YOURSAY ‘In trying to free himself from the web he has spun, Abdul Rahman Dahlan has in fact tightened the noose around his neck.’
Kee Thuan Chye: Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali may have said that, but it is still a remark that can cause enmity between religions.
Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan must be naive to accept from Ibrahim's explanation about it being normal to burn error-filled Quran texts that it is therefore all right for him to make that remark against the bibles.
According to the provisions of the Sedition Act that Abdul Rahman's party supports, it is not all right. The remark is inflammatory. More important, Abdul Rahman made no effort to first verify that there was indeed an error in the bibles that Ibrahim threatened to burn.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) has since pointed out that the appearance of ‘Allah’ in the bibles was not an error. So how could Abdul Rahman justify Ibrahim's remark without doing his homework?
One more thing - when he was asked by the media about Zulkifli Noordin’s insult against Hinduism, why did he not comment? Zulkifli has also apologised for it, which means he admitted his wrong, same as Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee (the Alvivi bloggers). So why no action against him?
Silas jugdip:
You are the one who started the whole issue and now you want to take legal action. The Good Book which you or rather Ibrahim Ali said contains errors says it well - "Be slow to anger, slow to speak and quick to hear".Aries46: Abdul Rahman sounds pathetic in defending the indefensible. In trying to free himself from the web he has spun around himself he has in fact tightened the noose around his neck.
A direct question was posed to him by the Malaysiakini reporter regarding his stand on others (other than Alvin and Vivian) who have been accused of sedition.
The minister asked for specifics and when Ibrahim Ali was mentioned by the reporter, the minister tried to evade a direct answer. In so doing, he not only substantiates Ibrahim Ali’s seditious threat to burn the Bible, he also seem to be in agreement with the offensive actions of Ibrahim Ali.
So Abdul Rahman in trying to vindicate himself ends up reaffirming whatever was reported in Malaysiakini including the host of adverse comments attributed to him. For all the multicultural credentials that he claims, Abdul Rahman comes across as rather unconvincing.
CiViC: Feeling the heat, Abdul Rahman? No amount of explanation or "spinning" will clear you of what you said and meant. We are not stupid.
And yes, I agree you are not a religious bigot, in fact you are a shame to your religion. Bigot, yes you are, an Umno bigot.
Uzbek Kebzu: Reading the postings in here is like going to Beijing. Clearly the Red Bean Army is hard at work. Using fake names and accounts, they have no guts to reveal themselves. The minister has said that you ‘ulang kata saya bigot, saya saman... semua kecut’!
Onyourtoes: Whether one is a bigot or not is for others to judge, but all I can see is you were condemning Alvivi with a vengeance and defending Ibrahim Ali vehemently for no apparent reason.
You know what, despite whatever our condemnation of Alvivi (including me), I think this young couple may be less malicious than seasoned politicians when it comes to inciting hatred.
By the way, who are you or Ibrahim Ali to say that the religious books of other faiths were wrongly printed? Who are you to say that these misprinted books should be scorched?
Sali Tambap: Let’s try to turn the table around. What would the Muslims’ reaction be if Christians acted according to the days of the inquisition and brand Islam as heretics and burn the Quran?
Ibrahim Ali is an extremist. His religious view is his own but when he goes public with it, then the force of the law should be brought upon him. Especially if we can do that against people like the Alvivis.
Otherwise this is only seen as selective persecution, a fact that this minister is dishonestly trying to deny. Considering that he is trying to look like an intellectual in addressing this, his denial is even more atrocious and shameful.
Swipenter: Almost all Umno politicians exploit the enormous handicaps made possible by ignorance, religion and race to win votes.
The underlying overall strategy is the use of artificially created fear and threats of a deliberately created imaginary external enemy to Malay/Muslim well-being and unity if they were to lose political power, which is impossible due to their numerical superiority.
The Umno politicians blame the woes of the Malay/Muslim community onto others rather than on corruption, cronyism, nepotism, policy failures and overall mismanagement of the country.
Only the ignorant and those blinded by race and religion can't see what is happening to Bolehland and are fodder for Umno to exploit to win their votes.
AF McLaren: "How can I be construed as a religious bigot when 45 percent of my constituents are Christians?" (I am scratching my head over your statement.)
Dear Minister, what has a religious bigot got to do with 45 percent Christians. You may have 99 percent Christian constituents but you may still be a religious bigot. For all you know, the 99 percent Christians may also be a bunch of religious bigots.
You have been watching too much ‘Yes Minister’ and you are now behaving like the TV character. Effectively you are saying, "All cats die, Socrates died. Therefore, Socrates was a cat."
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