The Christian Federation of Malaysia is big on celebrating diversity. In its Merdeka wishes, CFM talked about the dream of a Malaysia Baru that is “a nation of diverse peoples, cultures and religions”.
They “give thanks to God for leading our multiracial, multicultural and multireligious nation through these many years of progress” in a media statement today jointly signed by Archbishop Julian Leow, Archbishop Simon Poh, Bishop Ong Hwai Teik and Rev. Eu Hong Seng.
Although the Church regards the new government as “a Coalition of Hope”, CFM nonetheless observed that in the 15 months since GE14, hope is “giving way to disappointment, dismay, distrust and discontent and racial and religious tensions”.
To preserve peace and public order, CFM calls on the powers-that-be “to stamp out extremist communal and religious rhetoric and hate and divisive speeches”.
BELOW: LKS must persuade his new bestie TDM to attend the CFM high tea this X’mas
See my write-up yesterday, ‘Churches Council want action on Ummah’
ABOVE: Archbishop Julian in a yellow T-shirt during Bersih 4
CFM accuses Ummah of promoting hostility
In a separate statement, CFM categorically refuted a claim by Ummah chairman Aminuddin Yahaya who had been quoted as saying CFM harboured the stated objective “to place as many Christians as possible as the country’s leaders”.
Denying the charge, CFM said the federation has instead only “constantly called on the Christian community” to pray for the YDP, Sultans as well as those federal and state leaders chosen by the rakyat through general elections.
”CFM is seeking legal advice and reserves all of its rights at law in respect of this unmerited assault on its name and reputation,“ said the federation in its statement released yesterday by Archbishop Julian Leow in his capacity as chair.
CFM deplored the remark by Aminuddin as a “disgraceful attempt to raise discontent and disaffection and to promote feelings of ill will and hostility between the people of Malaysia”.
CFM added “it is an outrage that such a scurrilous polemic is launched to divide and incite”.
Whiny Christians are so very off-putting
1. The Hope Christians are quick to whine and accuse their detractors of being divisive and spouting hate speech.
2. They’re adept at portraying themselves as victims and the other side as the bad guys.
3. Yet some of their online fellow travelers are nothing more than verbal thugs — read the Malaysiakini subscriber comments in this thread, ‘Council of Churches slam Isma chief over ‘Christian conspiracy’ allegation’.
4. All this hand-wringing and whinging by the outraged Christians reminds me of the following famous lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth … “it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
5. Let’s see which non-Malay Harapan VIP will be attending the CFM Christmas high tea this year, shall we?
6. Above is a durian party from Dr Maza’s FB timeline. In the photo are Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu (Zakir Naik’s disciple) in perpaduan ummah with PAS and Umno excos.
7. Umno and PAS have already got Malay mosquito parties Ikatan and Berjasa in their camp. I’m betting they have the tacit support of PAN and PKR Muslims too in matters of Islam that the Christians take issue with, such as RUU355.
8. The hypocritical attacks on Aminuddin are not going to get sympathy from the majority population but rather just get on a lot of people’s nerves.
Helen Ang 