LOL And I'm afraid, there is nothing much the flamboyant FLOM (First Lady of Malaysia) Rosmah Mansor and 22-year Malaysian former premier Dr Mahathir could do to help BN (led by Prime Minister Najib Razak) towards recovering the lost voters in GE13.
Mind boggling controversies which hit Malaysia is not only giving Malaysians the wake-up calls, but hit the world news as well.
Among the latest on the chart is the raid at BSM's (Bible Society of Malaysia) premises and the seizure of more than 300 bibles by Jais (Selangor Islamic Religous Dept).
The above, which took place on the very second day of 2014 (new year) had fast developing into a potential threat to interfaith relations, worsened by the silence of national leader PM Najib Razak since beginning of the controversy.
That irritates not only the Malaysian Christians, but the non-Muslim communities as a well.
The remarks and nod by his deputy, DPM Muhyiddin Yassin to Selangor Umno and Muslim groups' proposed mass protest in front of a church in Klang on Sunday 5th of Jan 2014 received strong criticisms by non-Muslims.
It was seen as not contributing towards resolving in fact, could only invite retaliation thus, worsening the issue which has reached a critical level.
The proposed mass protest by Selangor Umno and Muslim groups was however, not held in front of the church that Sunday.
Possibly, the Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar was enlightened of the adverse political effect should they proceed as planned.
Noh Omar, who was dropped from cabinet after GE13 apparently for the worst BN's general election performance in Selangor, has been seen vocal over the issue.
While Perkasa (right winger) labelled Marina Mahathir of meddling for cheap publicity (by turning up at the church in solidarity with the Christians on Sunday), there are people who felt that Noh Omar himself tries to steal some limelight from the issue.
Various quarters, from academician to individuals had voiced their views & opinions on this sensitive issue.
Some are of the opinion that Jais' action as being intrusive,trespassing, has no legal basis and significantly, has seriously hurt the feelings of Malaysian Christians.
Others felt that Jais' jurisdiction should only be confined to Islamic religious affairs and regard its action unconstitutional, at the same time violating freedom of their beliefs and threatening public safety and order.
As the news hit the world, many of the international community esp the Christians would regard Malaysia as a country with religious intolerance, a country with no moderation and worst, a country that grabs bibles.
Not visiting Malaysia is one thing, the negative impact on Islam itself is a cause for concern. What more, it so happens 2014 is a visit Malaysia year.
Statements or remarks by members within Pakatan Rakyat (PR) were also seen made more on personal capacity.
It would be most ideal to have a common stance on the issue so as to enable all PR's representatives speak in one language and this could only be done through consultative approach among the three component
parties of PR, PKR/DAP/PAS.
There must be a consensus in stance pertaining to this issue so that the rakyat (PR supporters, the least to say) would have a better understanding of their party stance.
However, I am a little confused with the stance of PAS' Ulama Council chief Harun Taib who had consistently states that Pas was together with PR only on politics, but not in religious matters and that there was no compromise on Islam and Islamic rulings.
As tension runs high, it is understandable for the public to react strongly, but as far as PR's representatives are concerned, their action(s) and statement(s) must not be seen conflicting each other.
Statement(s) made on personal capacity must clearly be indicated as not to confuse the rakyat (people) with party stance.
Selangor Chief Minister Khalid Ibrahim became a target of strong criticisms for his silence and/or little action over the action by Jais, a state religious department under his administration.
Not that I wish to defend Khalid, but we must also take into consideration of the followings-
1) That the Decree by HRH the Sultan of Selangor forbidding the use of Allah by non-Muslims in Selangor.
2) That HRH the Sultan heads state's religious affairs.
3) That he (Khalid) nor the exco for religious affairs was not duly informed prior to the raid.
(Jais admitted they forgot to do so)
Under such circumstances, anyone in his shoe would find it short in options.
As much as he understands and wish of being fair to the Christians, going against the Decree would be regarded as disobeying HRH the Sultan.
Now that PM Najib has just broke his silence on the issue, lets see how he would resolve the Allah controversy.
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