as “moderate”? Yeah, the rich EvangeliSTAR may run a well-oiled ‘moderation’ campaign but mere sloganeering does not make you moderate if your behaviour is bullying.
And the evangelistas’ Malaysians Firsters posturing will not stop some other Malaysians from viewing them as pendatang either.
re: “And what’s with your crusade against Christians and Christianity?”
It is the Christians who have been carrying out the crusades and are, in our time, bombing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The Muslims have responded with jihad.
re: “Are you saying that there is no place for Christians and Christianity in Malaysia?”
If you persist with continuing the Alvin Tan kind of behaviour, then you’d better reappraise (‘you’ not referring to ‘Kineas’ specifically but you all collectively).
re: “That there should be no religious pluralism in the country?”
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So far Islam has co-existed in the country alongside Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism and Christianity. Then along came the Gospel of Prosperity which is a new cult. The evangelistas are considered trouble elsewhere in the world – in China, in Singapore and even in Latin America by the traditional Catholics.
re: “That Malaysia cannot be peaceful, multiracial and multi-religious?”
The DAP evangelistas must stop their bullying.
re: “Be upfront and nail your colours to the mast and declare publicly what you stand for, if you have the courage of your convictions, instead of making snide comments and denigrating remarks about people and a religion that you don’t agree with or detest.”
I am straightforward and upfront. I’m not a chameleon who constantly changes colour – wearing tudung to Occupy Masjid and berbuka puasa but at the same time threatening to lodge a police report against any member of the public who mistakes her for a Muslim.
I’m not the Raja Twitter of hashtag #sahur dropping the invocation “Insya Allah” like confetti and visiting the surau during bulan puasa to stir empty pots for photo ops.
re: “Don’t hide behind the facade of being a ‘concerned social commentator’ who is only looking out for the best interests of the country!”
I will stop my concerned social commentary if the DAP evangelistas stop their hypocrisy and bullying.
Well, if the West has gone “crusading”, there’s precious little that the Muslim world (read the OIC, GCC and Muslim “heavyweights” like Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia etc) are doing about it.
Why? Feelings of impotency?
Or are they adopting a policy of calculated realpolitik?
That the big game in the Middle East is not about Israel, the Palestinians and the Arabs. It is about Saudi Arabia etc worrying about Iran’s drive to be the dominant power in the region.
In other words, the Sunni versus Shi’a conflict.
Which is why Saudi Arabia, the GCC, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt etc are arming themselves to the teeth with the latest and most advanced weaponry.
And from where are they sourcing these weapons? From the US, Britain and France – the Western “crusader” nations.
See the irony here? Or, maybe, you don’t, seeing as how geopolitics and realpolitik aren’t exactly your cup of tea.
And it is interesting to note that Israel and Christianity (including the evangelical kind) is not high up on the list of regional concerns (Iran and ISIS being exceptions).
Can you refute any or all of the above?
So, it seems, that Malaysia, insofar as this Islam versus Christianity thing is concerned, is “out of sync” with the rest of the Muslim world (especially in the Middle East).
And that’s why it feels lonely – because the angst that prevails among people with your mindset and worldview doesn’t resonate and have traction with the bulk of the Muslim/Islamic world.
re: “And from where are they sourcing these weapons? From the US, Britain and France – the Western “crusader” nations.”
So the Christian countries are best in making and selling the weapons of war. Good that we’ve got this clear.
re: “And that’s why it feels lonely – because the angst that prevails among people with your mindset and worldview doesn’t resonate and have traction with the bulk of the Muslim/Islamic world.”
Also good that we’ve managed to keep the little problem localized. Hope the Christian editors in the J-Star won’t be whinging as much over the ISIS threat.
Yes, and who are the best customers for these weapons of war? You can get the latest rankings from the SIPRI or Jane’s websites.
And that is the sum total of your rebuttal? Pathetic!
What’s the matter – no debate on geopolitics, realpolitik and the situation in the Middle East?
It is interesting that you characterise the situation in the Middle East and the greater Muslim/Islamic world as a “little problem”. I wonder what your definition of a “big problem” is – like a church displaying a cross in a Muslim-majority area?
And it is not just the editors at The Star who are “whingeing” about ISIS. The Malaysian government, the Islamic authorities in Malaysia and the other “movers and shakers” in the country are also doing so.
So, definitely not a minority!
re: “no debate on geopolitics, realpolitik and the situation in the Middle East?”
You’re the one who is obsessed with ISIS. I chose my topics and ISIS is not one of them, if you haven’t noticed before.
re: “you characterise the situation in the Middle East and the greater Muslim/Islamic world as a ‘little problem’.”
