Saturday, May 06, 2006

JAIS belakang pusing on proselytization allegation

Yesterday I posted Sneaky Buddhists, Scary Buddhists! based on an accusation by JAIS, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department that Christian and Buddhist missionary groups have been quietly spreading their teachings to Muslim patients in several hospitals in Selangor.

JAIS PRO Fakhrul Azman Yahya had claimed the 2 religious groups hid their sinister proselytising intentions behind the veil of social service. He averred: “However, their main motive is to spread their teachings to the patients, especially Muslim patients.”

Thus, according to Fakhrul, that has been why JAIS had to launch the ‘Rakan Masjid’ (Friends of the Mosque) programme to neutralise those secret undercover missionaries, and of course to encourage Muslim evangelical groups to frequent hospitals.

The Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam Selangor (Cassa) went ballistic over the highly sensitive allegation. Cassa said JAIS has made a blatant lie and challenged it to prove the matter within the next 24 hours. Cassa president Dr Jacob George threatened that if JAIS fails to prove its allegation, it must make a public apology or Cassa would lodge a police report and submit official complaints to the prime minister, his deputy and other leaders. George asserted:

“It is time that decency, self respect and honour of minority groups doing selfless and social service to the sick and suffering and the unfortunate be not tainted for certain perverse political and religious agenda of a minority.”

Immediately, JAIS did a belakang pusing (180 degrees about turn), clarifying that it had not received any reports of Christian and Buddhist missionary groups influencing Muslim hospital patients. The same JAIS PRO Fakrul Azam Yahya also explained that JAIS did not start the ‘Rakan Masjid’ programme to counter these groups (if they had been sinister missionaries in the first place).

Fakhrul then had the brazen nerve to attribute his original accusation to a ‘misunderstanding’ on the issue. Puke-ishly, he said JAIS has always respected other religions. He pleaded: “To preserve the good name of the department and the state government as a whole, JAIS hopes that all quarters will ‘understand the misunderstanding.”

Good name? You f**king just made a damning highly-sensitive accusation that could and would have caused ill will between Malaysians. KTemoc thanks Muslim readers to my blog for voicing their outrage against what has been obviously a blatant lie, designed for some individual's personal interests.

2 comments:

  1. At last they admitted they lied. Imagine, guardians of Islam (supposedly) lying to the public.

    Like I said before JAIS statement was a blatant lie. I did meet some Buddhist volunteers who passed on biscuits and what-nots when my wife was hospitalised. No, they didn't ask me to become Buddhists? Nor did they pass me any Buddhist literature? They spend their time to console the sick without pay and now here come those fat-salaried men from JAIS accusing them of trying to convert these patients? And, frankly, I had not met any Christian group there. I recognised the Buddhist groups by their robes.

    And when my wife was there, lying bed-riddeen no JAIS sponsored volunteers ever came to console us. Maybe they were busy chasing after those hugging in at some secluded places. And I bet, the JAIS PRO was busy shopping with his fat salary.

    The statement by JAIS is a total insult to any good-thinking Muslim? And by admitting they lied is a bigger insult to Islam. Are we only worth a pack of biscuits or a tin of Milo, to convert? If it so, then the government ought to close down JAIS - for it has failed miserably in its role.

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  2. Muslims like JAIS make it very difficult for non-Muslims to help Muslims who are in need. Somehow one gets the feeling that people like JAIS are saying better to left to suffer than to take the risk of these people
    being exposed to the teachings of another religion. I never knew it was so easy to convince a person to embrace another religion. Maybe JAIS thinks that Muslims are too stupid to think for themselves regarding their religion. I hope not.
    JAIS should ask itself as to whether their sort of thinking contributes to the perception of Muslims by many around the world today as religious fanatic.
    My sympathies to malekz and his wife.

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