By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : Volunteers from Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have begun patrolling church areas in the Klang Valley.
Ten volunteers had begun patrolling from 11pm Sunday in church areas in Kampung Pandan and Brickfields.
Deputy chief and working secretary of Kerja Badan Tarbiah Sejagat (BATAS) Danny Azar said the patrol schedule was 11pm to 2am and 4am till dawn.
“We have started patrolling and we also meet church officials to identify ourselves,” he said.
BATAS is among 130 NGOs which have committed to be the “eyes and ears” of the government to face any threat to Christian churches.
This is being done following three incidents of fire bombing at the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati, the Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya and the Life Chapel Church in Damansara recently.
The initiative has roped in 60 volunteers.
Meanwhile, a member of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Brickfields, Angelina Soo, 28, said they were thankful to the Muslim NGOs and appreciated their care and sense of responsibility to ensure the security of churches.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom has urged church leaders to adopt the same approach by a Sabah leader who urged Christians to drop the claim to use the name ‘Allah’.
He said this would help maintain peace and security and ease tension over the claim to use ‘Allah’ by Herald, the Catholic weekly magazine.
“I urge them to be wary and responsible toward peace and security in Malaysia. Other church leaders must have deep understanding of the situation and history (on the use of ‘Allah’) in the country,” he said when commenting a staement by a Sabah Christian leader urging Herald to drop the claim for the sake of harmony and security.
The Malaysian Justice of the Peace Council president Clarence Bongkos Malakun said Christians in Malaysia should not follow those in Indonesia on the use of ‘Allah’ but to abide by the federal constitution.
Bongkos Malakun is also deputy president of the Sabah Kadazandusun Culture Association.
On the spate of firebomb attacks on churches, Jamil Khir said it should not have happened.
“We still don’t know who were responsible for them but we can’t hurt one another as it is a teaching of Islam,” he said.
Jamil Khir said the inter-faith dialogue would be continued and stepped up so that the people would have better understanding of religions.
Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Joseph Kurup said he and other leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties will explain the real situation to the people in Sabah with regard to the issue on the burning of churches.
He said the people of Sabah were confident that Prime MinisterNajib Tun Razak could handle the matter successfully.
“So far, the people in the state understand the issue and feel that they were being carried out by irresponsible people.
“As leaders, my colleagues and I have the responsibility of explaining to the people at the grassroots on the incidents to avoid any misunderstanding,” he said at a press conference after attending a briefing by the Malaysian Marine Parks Department With the Media, here Monday.
Kurup, who is also the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and the Member of Parliament for Pensiangan, said the BN component parties in Sabah condemned the incidents and felt that they were an attempt at jeopardising racial solidarity in the country.
He said the PBRS and the other BN component parties took a serious matter on the incidents and appealed to the people to keep calm.
Kurup also refuted the report on a website that claimed that the government was slow in tackling the problem.