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!!!! 

Are You Done Talking?

Ever since the video and pictures of the molestation were posted on the net, people have been putting the blame on the Singaporeans who stood by and did nothing.. You see, this is ONE thing that I  dislike the most. It is always the same, when something happen, people will start to point fingers. After they have found a scapegoat, these people start to be all righteous and put the blame on the others, "educating" them how they should do this or that. To me... that is a whole lot of bull. For those Singaporeans who just stood by and watch the whole thing, actually they are just portraying exactly what we would do if we were there. Let's face it, we are all AFRAID of getting ourselves involved. UNLESS a bold person is willing to go up against these four men, someone MIGHT actually follow the lead and give a helping hand. According to the rumors, securities did finally come to the scene and sorted the whole thing.

When I saw the RAZORTV video on how Singaporeans would react if they were there at the scene, they just simply shrugged and said that they won't do anything. Although it seems selfish and ignorant, I really appreciate their honesty. We Asians are brought up in a way to mind our own business and not be so KPC. This is the reality of the world that we live in. So don't go and put the blame on others just because it is convenient for you to open your mouth and make SMART comments just to be part of the entire fiasco. 

Now people are speculating that the 'victim' is a Thai transsexual...

HA! Are you people still going to tell the Singaporeans to help 'her'? Would you even go and help 'her'?

Highly UNLIKELY.

On the side note, what I learned from this incident is that you have to take care of yourself wherever you are. When you reach a certain age, you have to protect yourself. Don't expect people to help you out of these kind of situations. The world is not that kind.