Do the right thing, Nuncio

In my previous posting, I asked if Archbishop Joseph Marino had risked putting the Vatican and the Malaysian Government on a collision course with his remarks on the "Allah" issue". Yesterday, our Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said his piece, which represents the official stand of Najib Razak's government. 

He's not saying the Vatican ambassador should pack up his bags and go; Anifah is a more polished diplomat than that. The Nuncio was welcomed in January as the Vatican's first ambassador to Malaysia and we, as always the good host, continue to welcome him or anyone else who wants to, as long as they don't habour malicious intent towards us, to stay on. What's not welcomed is any attempt by anyone to interfere with the democratic process of this country. The "Allah" issue, for example, is being handled in the most democratic and fair manner. The Government, in fact, is in the process of appealing against a Court decision that was NOT in its favour!  

Marino can see for himself what his remarks have done. The Malaysian Insider has come up with an editorial that is aimed at provoking the Christians on Najib Razak's Cabineet, needling them to do something - anything, questioning their effectiveness in protecting the "flock". Some in this country will view the editorial as most seditious; yet, others have gotten away with murder more grisly than this one, in the name of freedom of the press. 

It won't stop with Anifah's firm and diplomatic stand, though. Things will get a lot worse before it gets better. Some madmen will burn some suraus down and some other madmen may torch some chapels to the ground. Maybe these madmen will do crazier things but we pray they won't. 

The Archbishop, as a good Christian that he is, must put a stop to all this madness that he started. I don't have to tell him what he needs to do or how, but he needs to do the right thing. 

p.s. If in doubt, perhaps Marino can start by checking out the Malaysian Foreign Minister. Anifah Aman is from Sabah, where "Allah" has been used in the Bahasa Malaysia bibles for years without any protest by the Muslims. How is that, you ask? Well, welcome to Malaysia, Nuncio. 

Is the Vatican headed for a collision course with Malaysia on the Allah issue?

Updates:

There's a Malay saying they should have taught the Vatican man so he might have understood us Muslim natives better:  Terlajak perahu boleh diundur ...
Or, perhaps, he meant to provoke; in which case, he has succeeded, as these and many more comments show:

1. Hassan Ali and Muslim NGOs tell Marino to retract comments on Allah, or else ... by Zakhir Mohd
2. Boleh Allah? by Anas Zubedy
3. Pas crucifies Nuncio for insensitive remarks, by The Mole

Original posting:

Supports the stand of the Catholic Church of Malaysia

It's only the second day of Ramadan but the Vatican "ambassador" to Malaysia has left Muslims in this country ample food for thought. In his very first interview with the Malaysian media today, Archbishop Joseph Marino openly backs Malaysian Catholics' wish to replace the Christian God with Allah in the texts of Bahasa Malaysia bibles.

It's going to be hard for Muslims here to swallow Marino's declaration, especially so since the dispute is an on-going court case. While the Vatican's first Apostolic Nuncio to Kuala Lumpur may not care too much about such trivial, surely he'd like to make sure that his statement does not divide Muslims and Catholics in Malaysia further. And surely he'd be concerned about putting the Vatican and the Government of Malaysia at loggerheads!

You may read Marino's full interview h e r e but if you must leave a comment, please remain respectful of Ramadan and one another's faith. 

Read also When in Rome, do as Romans do 

The debate for a new Simpang Rengam

Updated: The Scribe mentions the EO in his latest posting h e r e:

"... I salute Ahmad Zahid for admitting that most of the criminals detained by police were former Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainees (read here) released when Mohd Najib repealed the law along side the ISA and the Banishment Act. Clever.

Hard to miss the sarcasm...

Original posting

The news: Zahid: Most criminals nabbed are ex-EO detainees, The Star, 11 July 2013

A town so synonymous with the EO

Ah, YB Tony Pua has done it again! Rising crime, he says, has nothing to do with the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance two years ago (which effectively took away police authority to detain criminal suspects without trial), but all to do with PDRM's "lack of professionalism", "incompetence". That must hurt but our men and women in blue must regard the scorn as part of Ramadan's trials; if it's any consolation, Tony Pua has said a lot worse of our people at Malaysia Airports.   

Zahid: EO2 draft with A-G

Poor upbringing aside, the parliamentary debate on the relations between rising crime and the now-defunct Emergeny Ordinance presents us with a great irony in which our politicians from the Opposition, who have all along insisted that crime is on the rise, are unhappy that Zahid Hamidi doesn't disagree with them.  

Worse still, the Home Minister is planning to do something about it. Zahid plans to introduce a new law resembling the EO because, as he told Dewan Rakyat yesterday, not only have serious crimes gone up, many of them involved former EO detainees. The draft of the new EO has been submitted to the Attorney-General. 

I can understand Tony Pua's predicament: the DAP was, after all, responsible for putting pressure on the Government to repeal the EO in the first place and if it's true - and it's probably true - that crime has gone up partly because we have freed those crooks and scoundrels, including crime bosses, to commit those crimes, it won't look good on the DAP and the Opposition. 

Pua: Of late, does not mince words

But most people agree with Zahid and public perception is such that we believe that the repeal of the EO has emboldened the criminals. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of a Government in which both Tony Pua and Zahid Hamidi were part of and which the current Government must rectify immediately. To the MPs debating this issue in the current session of Parliament, please save your politics for another occasion which does not concern our safety and well-being. 

If you ask me, the only matter that requires debate, as far a new EO is concerned, is whether or not those "suspects" should be held at the old detention centre in Simpang Renggam, the town in Johor made famous by the old EO. 

Tony Pua should fight for a new detention centre to be built in his constituency. That way it'd be more convenient for him to defend those suspects ...