Friday, January 08, 2010

Protests turned Ugly


 A police officer inspected the damaged Metro Tabernacle Church which was destroyed by a fire bomb late Thursday night in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Desa Melawati. Photo taken from here

This is taken from the Sydney Morning Herald.


Firebomb attacks on Malaysian churches

ROMEN BOSE January 9, 2010


KUALA LUMPUR: Four Malaysian churches have been firebombed, with one left badly damaged, in an escalating dispute over the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.

As Muslim groups held protests yesterday, police increased security around churches after one in Kuala Lumpur was set ablaze in a midnight attack that left its ground floor gutted. Three other churches were attacked hours later, with one sustaining minor damage, while the others were not damaged. No arrests have been made.

The Home Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, appealed for calm amid the conflict over the use of Allah as a translation for God by Christians, and assured minorities in Malay-dominated Malaysia that ''they are safe''.

''I take the events that happened last night very seriously,'' he told a press conference. ''We want to assure the public that this was not a co-ordinated and well-planned action.

''Let's hope for the best in a few hours' time,'' he said before the protests that took place at two main mosques in the capital after yesterday's prayers.


Police said officers had been deployed to protect churches around the country and to monitor the protests, following the attacks and also phone threats against churches.


In Kuala Lumpur, young worshippers carried banners and vowed to defend Islam.

''We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches,'' a speaker shouted into a loudspeaker at the Kampung Bahru mosque. About 50 people carried posters reading ''Heresy arises from words wrongly used'' and ''Allah is only for us''.

The High Court this month ruled in favour of a Catholic newspaper which used Allah as a translation for God. The Government has said the word should be used only by Muslims. The ruling was suspended on Wednesday pending an appeal.

''Islam is above all. Every citizen must respect that,'' said Ahmad Johari, who attended prayers at the National Mosque. ''I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority Muslims of Malaysia. We can fight to the death over this issue.''

The rallies were held inside the mosque compounds after police banned protests on the streets. Participants dispersed peacefully afterwards.

Pribumi Perkasa, one of the groups organising the demonstrations, condemned the fire-bombings but warned that Malays were deeply concerned.

Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
 
This is getting out of hand. Now FOUR churches are being affected. In Malaysia, the Malays take up around 60% of the entire population. If the Malays are not happy, they will not simply let this matter go. If this goes on, we can forget about "1Malaysia". What my friend said is true, "All it takes is for ONE person to burn a mosque, a WAR will begin." 
May we pray for the safety of the believers in Christ as well as the citizens in Malaysia.

Update (11/01/10): Now EIGHT CHURCHES ARE BEING ATTACKED!!!! 

13 comments:

  1. wahsehhh.... this was a good shit lehh~

    we all know that this 1Malaysia thingy would take a long time to materialize kakaka perhaps a millennium @__@"

    those wracking havoc were usually those stiff neck unwell educated bunch of scums ... usually ego driven and uncivilized ...

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  2. What to do? Malaysia has been trying to be on the same level as the first world countries but we are JUST NOT up to that level yet. Remember Wawasan 2020? Now it seems impossible.

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  3. Hopefully all the bomber will be caught and put to the bar! However, i think this is unlikely to happen! Not to talk about Malaysia becoming a developed country, not even Justice we can talk now!

    God bless us as Malaysian!

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  4. Such a terrible act that they did.
    Certainly isn't very humanly.

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  5. Sad...Truely sad
    Allah is an Arabic word for God....
    So what's wrong saying the word Allah as God in Arabic language as I say God in English...
    I guess only Malaysian have this issue of using the word Allah...
    How sad our governments went to overseas for further education yet their mind are so narrow...

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  6. @Anonymous: Although education may broaden our minds and views, our culture and concepts are difficult to change.

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  7. I was truly shocked by the attacks on the churches, especially the one on Metro Tabernacle because it's the one a close friend of mine regularly attends. Thank Allah (God) that she (and everyone who goes there) was not hurt (physically).

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  8. I just blogged about this...And I realize my contents are far most one of the most extreme in criticizing...XD I might end up eating curry rice...LOL Thanks for dropping by...

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  9. ...never mind Christians will always forgive THEM one....

    coz they always SIN ....

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  10. ...wat it was written there .. "v can fight to the DEATH over this issue" ..

    WTF~! does GOD teach about this??? they had shame GOD ..not glorify, as GOD was LOVE, GOD will not favor people who destroy life ...

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  11. @Ihsan Khairir: I hope you friend is all right, emotionally I mean.

    @Gallivanter: I heard! I hope they stop soon!

    @Eric Lee: Yes! Very extreme! Haha! Chill chill, I left a comment on your post d!

    @Alpha Ace: Sigh... this is fallen human nature. Just wanna point to you that Christians also sin all the time. We need the Lord's mercy and grace in whatever we do.

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