Catholic Bishop Emeritus Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing has advised critics of Abdul Hadi Awang's remarks on Christianity to critique what he said but refrain from banning him, as a Sarawak political party has urged.

Tan was commenting on a call by the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) to have the PAS president banned from entering the state on account of derogatory remarks he made about the methods used by Christian missionaries not only in Sarawak and Sabah, but also in Africa.

The Sarawak government, which enjoys autonomy in immigration matters, has an illiberal record when it comes to admitting into the state peninsula social and political activists whose views they consider provocative.

“Clearly, the PAS president has a shaky grasp of realities, as shown not only by what he has said in this instance about Christians but also in comments he has made earlier on a host of issues,” said the bishop.

“But that's no reason to ban him,” he asserted. “Criticise what he has said by all means, but don't ban the speaker,” he added.

The prelate said Christians must keep in mind the fate of fellow believers in Muslim countries, like Pakistan and Nigeria, where the merest verbal or other infelicities about Islam, actual or manufactured, have brought dire consequences on its supposed perpetrators.

“Let's not be prickly or thin-skinned,” he advised.

On Hadi's comments, Tan observed: “He is a theologian of some eminence and I understand he has distinguished himself in some peacemaking efforts in Yemen, but his tendency to be slipshod in what he says on potentially contentious issues do not reflect a nuanced grasp of realities, something that would be imperative on the part of an exponent of sacred texts and a moderator of warring parties.”

Tan said Christian missionaries have contributed to the material well- being of the people who they converted through education and skills instruction.

“To say that material inducements were the primary factor behind conversions to the Christian faith is gross simplification,” said Tan.

In a recent article in the PAS organ, Harakah , Hadi said Christians were using material incentives to convert natives, not only in Sabah and Sarawak but also in Africa.

The PAS chief said these were places where grinding poverty and illiteracy rendered people vulnerable to material inducements to convert.

Further, Hadi claimed Christianity was no longer saleable in Europe whose higher levels of education and well-being, he said, made the people there indifferent to the religion's attractions.

“Christian leaders in Malaysia have already made substantive criticisms of Hadi's comments, so I don't want to add to them,” said Tan.

“If I want to say something, it is to ask to what does Hadi attribute the general European tendency to allow refugees from war torn, repressive and poverty-stricken Muslim countries to come to settle on their continent, as we have seen in the past year and continue to see?

“Is it not because of the quality of mercy and charity that the poor refugees are taken in? Would we need to point out to which religion those qualities are owed even if its practitioners no longer acknowledge their source?” mused the bishop.