I may not have made myself clear. Obviously it is the Taman Medan church cross that I was referring to as the “little problem”, which I said in one breath together with “localized”.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/11/arab-nations-united-in-fury-against-isis-but-divided-on-strategy
“In Cairo, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar, the world’s leading institution of Sunni learning, condemned Isis as “corrupters of the Earth”, who wage war against God and the prophet, and therefore deserve the scriptural punishment of death, crucifixion and the amputation of their limbs.”
Majlis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) bans the Islamic State [YouTube]
The majority, as you claim who are in the wrong. One day truth will prevail. as in Islam, which begins as an outsider(minority), so will it end.
Christianity is a wrong religion..end of discussion
Thanks for the reminder Ms HA. Timely…
This Azrul can be all gay or whatever he likes and want to be but I certainly think he failed his history lessons.
Sneakily the evangelista have got the Chinese in their grips, so do some of the Indians and certainly many Malays are already on the way too, ….. to the disco like worshiping sessions…
Melayu mudah lupa and attention seeker…. The unknowns will now become household names, when once obscure politicians very little know outside their own kind becomes household names started to see”lights and stars” and will be sought out by likes of TMI or Soroskini for sensational reporting.
Azrul’s T-shirt writes I love Penang.
So the Taman Medan’s church loves gays is it? A very different stand from most churches.
Read this about one US church who hates gays, Obama, Muslims and anything and everything else.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-morford/burn-a-bible-save-a-kitte_b_709716.html
‘Comedic horrors thrive, moronism seems to inbreed and fester, and most of it manifests under the banner of a mutant Christian God, or extreme conservatism, or some form of fundamentalist moral outrage that can’t exactly be explained but which often makes its most devout adherents appear to be nothing more than frenetic fleas sucking blood from the Great Hound of life. The beast merely scratches and sighs, and keeps right on gnawing the bone of eternity.”
The author called a mutant God.
The muttants that run DAP and the English language press.
Just read the link you gave. Don’t see where “kitten” comes into the story. It is frog that they hate, apparently.
But kittens are cuter lah for the headline.
Saya tidak ambil kisah, bila orang orang seperti Hannah Yeoh, LKS, LGE dan geng menjerit terlalak lalak melebelkan Melayu Islam dengan pelbagai lebal yang jelik jelik!
Seperti apa yang golongan mereka katakan, tidak akan jadi kristian hanya dengan melihat salib!
Begitu juga tidak akan Melayu Islam menjadi golongan seperti yang mereka lebelkan hanya kerana mereka terlalak lalak seperti anjing menyalak bukit!
Perkara yang saya amat bimbang ialah bila ada golongan Melayu (Islam lah agaknya) seperti Azrul Mohd,Khalib turut serta. Golongan inilah sebenarnya yang menjadi RACUN kepada keimanan dan jati diri Melayu Islam.
Selain Azrul, Melayu Islam juga harus berhati dengan ‘tokoh’,seperti Azmin Ali yang dengar katanya mengarahkan salib dipasang semula.
Orang jenis ini SANGGUP BERBUAT APA SAHAJA demi meraih undi undi bukan Islam!
Orang jenis ini juga tidak belajar dari PRU 13! Buat lah baik dengan mereka, janji lah bulan dan bintang kepada mereka, akhirnya bila mengundi, mereka akan beri juga undi pada puak mereka juga!
Inilah golongan Melayu bangang dan Mudah Lupa!
Orang yang tahu sejarah faham betapa berkesannya lambang lambang tertentu dalam usaha imperialis barat, menguasai negara negara lain dan ‘memurtadkan’ kepercayaan pribumi kepada agama mereka.
Peristiwa peristiwa sejarah yang Helen paparkan di atas adalah bukti bukti yang jelas!
Persoalannya yang wajib dijawab, adakah satu ‘dosa’ G50 Taman Medan membantah perletakkan salib di tempat yang dipertikaikan?
Secara logic tidak ada kepentingan untuk mereka memasang salib dan mendirikan tempat berkumpulnya golongan mereka di situ. Tujuannya hanyalah untuk menyebarkan agama mereka secara sulit dan halus!
Ahli ahli politik Melayu Islam ada yang bangang tidak melihat agenda sulit ini . Bila golongan Hannah Yeoh mula melebelkan Melayu Islam dengan bermacam macam lebel mereka mula terloncat loncat dan hilang pertimbangan!.
Mereka mula besuara seperti golongan kristian evenglist. Betapa kristian eveglist ini mentertawakan ahli politik bangang ini kerana Berjaya menggunakan mereka untuk menghentam agama dan saudara seagama mereka sendiri!
TOLAK DAP dan parti parti yang sekandang dengan mereka!
Norlin,
Satu sikap Melayu yg menghancurkan mereka ialah mereka suka ambil mudah.
Ambil mudah dari erti kata tak mahu buka mulut pertahankan hak. Dan ambil mudah dengan fikir tegur bangsa sendiri akan buat mereka dilihat lebih hebat, lebih liberal pada pandangan orang bukan Melayu dan bukan Islam.
