Vatican the next diplomatic stop of PM Najib

After successfully surpassing the electoral reform movements rally on the 9^th July, banning the yellow the color of Bersih and PM Najib embarked on a damage control diplomatic trip to the Buckingham palace, he was welcomed to his chagrin by Her Majesty the Queen immaculately dressed in yellow.( May be her subtle protest against Najib’s handling of the Bersih rally).  This photo is being widely circulated among the social media now. His next stop to meet the pope to mend his image among Malaysian Christians to get prepared for the next election.

Prime Minister Najib will be in Vatican as preamble for diplomatic relations on Monday. Najib is scheduled to visit Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence near Rome, for talks that are expected to touch on the possibility of Malaysia establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican on Monday the 18^th of July 2011. The Malaysian leader's willingness to discuss ties with the Holy See carries special significance because Christians have seen efforts to curtail their liberties in Malaysia, which is an officially Islamic state. Early this year Christians fought back a bid to require a “warning label” on all Bibles imported to Malaysia; the label would have stipulated that the book was to be read only by Christians.

The ruling party with the complicity of their subservient press and Barisan cyber troopers continues their political agenda to win votes from the Malay Muslim population apt in creating an enigma of hatred towards the Christian community. They are despised and pushed to the defensive when they are accused of conspiring to form a Christian State, Church leaders in Malaysia are vehemently dismissing claims by Muslim bloggers and government-owned newspaper and TV stations that they are lobbying to have Malaysia declared a Christian state. To the chagrin of the nation, how can religion represented by nine percent of the population takeover Muslim Majority Country. And add insult to Injury the home minister laments, “Since 1957, the nation has been officially of Muslim status that is sacrosanct and can never and must never be questioned,” said Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein

The ongoing insult of the Christian community was again breached when two undercover reporters of the Al Islam Newspaper, attended a mass in July 2009, received the Holy Communion, spat it out and took photographs, during their purported investigation of Muslims getting converted in a church. This sacrilege was left without any action by the government, even when police reports were made

The State and Christian community relationship came under severe testing and constrain and descended to the lowest ebb when Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan, in her oral decision on the 31^st of Dec 2009, held that the Herald the Catholic Newspaper had the constitutional right to use the word in their magazine to propagate the Christian religion but not Islam. She said that pursuant to Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, it was an offence for non-Muslims to use the word "Allah" to Muslims to propagate the religion. But it was not an offence for non-Muslims to use the word to the non-Muslims for the purpose of religion, she added.

The Metro Tabernacle Church in sub urban Kuala Lumpur

The controversial judgment, upholding the Christian right to the usage of word of ‘Allah’, angered and precipitated violent demonstrations and burning of churches. The ultra right and Malay supremacy organization Perkasa which is puppeteered by Umno demonstrated after their Friday prayers and warned the Christians of bloodshed. On the surface, the Malaysian government portrays the country as a peaceful country where people of all ethnic groups live together, side-by-side in harmony. But they discreetly tolerated their media organs to agitate and aggravate the situation by racialism and fanaticism by their propagation of Malay racial superiority in winning over the Malay Muslim votes from their political competitor PAS.

There is a general perception regarding this diplomatic initiative is the last desperate attempt to win over the Christian electorates who comprises nine percent of the population. The recent Sarawak Election was an electoral disaster, when it suffered unprecedented loss in a state which is the fixed deposit of the ruling Barisan National and the only Christian Majority state. After all the discrimination and persecution of the Christian population by the ruling party for the continued rule and plunder there Najib’s diplomatic initiative is perceived as breaking of the stalemate.

Actions of the ruling party in formulating and putting in practice unethical policies towards the Christians has alienated part of them toward their clergy which is going hand in hand with Najib. Wide spread dissatisfaction and condemnation among the Christian community for Bishop Rev Murphy Pakiam being part of despicable delegation of Najib to the Vatican is being unleashed now by their statements and writings in the press. Bishop Murphy Pakiam is being accused of being a pawn of the ruling party to appease the Christian community who are increasingly marginalized. The recent brutal suppression of the Bersih rally by the Government has alienated further the Christians who are now showing their solidarity with the opposition and the civil societies which are up against government