'Why do they do this? Why are they given so much leeway? We have a good country. It could be a great country. It needs all of us pulling in the same direction.'

Church leaders: Act now against 'crusading' Ibrahim

David Dass: First it was the Indians with Hindraf and then ‘Interlok'. Then it was the Chinese. Now it is the Christians.

Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali will always find an imaginary enemy to get his juices flowing. The fact of the matter is that all are Malaysians. The Christian community is mainly in Sabah and Sarawak and when they came into Malaysia their special status was acknowledged in the 20-point agreement. Malaysia belongs to all.

There are some (few fortunately) like Ibrahim Ali who are ignorant of our history, our federal constitution, our laws, our demography and who rave and rant like stark-raving lunatics with the object of inciting and provoking Muslims.

Why do they do this? What is their purpose? And why are they given so much leeway? The fact of the matter is that the Chinese (Buddhists and Christians), the Indians (Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians), the Orang Asli (Muslims, Christians and animists), the bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak (Christians and Muslims) are people of Malaysia.

All Malaysians, whatever their ethnicity or religion, are equal before the law and enjoy the same rights as everyone else. All recognise Islam as the religion of the federation, Malay as the national language, the position of the Malay rulers and Article 153 of the federal constitution.

All have contributed to the development of the country. Most Malaysians are non-political and most Malaysians are employees on fixed wages. Most Malaysians are affected by rising costs. Most Malaysians have no interest in projects or contracts.

There is no necessity for Machiavellian type of politics. There is no need to push people into some kind of box or place which they occupy at the sufferance of a special superior group. There is no need for a dominant group and a subordinate group. That is not allowed by the constitution.

We have a good country. It could be a great country. It needs all of us pulling in the same direction.

Ferdtan: It is so easy to lose all by giving way to emotions - the Church leaders must having a hard time balancing between the hardline and the soft approach to the attacks by Utusan Malaysia and Perkasa against their religion.

Maybe the soft dignified approach may serve a better rebuttal against the evil accusations. BN will ultimately lose out - all the Christians votes would be for the opposition, especially PAS which have admirably stood by them.

L Joy: A question for our church leaders - is this new to you? Haven't this been going on for quite a while as part of the Umno government agenda - the sex tapes, showing it on TV3, not taking action against the blue movie pedlars, Christian Malaysia being played up though it is a ridiculous idea, even to the Muslim-Malays?

And when PM Najib Razak calls you for a meeting, you go in with gleeful smiles unprepared to be slaughtered like sheep, as described aptly by Bishop Paul Tan.

Anonymous_3e86: The views of Osama bin Laden does not represent the views of other moderate Muslims around the world. Although he did not physically carry out terrorist acts around the world, he encouraged and incited those terrorist acts.

Ibrahim Ali is no different. Ibrahim Ali is an extremist and is a danger to the security of this country and its neighbours. He must be put under ISA. The government's inaction merely encourages him to continue inciting hatred among the races.

Ethnic Malaysian: I fully agree with all the views expressed here. But just one thought: what if all this blustering is meant as a smokescreen?

A smokescreen to cover the potentially devastating charge that Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa are not defending the Malays/Muslims of Kelantan in respect of the oil royalty entitled to those Malays as opposed to those Malays in Terengganu who got hundreds of millions in oil royalty as revealed recently in Parliament.

Why no ‘jihad' there? Hypocritical and two-faced jihadist Ibrahim would be shown up for all he is, nothing more than an Umno stooge/thug.

Flabbergasted: Institutionalised Christianity in the past has displayed its fair share of xenophobia. But in our time, it is Islam around the world which is experiencing great difficulty reconciling historical legacy and modernising trends in society.

Islam generally has trouble with pluralism. Islam, either in scholarly terms or in the understanding of the masses, has not decided what place ‘jihad' from the 6th century has in the 21st century. Hence the manifold ways in which insecurity and a rabid lashing out are manifested.

Yet we are constantly told Islam is a religion of peace. Well, Ibrahim, let me quote Jesus to you when he said that the tree is known by its fruit. For the silent Muslim majority, you need to think beyond tribe. We are all Malaysians together.

Otherwise, perhaps re-negotiate with Australia to take all their uneducated Muslim refugees in return for Malaysia's non-Muslim educated population. It will be a win-win.

Cannon: This Perkasa goon is allowed to turn a 1Malaysia community function into an event to threaten violence against Christians. Umno has admitted failure and finally decided to pull the plug on Najib's 1Malaysia bluff, which Malaysians knew all along as mere rhetoric.

1Malaysia can officially be declared dead. What we may be seeing is a cabal led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad effectively taking over from Najib and launching their 1Melayu, 1Bumi agenda. Umno's strategy is relying on brute force and intimidation to survive and remain in power.

This cabal has been unsuccessful in fomenting conflict between Christians and Muslims. These villains are now threatening Christians with violence if they vote for Pakatan. Malaysians must unite, stay calm and stand firm. They should refrain from confrontation. That would be giving them the excuse to disrupt the status quo in order for Umno to remain in power.

Victor Johan: Najib, it looks like your cousin Hishammuddin Hussein is not protecting you either. Ibrahim has practically called you a double-headed snake, that you are running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. Ibrahim continues to puncture your 1Malaysia at every chance he gets.

It looks like Mahathir wants to replace you with your deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, and has promised Hishammuddin to be the deputy.

DontPlayGod: All this controversy, hate, and animosity stirred by these racists in Perkasa is serving Umno very well for the next general election.

Umno is jumping around gleefully. Its plan to use the race-and-religious card is going well. Alas, the ‘tuan' race is falling for it.

Fiat Justitia, Ruat Caelum: Ibrahim Ali is a modern-day Don Quixote. (‘The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha', a novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes).

Don Quixote thinks he is a chivalrous knight and sets out to right imaginary wrongs. He battled a windmill imagining it to be an evil giant and suffered serious injuries. Our local Don Quixote imagines Christians to be evil giants and is bent on battling them.

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