Don't mess around with religious beliefs of Sarawakians, Chong warns Fed Govt

KUCHING, Oct 15, 2014: Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen has warned the Umno-led Federal Government to respect the religious rights of Sarawakians, and not try to mess around with the harmonious relationship among the different religions in the State.

" Do not import your religious extremism into Sarawak," he said in his speech in Parliament yesterday.

He said that the Federal Government should immediately stop the proselytisation programmes by government agencies, including the Welfare Ministry, Education Ministry and Rural Development Ministry, in Sarawak.

He also wanted to know how many groups have been sent to Sarawak by these agencies.

"I would like to state again, we, in Sarawak, respect the religions of each other.  There is no official religion and there is no such concept of “Ketuanan Melayu” in Sarawak," he added.

He said in May this year a group from Malaya from the Education Department went to Balai Ringin to carry out some "Anak Angkat programme", to convert the Iban children to Muslims.

" When this was exposed in the media, the programme was stopped.

"This month, another group, the Yayasan Amal Malaysia, went to Belaga to try to convert the natives to Muslims.  This was exposed in the news and was stopped by the Sarawak Government.

"We, Sarawak DAP fully support the stand of the Sarawak Government to disallow all acts to spread Islam among the Christian communities," Chong said.

He said that Sarawakians have been living in peace and harmony for years and that they respect each other’s religions and there is no religious tension in Sarawak, even though Bibles are published in Bahasa Malaysia and many Christians referring to their God as “Allah”. 

"When we read in the papers that Perkasa leader Ibrahim Ali had called out to burn Bibles printed in Bahasa Malaysia, we felt insulted and angry. 

"We are even more angry when the Government defended Ibrahim Ali’s threat in this House, saying that he will not be prosecuted for making such threat because he was “defending Islam” when he made such threat.

"In Sarawak, not only the non-Muslims are angry, but many of my Muslim friends were also ashamed and angry because according to them, Islam does not teach them to burn the Holy books of other religions. 

"In response to the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri to defend Ibrahim Ali’s threat, many have called for her resignation. 

"I will not call for her resignation, because she is only stating the stand of the whole cabinet.  If she were to resign over this reply, then the whole cabinet must do likewise.

'Given now that her answer is in the Hansard, it is now the official stand of Barisan Nasional Government that “it is OK to burn the Bibles printed in Bahasa Malaysia containing the word Allah”. 

"The only way for the Government to redeem itself is to retract the reply and to prosecute Ibrahim Ali for his seditious statement and threat. 

"If the AG refuses to prosecute Ibrahim Ali, then change the AG. 

"Otherwise, it is the Government who is condoning and encouraging such religion fanaticism.  This is not the purpose why Sarawak joined to form Malaysia in 1963.  Such religion extremism will destroy the very basis of the formation of Malaysia," warned Chong.