An Open Letter to a Muslim Journalist “Spy”

Saudara,

I just read that recently you and a friend visited one of the churches that I belong to. I was surprised that you had to do it in disguise. You should have told the Catholic community there that you were coming and we would have given you a grand welcome.
Such was the experience of the MP for Shah Alam, Khalid Abdul Samad from Pas, who was even given a standing ovation when he visited and had a dialogue with the parishioners of the Church of the Divine Mercy in Shah Alam last year.

Some time back I was attending a Mass (Catholic worship) in a Catholic church in Petaling Jaya and was very moved by the presence of a group of Muslim students together with their Muslim professor who had taken them there as part of their “exposure programme”. None of them were converted.

You see we are not an underground church nor do we function in a clandestine manner. Our hearts are on the holy and not on the hideous. We even pray for Najib the PM, though I feel we do not pray enough for the Opposition. We also pray for people like you who do more harm than good to the name of your religion of peace, tolerance and compassion.

Further, what takes place in Catholic churches is highlighted in our in-house newspaper which was quite unknown to the whole population and whose readers formed an insignificant number – until the Government decided to prevent it from using the word “Allah.” Alas, the Herald should thank the Government for making it so well-known today.

Religious Misfits

It is a pity that you have gone through so much trouble to “investigate” under guise what is going on in Catholic Churches or that “Muslim teenagers were being converted to Christianity in Kuala Lumpur’s churches every Sunday”. You should have gone directly to the Special Branch, which sends it officers to visit our churches occasionally. Surely they will be able to tell you that you would be
only wasting your time!

As for the information that Muslims are being driven in droves into Catholicism (which you have concluded to be “false” in your article) it has been a fallacious and stale rumour for quite some time, spread by those who have an obsession and paranoia or by the increasing number of lower echelon zealots or “Little Mullah Napoleons” running riot with their brand of religion.

In Feb. 2006, the Mufti of Perak, Haji Harussani Haji Zakaria, claimed that 250,000 Muslims (of which 100,000 were Malays) had apostatized themselves, while 100,000 more had submitted applications to do so. Of course he was unable to substantiate his claim because it was false.

In Nov. 2006, about 500 Muslims protested in front of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Ipoh following a SMS wherein the same Mufti had disclosed that about 600 Muslim students of the Ungku Omar Polytechnic were to be baptized by national mariner Azhar Mansor!

The church was not converting Muslims but instead was holding the First Holy Communion Mass (one of the rites of initiation to the faith) for 98 Catholic children, many of whom were traumatised by the sight of a threatening mob. Imagine the very unfortunate impression the young Catholics would have got of Islam and of Muslims.

The mufti who had proven to be more of a misfit, was not man enough to own up. He blamed it on an SMS sent out by a woman! Why no action was taken against the mufti, and why the authorities remained mute (on both occasions) over his “mischief” remains but a mystery. You must have been motivated by the mufti.

If indeed the Catholic Church has the conversion of Muslims as its hidden agenda, it would surely have started converting hundreds or even thousands of impressionable young Muslims through its Catholic Mission schools which have existed for as long as 100 years, But no such thing has ever happened.

The Muslim classmates and friends that I had in St Michael’s Ipoh are still good and respected Muslims today, and such was their appreciation and respect for the La Salle Brothers that they made sure that their children in turn would attend a La Salle school or a Convent!

Sacrilegious

Sadly, your disrespect knew no bounds. You chose to abandon all human and religious decency with impunity as a journalist and a Muslim. Under pretense of being a Catholic you participated in the church service and even partook of the Holy Communion (a white and sacred wafer) strictly meant only for Catholics.

You consumed the white wafer which Catholics hold as very sacred and treat with utmost reverence, and both of you spat out the remnants, photographed it and published the picture in an article entitled “Tinjaun Al Islam Dalam Gereja:Mencari Kesahihan Remaja Murtad” which was published in the May 2009 issue of the Al Islam magazine.

I shudder to think of what could happen if the reverse took place — if for instance two reporters from the Herald were to enter a mosque disguised as Muslims, partake of the rituals and desecrate something which the congregation considers very sacred.

I can imagine Khairy Jamaluddin leading a group of Umno Youth thugs and burning the effigy of the Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur and even threatening to set fire to a few churches, and Zulkifli Nordin rousing up a mob and invading the Herald’s office and demanding that it be shut down for good; or certain Muslim NGOs insisting that the two journalists be jailed under the ISA!

