Joint statement of civil society on 29th January 2010
We the undersigned civil society groups condemn in the strongest terms the utmost sinister act of throwing heads of wild boar into the compound of two mosques on Old Klang Road in the early morning hours of January 27, 2010 (Wednesday).
Like the cow-head protest in Shah Alam last August and the earlier attacks on churches, mosques, suraus and gurdwara, the desecration of the At-Tirmizi Mosque, Sri Sentosa and Jumhuriyah Mosque, Taman Dato Harun is the latest of deliberate and desperate acts to provoke religious conflicts in Malaysia.
Malaysians of all faiths have however once again valiantly defeated such wicked plots. The ahli qariah (members) of the desecrated mosques and the Muslim community at large have demonstrated admirable calm and cool-headedness, just like the Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities before this.
As in the past, Malaysians of other faiths see the attack on Islam as an attack on their own faiths. In an immediate response, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) has condemned any such violence on any house of worship as “a sin of the highest order”.
The inter-faith solidarity of Malaysians is a clear and loud testimony that Malaysian society has passed another test on communal relations and emerged only ever stronger than before. No cow head, pig head or fire can set the fraternity and goodwill amongst Malaysians on fire. The agent provocateurs are only burning themselves in stark desperation devoid of any modicum of civic consciousness or religiosity.
The indomitable spirit of mutual respect and muhibbah of the Malaysian society in the face of challenging inter-faith issues is however tarnished by the continuous failures of the Malaysian state of law and order. The police must stop dismissing such attacks as purely acts of vandalism or juvenile delinquency.
The time related sequence in the aftermath of the court’s decision on the use of the word “Allah”; suggest the orchestrations of these malicious incidents by a mastermind behind the scenes. These serial attacks can only be halted if the police undertakes a thorough and impartial investigation to uncover the heinous hidden hands, who are most probably politically connected. Unless, this is done the situation may become more serious and ugly and God forbid, lives of our citizens maybe in jeopardy.
We however object to any use of the Internal Security Act or Sedition Act. No one should capitalize on the pain of the religious communities to rejuvenate the evils of authoritarianism. The culprits must be charged in Court under the Penal Code or other relevant laws. We demand that all ISA detainees, including the latest 12 to be charged in court or released unconditionally.