The cock-a-doodle-doo story

All the three major Christian churches, Roman Catholic*, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox (Coptic, Ethiopian, etc), recognize the Apostle (Simon) Peter as the first archbishop and thus the pope.

* The Protestant church and Church of England could be considered as splinter groups of the RC church

okay lah, I was the 1st Pope but I acknowledge I wasn't infallible

Yet we learn from the bible that the Apostle Peter, later canonized as a saint, denied his Lord Jesus, not just once but thrice, in what we Malaysians in our cute Manglish would described as 'acted dunno one', wakakaka.

This was of course at a time when Jesus was in deep trouble with the Romans, thus explaining Peter's denial of knowing him or being his follower - a denial, as mentioned, done not once but on three separate occasions, 'ere the rooster crowed.

Luke 22:32-34 (KJV) tells us of the dialogue between Jesus and Peter as follows:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

Look, Peter was the No 1 disciple of Jesus and Christianity's leading apostle! Yet he denied his spiritual master, his Lord, disowning any knowledge of, or relationship to the Christian saviour? Why?

Simple explanation - Peter was shit scared for his own life, his personal survival despite his vain boast prior to the official persecution of Jesus and his followers, of 'Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.'

Now, if the No 1 disciple of Jesus and Christianity's leading apostle, the Christian church's first archbishop and first pope could deny his own saviour, can we ever blame Malaysian Muslims from not openly supporting the Malaysian RC church in its insistence to refer to the Christian god as Allah?

Though I was annoyed by JAIS' arrogant and illegal raid to seize copies of the al Kitab from a non-Muslim organization, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM), a highly offensive and intrusive infringement of non-Muslim domain, I didn't and won't support the church on the Allah-word issue. To know why, please see my posts:

(a) Allah, Elohim or Yahweh?

(b) Now, who are the Arab wannabes?

(c) The Church & Allah

And I wasn't surprised that PKR Muslim members like Wan Azizah, Azmin Ali, Nurul Izzah etc didn't dare enter into the fray over the JAIS' raid. I don't blame anyone of them for the same reason that even Christianity's great apostle St Peter denied his Lord at a time when it would have required not only his guts to make a stand on his faith and loyalty to his saviour but also his life (when then he, Peter that was, would have become a saint much earlier).

No, it would have been unwise of them to do so, especially Princess Reformasi (wakakaka) who had on a previous occasion unfortunately committed a drastic religious faux pas when in a forum in early November 2012, she 'expressed her support for freedom of religion for all Malaysians, including Malays, ....... [where] Her remarks drew widespread backlash among conservative Muslim groups and Umno hardliners, who accused the PKR vice president of supporting apostasy'.

okay lah, I am Princess Reformasi but I acknowledge I hadn't been infallible

For more of above, see my post Tough for Nurul, tough is Nurul? where the question-mark in my post title suggested that Nurul's 'toughness' was questionable and that she didn't come out of that faux pas very well. 

In fact, she had a humongous bloody fright when she realized somewhat too late the socio-politico-religious import of saying that she supported freedom of religion even for Malays.

She had to scurry off to Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the former Perlis Mufti, to help her explain to the public what she had stated.

But Siti Kasim, the Bar Council human rights committee and Orang Asli rights advocate, was less generous than kaytee (wakakaka) because in the midst of that alleged apostasy brouhaha by Nurul, she (Siti) emerged to say that she was disappointed with Princess Reformasi for backing down from her (Nurul's) statement, namely, that freedom of religion was a right for all including the Malay-Muslims.

Siti lamented that Nurul failed to stand firm on her remark, saying: “I believe Nurul was just trying to impress the people. She didn't think of the consequences. There’s nothing wrong about it [freedom of religion], she is saying the truth. I expected a hoo-ha after that. But as a politician, you just need to stick to the truth."

"In the following days she ‘retracted’ her remark, and said she did not support apostasy. But indirectly when you say you support freedom of religion, and if Malay wants to get out from Islam, that’s apostasy.”

Yup mateys, I didn't and don't blame Nurul for not wanting to be the Muslim equivalent of Jeanne d'Arc.

okay lah, I am a saint but I acknowledge I wasn't infallible
'coz I was burnt alive

I wrote in that post Tough for Nurul, tough is Nurul? as follows:

Hmmm, maybe Nurul indeed wanted to impress her audience but alamak, Siti, cut her some slack lah as Nurul is still young and really, a babe in the political woods. Besides, to a Muslim, apostasy is an extremely serious issue, where the punishment could well be death (though of course the authorities won't go to that extent in Malaysia).

Her dad, Mr Manmanlai has just emerged, wakakaka, in the current controversy to have, as usual, his cake and eat it too, wakakaka, when he criticized both the high-handedness of the JAIS' raid and three DAP ADUNs for proposing to amend the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 - an enactment which prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including the Allah word.

In his latter criticism against the DAP ADUNs. Anwar said 'there is no need for such hasty action as there are proper channels within the state government and Pakatan Rakyat for them to put forth their views.'

As for JAIS, Mr Manmanlai declared: “If Jais felt that there are any actions that have contravened the law, then they should call up the relevant parties for an explanation. But you can’t take such drastic action because it will be perceived as anti-Christian. There is no need for such action. It only causes tension.”

To reiterate, I don't blame Anwar or any PKR Muslims or for that matter, any Malay Muslims for being cautious on (or scared of) such a sensitive issue, no, not even the 'Royal MB', wakakaka, for saying words to the effect, let's all toe HRH's line ;-)

And neither should any Christian, because if any Christian wants to criticize Anwar, Nurul, the 'Royal MB' or PKR for buat diam diam saja, or for not saying something stronger on the issue, he/she should first condemn St Peter for denying his Lord Jesus, not just once but 3 times on a matter of faith, yes the Christian faith, even before any rooster went cock-a-doodle-doo, wakakaka.

But it's okay for Ambiga Sreenevasan to whack the Selangor State government for being pathetic in its tepid reaction to the illegal JAIS' raid because she's presumably not a Christian, wakakaka.

Now, having defended PKR wakakaka, let me defend those three DAP Selangor ADUNs - Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara), Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) and Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku) - for proposing to amend Selangor's religiously prohibitive enactment, presumably to enable Christians in the state (like Father Lawrence Andrew, wakakaka) to use the Allah word in Christian prayers.

Look mates, they have their own Christian constituencies to look after, just as PKR Muslims have theirs. If they failed to say at least something, their voters won't be too pleased come GE-14.

Hmmm, I wonder about those PKR non-Muslims? Tian Chua seems to be very quiet wakakaka.

But in the midst of all this understandable tap-dancing, Marina Mahathir stands out like a shining beacon. I salute her.

Hopefully in my next I'll have something more to say about Father Lawrence Andrew's arrogant announcement that Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the 'Allah' word, ignoring the biblical caution of 1 Samuel 2:3 (KJV), that of:

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Wakakaka or perhaps cock-a-doodle-doo.

ooops, I mean 'doo' not 'boo', wakakaka

okay lah, I am a rooster but I acknowledge I am not infallible

wakakaka