Calling for a “thorough investigation” into the controversial incident in UiTM, Bian said: “If they (seminars) are held with the vice chancellor’s permission, then he must immediately submit his resignation.
“I am ashamed of what is going on in UiTM and strongly deplore that this institution of higher learning has allowed sentiments of anger and suspicion to be cast toward Christians.”
Controversial seminars have been held at UiTM and included speaker Insan LS Mokoginta, an Indonesian, who claimed to be an ex-Catholic priest and had tried to ‘convince’ Christians to convert to Islam by means of instigation and hassling.
Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejahtera Masyarakat Malaysia’s (MUAFAKAT) president Abdul Karim Omar, another speaker, had ‘warned’ around 1,000 students attending the seminar about “the rising statistics of Christians”.
He claimed that there were ‘undercover’ Christina priests sent to Malaysia to convert Muslims.
False credentials
“Such statements are being made because the government does not take action against the people making these remarks and it emboldens the extremists,” said Bian, who is a UiTM alumni.
“All these are lies used to incite hostility and suspicion toward Christian students.”
“By allowing speakers with questionable credentials and background to preach antagonism towards a certain religion is just wrong. The consequences following would be drastic.”
Baru was responding to allegations that speaker Insan had fake credentials. A recent Facebook posting by Vernon Adrian Emuang had claimed that Insan was not an ex-Catholic priest as claimed.
Speakers going by the name of Irena Handono and Professor Meneham Ali are also not who they claimed to be. Irena claimed that she had been a Catholic nun but in fact she had only stayed in a convent for three months.
Meneham had claimed to be an expert on Christology from Universitas Bandung, which according to the Facebook posting, does not exist.
“It shows Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s weakness in administering the nation.
“In the local context, has not even made any statement against Zulkifli Noordin and Perkasa.” said Bian.
“He should be firm in taking a stand against extremists and make it a case to prosecute these individuals.
“It is shameful for him to allow situations like this to happen in UiTM.”
Christian bashing
Citing the example of a girl who was traumatised during Insan’s session, Baru said that it had turned the girl’s Muslims friends against her in the duration of just one talk.
The traumatised Sabahan had sent a Facebook message to her pastor saying that she had felt distressed and upset, saying that she was unable to do anything as the Muslim students had started ‘bashing’ her when she tried to defend her religion.
A total of 12 other Christian Sabahans had converted to Islam after the session.
“It is unfair that people of other religions are not allowed the opportunity to defend themselves and then have the opinion of others forced onto them.”
However, Bian does not view this as an attack on Borneo, but as an Umno strategy to incite Malay sentiments in order to regain the Malay votes.
“Together, with the hudud issue, Umno is trying to split up the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), which is why at this point, they are not objecting to the law.
“Umno is merely pretending to be in favor of the hudud law to gain support.
By Ng Suzhen
No comments:
Post a Comment