Saya baca dari suratkhabar bahawa Gereja di Sabah meminta jaminan dari Kerajaan Persekutuan(maknanaya dari UMNO dan Islam) bahawa ugama Kristian akan dilindungi.
Kalau saya jadi Najib, ini jawapan saya:
And your solution is….no religious pluralism in Malaysia?
No genuine multiracialism?
You might as well pull back the welcome mat and declare that the country is “closed for business”.
Because that is what is all about – ideology trumping rational discourse and pragmatism, with no room for compromise.
call it whatever mega words you like. given the choice to rewind time, i’d prefer the different people remain in their homeland. one thing i regret as a malay, we are tooo accomodating to the pendatang. unlike the china mainlanders, who fight till the end, am i wrong, to ward off any outside elements.
Good exposure. A misinterpretation of biblical lands provision underlies the West’s conquest.
How does your friend keep herself young? Coming 40 but look like someone who cannot watch Fast 7 in the cinema
https://mobile.twitter.com/hannahyeoh/status/591785137693589504
Chubbies – like Jho Low who’s 30-something – look young.
Well, the Star dedicated at least 2 pages of commentary on the matter today. Add WCW column which is flogging the same issue.
Of course there was a walk yesterday in Penang joined by among others WCW, Saifuddin Abdullah & Anas Zubedy to promote respect among religions or something (I lost interest knowing who participated)
Do have a read of my response to Chun Wai’s column today.
https://helenang.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/wong-chun-wai-on-taman-medan-ignorant-prejudiced-bigots/
I wonder, in the digital universe, who commands more eyeballs and page views – WCW/The Star or your blog?
Let’s see the stats, if you can produce them.
In the free-for-all that is the Internet, it is easy to see what is trending and what is passé.
It is noteworthy that the current goings on are happening at a time when Malaysia is trying to present it’s best face to the outside world – from the InvestMalaysia conference to the current Asean Summit and the negotiations to get the Asean Economic Community up and running.
It is not exactly the image you want to present to the other Asean leaders, foreign investors and foreign media, is it – that issues of race and religion still dominate the domestic agenda in Malaysia, the latest “church incident” being an example?
You may have the luxury of telling foreign investors and the foreign media to **** off and mind their own business, but spare a thought for Mustapa Mohammad, his MITI planners and the good folks at MIDA and Khazanah – their forward path just got a lot harder.
re: “I wonder, in the digital universe, who commands more eyeballs and page views – WCW/The Star or your blog? Let’s see the stats, if you can produce them.”
You’re comparing between the personal blog of an independent writer and the newspaper column of the CEO of Malaysia’s biggest media conglomerate. And your point is?
When the evangelical Christians have control (whether is it of the English-language media or their Putrajaya dream crown), then we will see how they exercise power and what they do to people – like the Scissorati smear campaign against me.
re: “In the free-for-all that is the Internet, it is easy to see what is trending and what is passé.”
And how wired do you reckon the Kampung and Taman Medan residents are? Do they read all the pro-Christian screeds published in the J-Star, TMI and Malay Mail as well as Azrul Mohd Khalib and Anas Zubedy’s columns? Is Saifuddin ‘Moderation’ Abdullah a public figure that commands their respect as an opinion leader?
re: “It is not exactly the image you want to present to the other Asean leaders, foreign investors and foreign media, is it – that issues of race and religion still dominate the domestic agenda in Malaysia, the latest ‘church incident’ being an example?”
Dunno. You’ll have to ask Najib’s multi-billion ringgit media consultancy. Like you hinted earlier, my wee little blog hardly musters any eyeballs, much less exert influence on the affairs of state.
re: “You may have the luxury of telling foreign investors and the foreign media to **** off and mind their own business, but spare a thought for Mustapa Mohammad, his MITI planners and the good folks at MIDA and Khazanah – their forward path just got a lot harder.”
By “you”, you can hardly mean me. I don’t overrate myself beyond the few thousand daily readers that I have.
Interestingly … the pix below (photo credit: Shahbuddin Hussein) was taken yesterday at Tun’s ‘Bicara Negarawan’ event. Dr M is flanked by Muslim fundamentalist Ridhuan Tee on his right and Malay ultra conservative Ibrahim Ali on his left.
Are you hinting that Tun Dr Mahathir isn’t particular about the company he keeps?…lol.
I mean – he couldn’t paint himself as more “right wing” than this, could he?
Or is about subliminal imagery targeting the subconscious of the the digital have nots to whom a photograph is worth a thousand words?
When the country is moving towards the Asean Community, the Asean Economic Community, the Code of Conduct for issues in the South China Sea and broader economic, political and security issues, it must be hard for politicians who are distant from policy-making in the national and regional context.
