Malaysia strongly condemned weekend attacks on nine Christian churches and sought to assure foreign governments yesterday of its commitment to religious freedom for minorities.
The attacks have strained ties between Christians and Malay Muslims, denting Malaysia’s image as a moderate Muslim-majority country and raising questions about its political stability.
The attacks, which started on Friday, were apparently triggered by a Dec. 31 High Court decision that overturned a government ban on Roman Catholics’ using “Allah” to refer to their God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.
PHOTO: EPA
The ruling also applies to the ban’s broader applications such as Malay-language Bibles, 10,000 copies of which were recently seized by authorities because they translated God as Allah. The government has appealed the verdict.
The Home Ministry held a one-hour briefing yesterday for about 70 foreign diplomats to assure them that the situation was under control. The ministry pledged to “protect the sanctity” of the diversity of the country’s religions and said police would step up patrols at churches and mosques.
The ministry said the attacks were perpetrated by extremists who wanted to weaken the country’s racial harmony.
“These were not just attacks on houses of worship, they were attacks on the values and freedoms all Malaysians share,” the statement said.
About 9 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million people are Christian, most of whom are ethnic Chinese or Indian. Muslims make up 60 percent of the population and most are ethnic Malays.
The attacks are also a blow to racial unity espoused by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak under his “1Malaysia” slogan since taking power in April, and pose a new challenge for him as he seeks to strengthen his ruling coalition after its losses in 2008 general elections.
“It showed that, after 52 years of living together, nation building and national unity is in tatters,” said Charles Santiago, an opposition member of parliament. “The church attacks shattered notions of Malaysia as a model secular Muslim nation in the eyes of the international community.
The latest attack early yesterday left the main entrance of the Borneo Evangelical Church in southern Negeri Sembilan state charred, the Reverend Eddy Marson Yasir said. He said it was unclear how the wooden door was burned, but there was no evidence that a firebomb had been used.
Firebombs have been thrown at seven other churches nationwide since Friday, with another splashed with black paint. No one was hurt and the churches suffered little damage, except the Metro Tabernacle Church in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, which had its office on the first floor gutted by fire.
Some 130 Muslim voluntary groups have offered to help protect the churches by becoming the “eyes and ears” of the police, said Nadzim Johan, a representative of the groups.
The Allah ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia.
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