When hope was a ragged breakfast, rousing supper
COMMENT If as the English saying holds that hope is a good breakfast but a lean supper, the balance – as far as the question of Muslim-Christian relations in Malaysia are concerned – was reversed as yesterday dawned and waned.
While in Putrajaya in the morning, the Federal Court declined to grant leave so that Catholic publication Herald could appeal the verdict of the Court of Appeal that had barred it from using the term “Allah” for God, much later in an otherwise worrisome day a small group of Muslim and Christian activists banded together in Alor Star to persevere in the hope that convergence between their religions was possible...
COMMENT If as the English saying holds that hope is a good breakfast but a lean supper, the balance – as far as the question of Muslim-Christian relations in Malaysia are concerned – was reversed as yesterday dawned and waned.
While in Putrajaya in the morning, the Federal Court declined to grant leave so that Catholic publication Herald could appeal the verdict of the Court of Appeal that had barred it from using the term “Allah” for God, much later in an otherwise worrisome day a small group of Muslim and Christian activists banded together in Alor Star to persevere in the hope that convergence between their religions was possible.
Hope, as far as the latter group was concerned and in a reversal of the English aphorism, may have started the day as a lean breakfast, but the poor blossom rallied to end it as a rousing supper.
Diners and the sentiments they expressed at the gathering in Alor Star were in stark contrast to, say, the threat uttered several hundred kilometres to the south, where a Perkasa firebrand was reported to have threatened to cut off the heads of those who insult Islam.
Led by the PAS chairperson of its national unity bureau, Mujahid Yusof Rawa ( left ), and abetted by Catholic Bishop of the Penang Diocese, Reverend Sebastian Francis, some 40 Muslims and Christians met over a meal in Alor Star while giving free expression to the better angels of their natures.
The occasion was a goodwill dinner, dubbed ‘Majlis Makan Malam Kedamaian’, officiated by Kedah PAS chief Mahfuz Omar, who is also the MP for Pokok Sena.
Mujahid, the party’s MP for Parit Buntar and chairperson of the panel of the National Unity Consultative Council on law and policy, vowed to soldier on in his oftentimes lonely campaign of the last four years to forge common bonds between Muslims and Christians.
A hope for more ‘visionary leaders’
Bishop Sebastian more than matched the sentiments of his Muslim counterpart by voicing his hope for an increase of “visionary leaders” in Malaysia in contrast, presumably, to fire-breathing ones.
Mujahid, the main Muslim speaker at the occasion, offered the view that the theological debate over the etymology of the Arabic term “Allah” for God and of right of the adherents of the Abrahamic religions to use it could go on for ages, but the existential need of Muslims and Christians to co-exist in peace was urgent and compelling.
“This is what I understand my religion wants me to work for and I intend to go on doing so,” he vowed.
He said peace was the need of every human being and the imperative of every divine.
On his part, Sebastian ( right ) cited an opinion aired recently by the Sultanah of Johor that diversity of beliefs was a human reality and awareness and respect for this plurality a pre-condition for peaceful co-existence.
The prelate, a strong supporter of Mujahid’s mission to forge Muslim-Christian understanding, said his research had unearthed as fact that a gesture towards understanding between people of both faiths occurred on the peninsula as early as 1781, when the then Sultan of Kedah allowed two French Catholic missionary priests, in flight from threats to their work and persons in Ayuthia, southern Thailand, were given a place of refuge in Kuala Kedah.
“More research has to be done and I will report the findings at future gatherings of this kind,” the bishop told his audience, which had an equal number of Muslim and Christian attendees.
Sebastian also praised the gathering’s principal organiser, the information chief of Tasek Gelugor (Penang) PAS, Abdul Rahman Kassim, for “singular devotion” to the cause of Muslim-Christian understanding.
The dinner was the second in the series that began in Bayan Baru, in Penang, in March when the inaugural gathering was hosted.
Mujahid alluded to “difficulties” faced by Rahman and him in persisting in their work, about which he was not specific, though it was quite clear that the pair do not enjoy universal support, within and without their party, for their efforts.
The federal legislator, referencing another Catholic prelate – Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing’s – recent description of him as a “Francis of Assisi”, a Roman Catholic saint of revered memory, said he was ready to be saddled with pejorative terms in pursuit of inter-religious peace.
Mujahid also lauded Bishop Sebastian for his fervent support of inter-religious dialogues between Muslims and Christians.
“Without his support, we could not have come this far,” said the Penang-born PAS leader.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades now. He likes the profession because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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