KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — The DAP lashed out today at Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Datuk Seri Rais Yatim for accepting without question an Utusan Malaysia report that the party and Christians were plotting to usurp Islam’s position.
The Home Minister and the Information, Communications and Culture Minister issued a stern warning yesterday to Malaysians to not question Islam’s position as the official religion of Malaysia.
Selangor DAP chief Teresa Kok said today this proved that the two Umno ministers supported Utusan regardless of the validity of the said report.
“Their actions show that they are clearly one-sided in supporting Utusan Malaysia without any proper investigation.
“As responsible ministers in support of 1 Malaysia, Hishammuddin and Rais should direct the police to investigate Utusan as well as the two bloggers under the Sedition Act because Utusan has many times printed news commentaries detrimental to the peace and stability of our country,” Kok said in a statement today.
She said the inaction against Utusan was as if the paper had the licence to print and publish whatever it wanted, at the expense of ethical, professional journalistic reporting.
‘I believe Umno is using Utusan Malaysia as a [tool] to harass Malays just to strengthen Umno’s hold in the eyes of the community.
“This is dangerous and disgusting because Malaysia is a multicultural society,” added the Seputeh MP.
Utusan Malaysia carried a front-page article yesterday titled “Malaysia, negara Kristian?” (“Malaysia, a Christian country?”) based entirely on blog postings by several pro-Umno bloggers.
The bloggers had accused the DAP of sedition for trying to change the country’s laws to allow a Christian prime minister, pointing to a grainy photograph showing what they described as a secret pact between the opposition party and pastors at a hotel in Penang on Wednesday.
In a posting headlined “Agong under threat? DAP wants to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?” blogger Marahku (marahku.blogspot.com) accused the DAP of trying to amend the Federal Constitution so that a Christian could assume the post of prime minister.
“The whole point of changing the official religion is to allow a Christian to become prime minister of this country,” the blogger said.
On bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com, another blogger claimed to have received a message that DAP’s Jeff Ooi had organised a dinner for pastors from Sarawak and overseas at Red Rock Hotel on Jalan Macalister, Penang.
“Among the activities that night included the 35 pastors taking a group oath. They formed a circle and touched each other’s shoulders and vowed in English to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia and put a Christian prime minister in office,” the anonymous writer said in his blog under the headline “Making Christianity the official religion?”
He also pointed to the same grainy picture he posted at the top of his blog page, which he had captioned “Partying pastors or pastors doing the party do and vow to have a Christian as Malaysian prime minister”.
The blogger further alleged that the DAP had labelled the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as an “anti-Christ agent” in the run-up to polls in Sarawak, showing the opposition party was “openly against BN on religious grounds and they are now making it their clarion call, their rabble rousing horn”.
He said it was a seditious and religiously divisive statement that was never investigated by the police “or at least they did not tell us about any investigations into the matter”.
The blogger called on the authorities to investigate the allegations for sedition, warning that if the authorities failed in their duty the country may be “shattered again”.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, said the claims against their community were lies, and refuted the bloggers’ allegations last night.
Similarly, Ooi said the dinner had been organised by the Christian pastors in recognition of the DAP team who had visited them while in Sarawak for the state election and that the prayer sessions — one before dinner and one at the end — were a usual part of their worship, and not a pledge as alleged.
Dear DAP, forget about all these intellectual responses and arguments with these hell-bent troublemakers-they wont listen and they care not a damn bcos they are the law!.Give them an ultimum – prove DAP and Christains or Communists are working behind this conspiracy and DAP will dissolve immediately and let police take actions on DAP leaders OR if cant be proved, then Perkasa,Pembela, Utusan must close Shop and let police take action on their leaders for lies.No need talk senses…issue publicly this challenge to shut them.
Do not falls into traps set by those arrogant and trouble makers, from the publishment till now the relevant Ministers and enforcement units were looking into innocent party and not the setting fire side.
Keep a closed watch and be aware scape goats may be penalised to settle this matter.
This matter was obviously to distract and causing sensitiveness among nation with different religions and culture. And impose of unnecessary actions so that to restore their power especially in the coming general election.
Therefore it is vital to keep calm and let justice and law to be exercise as people are no longer to trust them.
On one hand UMNO leader is trying to promote 1Malaysia and they do opposite on the others hand.
WE needs muture and responsible government to keep all the nation in peace and harmony instead of playing non stop solving the problem they created. WAKE-UP UMNO. To me this is just a school boy lying. Its time we need to decide how elect the balancing government to ruling the country.