I refer to you report Three months to build, two hours to destroy .

Kampung Orang Laut, Masai is an Orang Asli settlement. There are around 23 Orang Asli families out of which it is estimated there are some eight Christian families who live in the settlement. The church was merely a 16 metre by 7 metre building comprising an open hall, two rooms, a kitchen and a washroom.

The justification for demolishing the church by the Johor Land Office was that the church was standing on state land and its construction was therefore illegal. The Permas state assemblyman was quoted as saying that anyone who wished to build a place of worship regardless of the status of the land must get approval from the state government.

Fair and valid argument. But note the operative word " must get approval". The question that begs to be answered is how benevolent is the state or the authorities in granting consent to the construction of new churches? In Johor, there are many new 'tamans' and townships and one would be interested to know how many applications for approval have been received by the authorities and how many such approvals have been granted by the authorities for the construction of churches.

Permission to build churches in Malaysia has often been fraught with objections and rejections. For a start, there a numerous agencies including Jawatankuasa Keselamatan whose approval must be sought which inevitably takes time and does not necessarily result in the approval being given. The struggle of the Catholic community ti build a church in Shah Alam for some 25 years which included order to change building plans, stop order being given while construction was in progress and the state government approving a site and then withdrawing the approval a number of times finally culminating in seeking redress through the courts is a reminder.

Reverting to the demolishment of the Orang Asli church and being mindful of the reason, could the authorities have not handled the issue in a more considerate, understanding and sensitive manner? Was it so incumbent for almost 300 people from the various authorities to descend on 23 families to witness the demolishing of the church? Must the church be expeditiously demolished during the Christmas week and just before Christmas? Was the church so abhorent in the eyes of the authorities?

Without any doubt, the Christian Orang Asli families at Kampung Orang Laut Masai must surely have been looking forward to the Christmas worship and celebration. Did anyone care for their feelings or perhaps it is the typical case of "saya menjalankan tugas". The law, and particularly so in this case, can be used to justify the action taken but the use of law could also have been the last resort. Would the authorities have consented to the construction of the church had the approval been sought? The prerequisite for approval is simply a "Catch 22" situation.

The irony of it all, was that, on the same day of reporting the demolition, a leading newspaper also published a glowing account by Malaysia' s former agriculture minister Effendi Norwawi who related how he was recently been invited to open the first mosque in the Australian city of Hobart, Tasmania. Effendi made a special observation that all the generous contributors to the mosque were non-Muslims.

The account becomes more poignant when Effendi related that the mosque's imam told him that when the imam submitted the mosque plans to the city council, the approval was given expeditiously. According to the imam, the city council went even further by giving simultaneous approval for a car park project adjacent to the mosque in order for the mosque to also be able to generate income for its maintenance.

Observe firstly, how open-minded and proactive the Hobart local council was and secondly, take notice how expeditiously approval was forthcoming.

In Malaysia, freedom of religion is enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Article 11 of the Constitution grants every person the right to profess and practice his religion.

To be able to profess and practice ones faith means that he is able to carry out the rituals and observations of his faith. This usually means that he be also able to congregate with others of the same faith. Further, to congregate and carry out meaningfully the rituals and observation of his faith, it naturally and without any doubt requires a place of worship. In Malaysia, often this is where the problem begins.

The constitutional guarantee in Article 11 of the Constitution becomes meaningless when the authorities claim that the prerequisite before constructing a church (or other place of worship) is to first obtain "approval". And when such approval is sought, a whole gamut of rules, procedures and preconditions makes it a near impossibility for Christians (or other non-muslims) to obtain the necessary approval. And when a church such as the Kampung Orang Laut, Masai church was built, "approval" - or more precise failure - to obtain approval is used to justify the act of demolishing the church.