The Day Catholics Welcomed a PAS Man in Shah Alam

The day Catholics welcomed a man from PAS in Shah Alam

Khalid Samad gets standing ovation from Church of Divine Mercy congregation

Related story: Dzulkefly may be the first Muslim MP at a Catholic Mass. Click to open

Khalid Samad, asked for public discourse in church

Partai Islam SeMalaysia or PAS often conveys a fundamentalist, hard-line image to non-Muslims. Getting behind the rhetoric, Insider’s DEBRA CHONG shows there’s a more engaging, even openly embracing, side to some PAS politicians. “BETTER the devil you know than the angel you don’t”. Those familiar with this phrase by Ethiopian satirist Hama Tutu usually hear it advocated in the face of change, when those in power anticipate a revolt. In Shah Alam, however, some 2,000 Christians have learnt that it’s better to embrace the unknown entity than to put up with and suffer a known demon. On March 27, Khalid Abdul Samad became the first elected Muslim Member of Parliament to step into the Roman Catholic Church of the Divine Mercy since it was completed in 2005. The congregation gave him a standing ovation. Perhaps more stunning is that Khalid is from Parti Islam SeMalaysia and was the one to initiate contact. And he reassured the Christians in attendance that they could continue to use the word “Allah” in their worship without fear of persecution. Previously, the federal government had banned Christians from using the word “Allah” in referring to God in their worship for fear that it would confuse the Muslim Malays and lead them astray from Islam. Bibles printed in the national language were also seized. This was reversed sometime last year, but the damage was already done. Khalid said that in all Arabic-speaking communities, “Allah” just means “God”, therefore it is not “unique to Islam”. He had once attended church in the Middle East and heard a Christian priest preach in Arabic with no trouble. “For us, the problem is we’re not an Arabic-speaking country. Therefore some people question why non-Muslims have to use this word when it is not really necessary. People then make all sorts of speculations about idealogy. But there’s no reason for the word to be banned from Christian worship. We’re quite happy if people use it.“ It’s not just my personal opinion but is consistent with the party’s view. Basically it shouldn’t be any problem. And I made it quite clear to the people in church that night,” Khalid explained over the phone yesterday. The parishioners were especially impressed that Khalid was the one who approached them.“It was his own initiative. He contacted our parish priest, Father Paulino Miranda, and said he wanted to come and talk to us,” Joseph Victor, chairman of the church’s parish pastoral council told The Malaysian Insider on behalf of Fr Paulino who is away on sabbatical till April 18. “That’s a good sign. Everybody was very happy. This is the first time a Pas MP is coming to a Catholic church. It shows they’re not against Catholic churches,” he added. It was the first time an MP for Shah Alam had, unasked and unaided, actively engaged the non-Muslim community in public discourse in their own backyard, at least on this side of the peninsula. It spurred a parishioner, Tony Yew, to blog about the experience on his website (www.muststopthis.blogspot.com). “What was evident from the points raised by those who could get their voices heard was crystal clear, abundance of local council issues and the fear of ‘subtle religious’ persecution. “With no one to turn to, YB Khalid took all the questions one by one and stressed that the newly-formed coalition government of PKR-Pas-DAP (in no order) was one of consensus by nature,” he wrote. But Khalid was quick to disclaim credit for the unprecedented move. He said the discourse was made possible because of the mixed effort on both sides. “Our people working in the (Shah Alam) area heard that the parish priest was campaigning for change in the elections and advocated the congregation to use their votes to bring about change,” said Khalid. He recounted that he wanted to speak to them, to thank them for giving the Oposition their mandate for change. “I tried my best to answer most of the questions. We talked about government policies, about discrimination – there shouldn’t be any! – enforcement and implementation, which would require more detailed explanations, but I just talked about it in short.” A 9-minute video clip of the dialogue has been made availble on YouTube.

That’s right. Blame the cyber campaign!

The level of denial has reached stupendous proportions. Not to mention the shirking of personal responsibility. Where leaders actually say “well, I didn’t see that coming.” Or “lets get together and have a talk and see what we’ve done wrong and how we can correct this,” we have shirkers who have buried their heads and are spitting at each other while they’re in the sand.

In life, in business, and in politics (though I’m not well versed in the last, I’d imagine it to be the same), if you take a hit, you go away, and have a think to see what needs to be done differently so that you can do it well the next time round. And there is ALWAYS a next time round.

However, looking at the way our top leadership and leaders are looking at this, they’re scurrying around trying to frame an agenda that not only ABSOLVES them of responsibility but attributes it to external forces beyond their control. If actions speak louder than words, then let’s have a look at the following laundry list of examples;

1. The new cabinet – the number of political rewards tells you how much the message has actually NOT sunk in – Muhd2 Taib being the most glaring example
2. The altercation with the Sultans on the part of BN and how they’ve been handled – For one, these could have been avoided, for another, it would seem that these signal a blindness to new realities on the ground
3. Statements by Zainuddin Maidin and various other ex Cabinet Ministers like Samy Vellu who refuses to give up his seat or blames the electorate or even worse, warns/threatens repercussions for voting the opposition in.

What prompts this short sightedness can perhaps be understood by UMNO’s value set and to a lesser extent the “patron client” relationship which BN component parties have with UMNO which admires power and operates on a neo-feudal basis. Feudalism perpetuate idiocies like this. However, while it can be understood, it certainly should not be condoned.

For one thing, we have not seen any signs that there has been a “taking stock” where the whole BN comes together to have a good jaw, yarn, fight, of where they went wrong. Do it indoors and away from prying eyes for all I care but include the “little man.” Then come up with a list of things to address. It would, of course, be most effectively done with transparency but it looks like there’s fat hopes of that!

At this point, our Dear Leaders are caught in a North Korean bubble of their own making with no will to burst it. They’re like mice, scurrying around trying to fix their own little world which they see as the be-all and end-all of their existence with only a passing acknowledgement of the current reality on the ground.

Sad. Very sad; because the rest of the world looking in are doing so in amazement at how silly they look.

One thing’s for certain; in life, if you continue down the same road that you’ve been travelling on, you are certain to end up in the same place with the corollary to that being obvious. If you don’t like where you’re going, change the route and it’s probable you’ll end up some place different.

In BN’s and especially UMNO’s case, if they continue this ostrich-in-the-sand style of decision making, they’re heading for oblivion.