DATUK Seri Najib Razak has called on Malaysians to remain calm in the wake of claims that DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the country’s official religion.<
The prime minister said as religion was a sensitive issue in Malaysia, nobody should cash in on anything arising from it as this could cause tension among the people.
Failure to keep this in check, he said, would eventually cause serious polarisation in society.
Najib reminded Malaysians that there was danger in playing up such an issue.
Malaysia, he said, held on to the tenets of the Federal Constitution which placed Islam as the official religion while allowing others to practise their respective faiths freely.
“This is among the critical pillars that we subscribe to and which cannot be questioned. We’ll not allow any parties to threaten the country’s harmony.
“Calm down, whoever it is, whether they are the opposition or pro-government.
They cannot and should not exploit this issue; it will not benefit anyone,” he said, adding that investigations into the matter would be carried out.
The matter came to light when a Bahasa Malaysia daily front-paged a report, quoting largely from two blogs, that a DAP leader had met a group of Christian pastors in Penang where a pledge was made to elect a Christian prime minister and turn Malaysia into a Christian country.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has since called the claim a blatant lie.
This was followed by statements from organisers of the function, who also said no such thing occurred, and from the leader of the Catholic Church in Malaysia that no venue belonging to the church had been used for any such function. Meanwhile, Najib was also asked to comment on former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement that the general election should not be held any time now or at least until racial harmony in the country was enhanced.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
The election is based on many factors and not just one f actor.” On the six Malaysian fishermen recently jailed for allegedly encroaching on Indonesian waters, Najib said he had conveyed Kuala Lumpur’s stand to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“The president understands but in this system, it is complex as there are other power centres which acted beyond his knowledge.” The sixwere each sentenced to 2½ year s’ jail and fined one billion rupiah (RM350,000) in default of three months’ jail.