Which is why, possibly, some of them lash out…..
You fail to understand the most central role and place of Islam in the life of a Malay.
DAP is screaming that the Taman Medan protest was orchestrated by Umno politicians. While this story may suit the opposition narrative, i.e. Umno is to blame even if your cat farts, nonetheless the evangelistas are wrong.
The anger is not directed from top down but is really from bottom up.
The Umno top leaders don’t talk using the Islamic vocabulary. Najib mana ada? Muhyiddin is supposedly “Malay First”. Zahid and Hisham takde pun. Shafie is very low key. KJ is Anak Malaysia. Wanita Umno post-Shahrizat is under the radar.
Can you name me one Umno man or woman aside from Jamil Khir (he’s the de facto Menteri Agama) who publicly preaches Islam the way Hannah Yeoh preaches about her God and her faith?
The Malay ground feels very strongly about the Christianization movement. The Umno politicians are not paying attention to their grouses, which is why Isma is taking to task both Umno and PKR for the unconcern.
See, http://www.ismaweb.net/2015/04/gereja-taman-medan-najib-azmin-pemimpin-islam-tak-boleh-diharap/
And ISIS and it’s offshoots have taken that to new extremes.
I just read a news report “Msian police foil alleged Islamic State plot, arrest 12” (www.today on line.com).
According to the IGP, as reported, the men were suspected of plotting attacks on “strategic targets and governmental interests around the Klang Valley”.
The plans, according to the report, were in response to calls by the IS leaders in Syria to launch terrorist attacks on secular Islamic countries deemed to be “enemies of IS”.
According to the report, the IGP said that the police also seized IS flags and various items that could be used to make explosives, including 20kg of ammonium nitrate, 20kg of potassium nitrate, kerosene and wires.
The report said that the authorities have identified over 100 Malaysians involved with IS, including 60 who have been detained prior to the latest arrests, as well as scores still in Syria and Iraq.
The report also noted that Malaysia’s top counterterrorism official (Datuk Ayub Khan) warned earlier this month the evidence gathered so far of Malaysian involvement in IS suggest attacks by the group on Malaysian soil are imminent.
Is the “Malay ground” (your phrase) ignorant or oblivious to all of these reports?
Has ISMA that “is taking to task both Umno and PKR for the unconcern” think that these issues are not important or relevant?
I think that the imperative of stopping IS in its tracks is important in the regional and global context.
The same contexts aren’t worried about Christianity, Christians and “Christianisation”.
Sorry, the website link is http://www.todayonline.com
My apologies for the typo.
in other countries, they just wallop it. unlike im Malayland. Too much accomodating.
in thailand, any disrespect to their royal, they’ll ‘ger it’ on the spot.
Do you think the asean leaders are concerned about a small cross? they come here for bigger agendas. not trivial matters which they’d consider as internal matters. so childish.
Helen,
I sympathised with these protesters. They have no control over English media. They are not able to articulate their views and be published in STAR.
TO make it worse, the very political party that stands between vicious DAP and absolute power (that is UMNO) chooses the easy way of placating those who provoke these protesters.
Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar (the IGP’s brother) is apparently a professor.
Sinar Harian interviewed Datuk Mat Sah Abu Anas on site.
And former Petaling Jaya Selatan Wanita Umno chief Munaliza Hamzah is Adun material (wannabe). These folks should be articulate in English.
The J-Star chose to interview a 60-year-old van driver and a 48-year-old housewife. From the angle of addressing an audience in English, perhaps the J-Star was deliberately denying the most proficient English speakers the opportunity of reaching and persuading the public.
I’ve noticed that with one of the older Malay interviewees (his profession not stated in the video), the Christian reporter was clearly leading him – perhaps to frame the narrative/storyline the way the EvangeliSTAR wants it. But we can’t be sure because we only got to view the edited version of the interview.
Helen,
If that is the case, may I suggest these people to take bull by its horn. If IGP’s brother is a professor, why cant he tell his version of the story. Why let DAP dictate the public sentiment.
This is an example of “ambil mudah”. Tell your story. Let Malaysians know there is another version of the story.
I told off several of my Chinese friends who never fail to mock najib. They mocked him by saying that he is without Chinese support. what they said are the bitter truth. I told them off that even without Chinese support, he still won the election.
TERDIAM MEREKA. And I told them loudly in public. This is how to deal with these morons.
No one in UMNO who want to say out loud Guan eng is RACIST to his core. No one?
re: “Why let DAP dictate the public sentiment.”
Ask MCA. They own the biggest media conglomerate in Malaysia.
The cross is never a threat because it just a CROSS made of wood, stelel,plastic etc etc Think who really is the threat? People who opposed the cross or people behind the cross? or people using the cross to achieved their ambitions?