Opposition alliance initiates inter-faith dialogue

By Joe Fernandez

Pakatan Rakyat will step-up the tempo and initiate inter-faith dialogues throughout the country in the run-up to the next General Election and beyond.

The concept of inter-faith dialogues is also provided for under PR's Common Policy Framework (CPR) which was unveiled recently.

The dialogues are expected to eventually result in the formation of an Inter-Faith Council (IFC). This will be an evolution based on a bottom-up "from the people approach" unlike the federal government 's top-down aborted Inter-Faith Commission.
Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan (above left), the PR head for Sabah and Sarawak, disclosed this to Malaysiakini last night.

He was following-up on a PR dialogue with Christian leaders at the Luther Centre in Petaling Jaya yesterday afternoon.

"Zaid Ibrahim, the PR pro-tem head, will work out the mechanisms for the inter-faith dialogues and invite input from party members," said Jeffrey.

"We need this (the mechanism) like yesterday to counteract Umno's crude attempts to politicise religious issues to suit their self-serving agenda."

Jeffrey, also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) national vice president with overall responsibility for Sabah and Sarawak, sees the Inter-Faith Council reaching out to people of all faiths.

The council's aim is to foster understanding and faith in God; promoting peace and condemning violence; promoting selfless love and selfless service; and showing good examples of religious tolerance, acceptance and respect.

The council will also talk about persecution and how the various religions can help promote unity, peace and harmony in the search for God; and stress on the common humanity of mankind.

"Generally, we don't need inter-faith dialogues and the Inter Faith Council in Sabah and Sarawak," said Jeffrey. "But we need to bring in the two states as well to complete the picture, since there might be areas of ignorance that we need to correct."

Misguided calls

He said the separate calls yesterday by the Sabah Justices of the Peace and their president Clarence Bongkos Malakun as both misguided.

"The Sabah JPs should not have used the word compromise in their suggestions. What they were suggesting was a face-saving formula for the Home Ministry and Umno.

"Also, we don't agree with their duality in approach on religious issues. The only duality that is recognised in law is the autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak," said Jeffrey.

On Malakun, who went out on a limb in Kota Kinabalu yesterday with his own public statement, Jeffrey said that his use of the word compromise was in fact tantamount to "surrendering one's constitutional rights".

"I don't think even one sane person in Sabah and Sarawak will agree with Malakun except for the organisations which have been infiltrated by illegal immigrants.

"They try to use religious muscle-power to mask their illegality and ingratiate themselves with local Muslims," said Jeffrey.

"As a god-fearing man, he (Malakun) should have not made such an ignorant and cowardly statement. He should be ashamed of himself. He brings discredit to the JPs as well."

Jeffrey said he received many calls from members of the public on Malakun's "offending statement". Many felt that it was just uncalled for "appeasement of Umno and an illegal one at that".

The Sabah strongman sees both the states in Borneo playing a balancing role in the racial polarisation-prone Peninsular Malaysia and giving true perspective on religious issues.

The history of the formation of Malaysia will be a sobering thought on religious issues for everyone, added Jeffrey. "We cannot get away from history, the law and constitutional issues."

Jeffrey is confident that the opposition's initiative won't go the way of previous attempts at bridging the religious divide.

He was referring in particular to the IRC and the equally moribund Malaysian Consultative Committee for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS) besides the Inter-Faith Commission.

Asked how the opposition alliance could be confident of success in fostering inter-faith dialogues where others have failed before, Jeffrey thinks the answer lies in being inclusive and empowering the common man.

Also there is a need to get input from individuals rather than groups, organisations and institutions to push forward the idea of peaceful co-existence, which was promoted successfully during the Cold War years amidst east-west rivalry.

'Rights must be respected'

As an example of herd mentality, he cited the "My Allah is not the same as Your Allah" approach taken by a vociferous minority which eventually resulted in a spate of arson attacks in various parts of the country "as an ignorant police mainly looked on".

"We cannot have the police going around thinking that they are here to defend members of just one faith," said Jeffrey. "That's against the law and the federal constitution, and borders on hijacking the nation-state. The rights of everyone under the constitution must be respected and defended."

The answer also lies, according to Jeffrey, in inter-faith dialogues not degenerating into theological discussions which marked past efforts in attempts to bridged the religious divide.

"Even the slightest hint of theology," Jeffrey noted, "is enough to send the Muslims in particular scattering in all directions and away from the path of dialogue."
He urged Umno to take up the challenge as well and participate in the inter-faith dialogues planned by the opposition coalition.

He said there's a need for the ruling federal party to get away from it sordid past if it's to re-invent itself in line with 1Malaysia espoused by Najib Abdul Razak".

"We know that there are severe differences within the Umno hierarchy on whether it's proper to politicise Islam and religious issues to play to the gallery," said Jeffrey.

"Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh, for example, is deeply ashamed of how his party has been handling the Allah issue."

Jeffrey sees a significant faction of Umno eventually breaking away and making common cause with Pas, a key component of PR along with PKR, DAP, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and the Sarawak National Party (Snap).

Jeffrey urged the media to scrutinise public statements of Umno leaders and note the deafening silence of a large number of them on the 'Allah' and other religious issues.

"The media can play a role in helping bring our people together," said Jeffrey. "We need to focus on what brings us together as a people rather than what separates us."

ADMIN NOTE:

There will be an Inter-faith dialogue between PAS and the Christian Community at Holy Spirit Cathedral, Island Park in Penang on January 13, 2010 at 6.00pm. It appears that while Umno is busy burning bridges of reconciliation and unity, PAS is rebuilding them.