Politics

Finally, the truth is out. The 10-point may bear the signature of PM Najib, but it has no cash value. Honestly, it is a bounced check.

To be sure, it is imprinted with high face value – 10 points to be exact. This includes freedom for Christians to print and circulate the Alkitab and other indigenous Bibles in Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak; it even threatens punishment for government officials who failed to honor the PM’s check, and much besides.

But now the PM says, whatever the face value of his personally signed check, the final decision whether the check is cash-able is up to the State Bank. Unfortunately, nine of the eleven State Banks have since long ago circulated directives which say the kind of checks that the Prime Minister gave to Christians have no cash value. Regardless, the PM assured Christians his check will be honored, especially when the Sarawak State elections was just round the corner in 2011. Continue reading “Prime Minister Najib Gave Christians a Bounced Check”

Following the Court of Appeal judgment, the Prime Minister assures Christians in Sabah and Sarawak that the judgment only bans the Catholic Herald from using the Allah word. A few cabinet ministers suggest the 10-Point agreement continues to allow these Christians to use the Christian al Kitab notwithstanding the Allah word.

The PM’s assurance sounds feeble, wishful and arguably misleading when the Appeal Court judgment prohibits the Christian community from using the Allah word on grounds that the word is not integral to Christian faith, that any religious practice must be circumscribed or limited by Islamic sensitivity, and finally, that the prohibition is necessary for national security.

Be assured that officers from JAKIM and the Bahagian Kawalan Penerbitan dan Teks Al-Quran (The Publication and Quranic Texts Control Division) will be waving at Christians the Appeal Court written judgment when they decide in due time (chosen at their convenience) to raid a Christian institution and seize its publications or stop any activity deemed offensive to Islamic sensitivity. Continue reading “Will the Real Prime Minister Please Stand Up?- Defending Kalimah Allah”