The Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) has lambasted a Malay-Muslim coalition for accusing local Christian leaders of a conspiracy to dominate leadership positions in the country, urging authorities to act on the inflammatory remark.
Its general secretary Reverend Hermen Shastri said the umbrella body “detests in the strongest terms” the remarks made by Gerakan Pembela Ummah chairman and Ikatan Muslim Malaysia (Isma) president Aminuddin Yahaya, who singled out the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM).
“It is unfounded and meant to fear-monger by rallying the Muslims to name Christians as enemies.
“It only goes to show that Ummah is bankrupt of ideas and therefore have to resort to such tactics to divide our nation and stoke fears of inter-religious tensions.
“This is tantamount to inciting hatred towards a minority religious community and the authorities should act decisively to stop such actions that seek to derail good interfaith relations in the country.
“The authorities should act decisively to stop such actions that seek to derail good interfaith relations in the country,” Shastri was quoted as telling the Malay Mail.
In his opening speech during the National Ummah Unity Convention on Sunday, Aminuddin alleged that one of CFM’s resolutions is to place as many Christians as possible in national leadership positions, as part of an evangelical drive.
He had also named Christian evangelism as one of the major threats to the majority Malay-Muslim community along with liberalism and human rights, and accused Christian evangelists of becoming more brazen in spreading their beliefs to Muslims.
“They are now pushing to remove the word ‘Islam’ from MyKad. They have been pushing for this tirelessly for years.
“They are cooperating with Western evangelists to preach in campuses. One of their missions is to install as many Christian leaders in the country as possible,” Aminuddin claimed.
He made these statements without providing any proof to back up his claims that the CFM was behind this alleged move.
On Saturday, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had said that police had reported an increase in the use of race, religion and royalty as issues to stir up discontent.
He had said the police were keeping Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and himself informed of the situation.
“There is data collected by the police, which they have briefed me and the prime minister (on). The data shows that there are tendencies with malicious intent, based on the ‘3Rs’,” Muhyiddin said, referring to race, religion and royalty.
“There are incidents erupting in parts of the country. When put together, the total is almost twice the number of such incidents in the previous year,” he had said.
The home minister said he had directed the police to take note of sensitive issues raised by anyone including religious figures.
Malay-Muslim conservative groups, such as Isma, have also consistently spoken out against ‘Christianisation’ as an alleged threat to the Malay-Muslim community in recent years.