(See Khairy’s comments below)

It makes me wonder how does a “creature” like you exist in this country? Are you the product of the educational, social or even religious system or process created by Bolehland’s leaders (also read as “Umno”) over the past 30 years?

How is it possible that you could blatantly trespass into a place of worship, violate its sanctity, insult its adherents, even publish your transgression and completely ignore the implications and consequences (will there be any)? What gives you such audacity?

It all points to the reality of you being a cog in Umno’s machine – a political party that has politicised religion for its survival by creating unfounded insecurities amongst Muslims and a distrust of other religions. Meanwhile it dominates, dictates, decides and even defines what non-Muslims can and cannot discuss, deliberate on, and display in print.

Najib’s 1Malaysia is really Malaysia in one big mess!

As I join my Catholic brothers and sisters in forgiving you (a Catholic duty we are reminded of!), I also pray that you will feel the full weight of God’s wrath upon you.

I feel sad for the many good Muslims in this country who have a respect for peoples of other faiths, for not only have you insulted Catholics but you have insulted them too. Islam would do well without religious misfits like you!

MartinJalleh
15 July 2009

Khairy: Un-Islamic Al-Islam?

THE ACTIONS of a journalist from Al-Islam magazine of going undercover to two Catholic Churches during Sunday mass, consuming and spitting the Holy Communion wafer - what Catholics believe to be the flesh of Christ himself - out of his mouth before photographing it, can only be described as appalling and offensive. As Leader of Barisan Nasional and UMNO Youth and as a Muslim, I have no reservations whatsoever in condemning this instance of unethical journalism, grounded in both disrespect and ignorance.

Needless to say, these actions are contrary to the goal of an empathetic society that I have been promoting as a way for Malaysians to progress as a people from diverse backgrounds. Empathy requires sound appreciation of one another's unique cultures and sensitivities - it calls for us to consider the perspectives of others before acting in ways that may affect them.

It also violates the Islamic injuction for empathy, plurality and respect, something made clear in the Holy Quran Surah Al-Hujarat, verse 13: "O Mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Islamic virtues of empathy, respect and tolerance were obviously absent in both the journalist and the magazine's editorial team that sanctioned the publishing of the article and the methods employed to gather information over supposed cases of Muslims converting to Catholicism/Christianity.

Everyone involved in the researching, writing and publishing of this article should have considered the fact that Muslims already find it offensive when non-Muslims do not observe basic courtesies expected when in a mosque, like taking off shoes and covering heads. They should further imagine their own reactions if someone went undercover in their local mosques, pretend to worship as a Muslim and made a mockery of congregation prayer. I suspect Al-Islam failed to consider the fact that the gravity of their own actions were similar to this hypothetical situation where the sanctity of the Muslim place and act of worship are violated. And this is at the heart of the problems we face as a multi-cultural and multi-religious society - people simply do not stop to think about another community's legitimate interests and sensitivities by positioning themselves from another's perspective before acting.

In this case, it is also especially telling that the journalist felt it necessary to go undercover to investigate the supposed instances of Muslim converts to Catholicism, when in fact, as far as I am informed, one can sit through and observe mass without having to be Catholic. This 'blunder' speaks volumes of the journalist's ignorance and the prejudices held even before he set out on his little mission.

I am further disturbed that this article was even published in the first place when ultimately the journalist could find no evidence of Muslim apostates going to Church. There was, in essence, no story to sell. Regrettably, perhaps starved of genuinely informative reports beneficial to the Muslim community, the tone of the article was decidedly mistrusting and almost vindictive - presumably in an attempt to create a sensationalist appeal. At one point in the article, the journalist even wrote of his dissatisfaction in finding nothing controversial during his visit to the first church. These sentiments reflect a certain fetishistic desire to confront "the enemy" when in fact it is completely unnecessary and harmful to inter-religious harmony. Feelings of moral superiority and righteousness vis a vis other faiths, even if unavoidable, should remain private and not manifested in the public domain.

As such, I am hopeful that this issue will not be hijacked or spiral into one that pits Islam/Muslims against Christianity/Christians. It was never about that. Instead, it is a case of unethical, and dare I say, un-Islamic journalism that has inadvertently underscored some of the reasons why genuine harmony is still elusive. Above all, it is a timely reminder to us, regardless of our faiths, to be more respectful, sensitive and empathetic to each other in order to build a better Malaysia which we all call home.

KhairyJamaluddin
http://www.rembau.net.my/
16July2009 (Khairy is Rembau MP and UMNO Youth Chief)