4 June 2014 Press statement by MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Deputy Chairman Ng Chok Sin What’s in a name? To JAIS, plenty! Amidst uproar over the disruption by Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS)’s of what was supposed to be a blissful occasion, JAIS Deputy Director General Ahmad Zaki Arshad has uttered one of the flimsiest excuses to justify JAIS enforcement officers trespassing a Hindu temple to halt a marriage ceremony. By commenting that if multiple tennis Grand Slam champion “Rafael Nadal comes to Malaysia and goes to church, we have to investigate because he has a Muslim name (The Malaysian Insider, 3 June 2014),” his justification opens himself to much lampooning! How does “Rafael” even sound Muslim, when it is linked as one of the angels in Christianity? “Raphael” is also the name of a very famous Italian Renaissance painter who living from 1483 to 1520, is well known for his paintings of portraits of characters and scenes from the Bible. Moreover, tennis ace Nadal is a Spanish name. United States President Barack Hussein Obama recently paid an official visit to Malaysia. How come it never crossed JAIS’ mind or authority to investigate President Barack Hussein Obama II considering that his Kenyan father Barack Obama Senior is a Muslim, and that when President Obama took his oath of office, he placed the palm of his hand on the Bible? Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz who served in Saddam Hussein’s Cabinet is a Christian. But Malaysians do not look across the oceans and skies just to come across non-Muslims with names which JAIS would identify as Muslims. In our own tanah air, there are indigenous Malaysians, sizeable number of whom are Christians but have names which going by JAIS’ logic of “Muslim sounding name”, would require investigation on the person’s religion. Would JAIS initiate a probe against Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) Dato’ Sri Idris Jala? Neither is it impossible to find a Malaysian citizen of Chinese descent, born and bred and true blue Malaysian with names that may be deemed Muslim, but are actually a translation of Biblical names e.g. Musa being the translation of Moses. JAIS must come out of its “katak di bawah tempurung” and not simply profile/identify an individual’s religion and background based on name. Sports development can take a back seat! On a separate note, how is Malaysia to develop as a regional or international hub for sports enthusiasts and tourists? After all, the JAIS Deputy Director General’s remark does sound like a warning for inconveniences and discomforts wrought by impending raids similar to the Kedah religious authorities storming an American couple’s hotel room in Langkawi on suspicion of khalwat in 2006. Sports sponsors or organisers aiming to attract big time sports personalities to participate in exhibition matches or tournaments or championships here could have a hard time pitching for Malaysia. Ng Chok Sin MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Deputy Chairman // END
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 08:59:43 +0000
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