November 11, 2012
Christian Federation of Malaysia reassured of Pakatan’s Reform Agenda
by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com
Amid uneasiness over another round of Christian bashing in the guise of attacks on Anwar Ibrahim for consorting with Christian leaders, sections of the Pakatan Rakyat leadership cohort held a closed-door briefing for members of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur.
According to CFM sources who attended the meeting, its purpose was to reassure Christian leaders that Pakatan’s quest for an egalitarian Malaysia would be firmly on track the minute they take hold of Putrajaya, a goal that seems increasingly attainable judging from rousing receptions to the coalition’s ceramah nationwide.
“The aim of the Pakatan leaders who met up with us was to reassure us that no matter what slant the attacks on Pakatan or its principal leaders take, the coalition would be unswerving in its quest for political and economic reform,” said an attendee who spoke to Malaysiakini.
“That was music to our ears because we feel that only with major political and economic reform, the spate of Christian bashing we have seen in recent years would be a thing of the past,” he elaborated.
Some 20 representatives from CFM were present at the meeting with Pakatan leaders among whom were Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and Mujahid Yusof Rawa (both from PAS), Tian Chua, Chua Jui Meng, Dr Tan Tee Kwong and R Sivarasa (all PKR), and Ngeh Koo Ham and Teresa Kok (both DAP).
Perturbed by the appearance of leaflets (left) in Slim River earlier in the week attacking Pakatan supremo Anwar’s closeness to Christian leaders in advance of a ceramah he was to give in the southern Perak town, Pakatan leaders requested for a meeting with CFM representatives to reassure the latter on issues such as hudud that are viewed as troubling to non-Muslims.
Anwar arrives late from Jakarta
Initially, the Pakatan coterie did not want Anwar to attend the meeting but the opposition leader dismissed fears his attendance would leave him at a disadvantage in fending off attacks on his Islamic rectitude stemming from perceived closeness to Christian leaders and insisted on being present.
In the event, Anwar arrived late for the meeting, his return flight from Jakarta where he had been earlier in the day was delayed by bad weather.
Before his arrival, the Pakatan leaders who came for the meeting advised CFM representatives not to be perturbed by calls for the implementation of hudud that do not emanate from the top tier of Pakatan’s leadership.
“We were told that Pakatan allows a certain berth for the expression of a range of opinions within the coalition,” said the same CFM representative who spoke on background.
“They do not think that it is right for the top leadership of the coalition to stifle the gamut of opinions within the coalition with a single set of vocal chords. That’s not the Pakatan style,” explained the CFM representative.
He said the Pakatan leaders emphasised there will be no unilateralism on the major issues such as the implementation of hudud.
“We were told that hudud is not in the Pakatan Common Policy Framework and therefore it is not on the cards where a Pakatan government is concerned,” said the CFM representative.
Bread-and-butter issues
What’s on the upper tier of the Pakatan agenda is the reduction in price of oil and the abolishment of repayments on higher education loans.
“The allocation of resources for the eradication of poverty is top priority with the main thrust of the effort directed to those in need, irrespective of race,” said the CFM attendee.
The Pakatan leaders were at pains to emphasise that no overnight transformation of the Malaysian polity should be expected once they are in harness in Putrajaya because the civil service would have to undergo a mindset change before it can be steered in the direction of the desired transformation.
“We were told that the civil service is imbued with the BN ethos and that this was a half-century in the making. So Pakatan would have to tread subtly and carefully to change the prevailing mindset in order to implement the wide ranging reforms that are the ultimate purpose of the coalition,” said the CFM representative.
The CFM representative said he had attended the Anwar ceramah in Slim River earlier in the week out of plain curiosity to see if the leaflets that attacked the Pakatan supremo for closeness to Christian leaders had any effect.
“I was happy to see that the leaflets had no effect because the large numbers of Malays and Chinese people who attended the ceramah appeared keen to see Anwar and hear what he had to say,” he said.
He said that despite the inclement weather a crowd of about 2,000 came to the rally which was held in the forecourt of a Taoist temple.
“People appear more interested in matters to do with corruption and misappropriation of resources than in sectarian concerns. The crowd was largely from middle class to lower middle class and they seemed content to sit next to each other, oblivious of racial and religious differences. Those leaflets were from a different world as far as that crowd was concerned,” he opined.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
Sigh.., the CFM ought to have better things to do.
The reason why we have to listen to the alternative, is that it’s obvious that the present regime is suffering from terminal schizophrenia. Even frontal lobotomy, electroconvulsive therapy will have no effect, much less the major tranquilizers. Being the bogeyman and labeled as mass murderers determined force apostasy on the indigenous population is definitely no fun.
Even the Arabic appellation for God is denied and the al-Kitab is being placed on par with Mao’s lil Red Book and other literary works of notoriety and odium, as if it’s pornography. It changes not one iota, dot or twink, the determination of Christians to change the status quo. Many say this is a challenge, i say rubbish. This is the opportunity be resolute and follow the Light. Go reacquaint yourselves to the Social Creed – whether you believe it or not.
But John Doone, the 17th century Jacobean poet and dean of St. Paul’s cathedral will advise the Opposition:
* “Age is a sickness, and youth is an ambush.”
And he will warn the Powers that be:
* “If you take away due fear, you take away true love.”
* “Never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee”
Brothers and sisters, we are not in prison today. Lord have mercy. We should not be in chains and in prison in our minds. Yeah, the best preachers are vulgar in the very best sense.
And with this meeting over , we now have Mother Mary’ and her Son’s appearance in the window of Sime Darby Medical Centre in Subang Jaya to consolidate further the points made above.
So there is nothing to fear, that is, till the devil incarnate’s apparition appears.
BN’s aim on this issue is not so much on the Christians whom they know will 100% all out not to support them but more on calling the attention of the muslims discouraging them against Pakatan..BN is totally showing signs of crippling to paralysis,thats why they are still attackng and searching for new ways to convince the rakyat especially the malays..they are somewhat giving up on the chinese knowing very well MCA is facing the gallows as much as the whole of BN.
Why, Netto, is huddud troubling the non-Muslims? Can it be allowed by our Constitutions to be enforced on non-Muslims? It should be the Muslims who will have to be concerned about it as it will affect them most directly. Netto should not mislead his readers.
The introduction of huddud might well be just a pipe-dream for PAS in Malaysia.