YOURSAY ‘Penangites should take it upon themselves to safeguard peace and order.’

Molotov cocktails thrown into church compound

Not Confused: Isn't it clear to everyone that this act is a direct result of BN, its sycophantic supporters, NGOs, etc, who repeatedly demonise the Christians here - a minority religion by a factor of around one-sixth of those of the Islamic faith.

Where is the threat? Where is the danger to Islam? It is mind-boggling that the government sits on its hands as usual and does zero to put a stop to the rising racial tensions. PM Najib Razak, do something or get out.

Bystander: It certainly does not take a rocket scientist to figure out who put up the ‘Allah’ banner to create anger among the Muslims.

To finish the script, we also know who orchestrated the motorcyclist to throw Molotov cocktails into the church compound to "substantiate" the fact that the Muslims are supposedly angered.

This is all done by the same group of troublemakers out to create a racial riot under directives from higher levels who provide them "immunity" from police action. Everyone should stay cool and be vigilant at all times.

All Penangites should take it upon themselves to safeguard peace and order. Form Rukun Tetangga groups to be the eyes and ears of the police. Make a citizen’s arrest if necessary. Catch the culprits to expose their identity and their affiliation.

Ferdtan: We can see the writing on the wall with so many ugly incidents happening recently. Something big, a conspiracy, is going to happen and conveniently it shall be in Penang.

At least the damage from any disturbances, if any, will be limited to the island. Even the perpetrators do not want to see a whole damaged nation.

The ball game apparently is to ‘topple’ Najib from his position as president of Umno. The non-Muslims and non-Umno members just become collateral damage of such an internal power struggle within the party.

The plot using such extremist tactics is to put Najib on the defensive. Remember the May 13, 1969 tactic of kicking out the then-PM Tunku Abdul Rahman?

Why Penang? It’s obvious, isn’t it? It is a government headed by ‘Chinese’ DAP (as though in the past the Gerakan-led BN government was not Chinese).

See the pattern. Penang Umno acted like samsengs to protest against the kangkung flash mob incident, turning it into a racial issue. And the Penang Umno involvement - though it has distanced itself from some NGOs - in the memo protesting the open sale of pork on the island.

Perkasa then closed in for the ‘kill’ - unprecedentedly now attacked Najib on his ‘Allah’ stand. The target had been identified - just in case some Umno members under its extremist wing are clueless.

Another unheard of act; over 1,000 Umno grassroots members presented an unusual show of force to its leaders (actually the message is for Najib) at the party HQ urging the PM to be sterner on non-Muslims using the word ‘Allah’.

Next came the controversial banners with words ‘Jesus is the son of Allah’ hung up outside of churches.

Is it the penultimate act - two Molotov cocktails thrown into the compound of a church? I wouldn’t dare to imagine the fateful finale. The inspector-general of police (IGP) and Najib better do something.

Anonymous #19098644: Who are the agitators, who are the perpetrators, who are the beneficiaries? Who has been stoking extremism and abusing religion to pit one group against another?

We all know the hidden hand behind this. We all know who the culprits are. These power-crazy corrupt politicians are behind this.

Bamboo: We know it's a wayang (show) directed and acted by Umno to raise the temperature. Cow head stomping, pig head thrown into mosque and burning churches didn’t work.

This is the newest attempt, with the banner prelude and molotov cocktail follow-up. It likely will end there unless some hired hands spark some fire. Malaysians are too busy to make ends meet to bother with these.

Blackmoon: All fingers should be pointing at the "pendatang" chief minister, the braggart Lim Guan Eng. He started the ‘Allah’ issue crisis by bringing it up during his Christmas message in December 2012.

His provocative action has rekindle the fire of hatred among the Muslims and Christians.

AJ: Besides placing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in churches and appropriate lighting, also do the same for the mosque compounds as well.

The next step for these thugs will be to do something sinister in the mosques and cast the blame on Christians. Probably Blackmoon has this in his playbook as well.

Apapunboleh: Why have all these happened after 2008? Because desperate people (meaning Umno and their NGOs) do desperate things. The best thing is to make a police report (though expect ‘no further action’ or NFA) and just ignore them without retaliating.

Hplooi: Obviously the fake banners are not working as the black-ops team would hope. Therefore, they are not trying to ratchet things up, stir the pot a bit...

Unafraid: This is the result of the weak leadership of the BN government over the ‘Allah’ issue. All it takes is one stupid fanatic to do things like this and years of harmonious nation building can be destroyed.

When the government is weak and ambiguous and worse still, unfair and unjust, it will lend strength to the ultra-radicals to stamp their mark. This is exactly what's happening now in Penang.

It is absolutely incomprehensible that our PM did not say a word of disgust regarding the ‘Allah’ banners in front of the church, knowing very well that this is the action of fanatics trying to fan religious tension.

Silence here emboldens the radicals and if not checked, more churches will be bombed. Is this what the PM wants? Does his silence condone these despicable acts against the Christians?

Oriole: Umno's proud legacy to the nation - nurture brutes and racism to attack minorities when they are losing in politics. Come to think of it, wasn't that also Hitler's strategy?

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