'The anti-apostasy rally, which is pitting one religion against another, has the potential to do far more harm than good.'

PAS will not join anti-apostasy rally

Nik V: Many rakyat will be happy with PAS' decision not to participate. They have shown a side of PAS that many non-Muslims desire to see of religious groups - that is mutual respect, peace and love, and not the divide-and-rule (via religion and racism) practised by Umno.

This is the PAS that the rakyat, especially the non-Muslims, came to support in the last GE (general election). Pakatan Rakyat should instead hold a religious solidarity event that celebrates our diversity.

We can't change everybody but we need to start somewhere. Let us ignore the few fanatics of all religions who think everybody should be converted to their faith. Religion must always be about love and peace.

Geronimo: I would really like to see how these small minds (organisers of the Himpunan Sejuta Ummah rally) react.

There are now more than 100,000 Malay Muslims who are studying or have studied in Chinese schools and have the ability to speak and write Mandarin, and thus know the ways of the Chinese who are mostly Buddhists or Taoists. Aren't these people concerned that the Malay students would abandon their faith to become Buddhists?

After all, none of the NGOs are there to oversee the teachings in Chinese schools. So how would they know that the teachers are not preaching Buddhism to them?

To top it all, many of the students spent up to 11 years in Chinese schools whereas the 12 Muslims who attended the Harapan Komuniti dinner spent only a couple of hours attending a dinner in a premise near the church and for that, the 12 have now been made to feel like 'outcasts'.

So sad, really. All I can say is, this is much ado over nothing. It is paranoia, nothing more.

Proarte: This is another political sandiwara. This rally is utterly synthetic and immoral. It is for the sole purpose of shoring up Malay support for Umno and PAS with Christians conveniently being used as scapegoats.

Christians and people of other creeds need no further proof that when it comes to respecting their respective faiths, Umno and PAS will sell them out. For right thinking people, the event shows how weak Malay faith is in Islam and that they want to blame others for their failure.

Rick Teo: Umno set a trap but luckily, PAS didn't fall for it.

Ruben: A very good decision, PAS, and likewise it is also saying that there are better ways of strengthening one's faith through peaceful means.

Whilst officially it is stated that no political party is involved, we all know that this is farthest from the truth. Umno has been silent all this while. Such an irony. Shame on you, Umno, for letting this fester.

Zamzibar: Praise God Almighty... PAS makes a wise decision.

Rally organiser denies links to Ezam or Perkasa

DannyLoHH: To date, Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria is still unapologetic of the rumours he spread about a church in Ipoh conducting a baptism ceremony for Muslims that almost resulted in an ugly religious clash.

Now, Himpun is rallying based on false accusations of Christianisation and proselytisation of Muslims (both without any proof or evidence) against the Christian minorities in Malaysia.

What Himpun is essentially doing is bearing false witness against the Christians in Malaysia.

AB Sulaiman: The last 2010 census had revealed that there had been zero apostasy cases among Malays. So what is this mammoth rally really all about?

How about this: "Down with the stupid lying 2010 statistics!" Or, this: "Harussani, save our integrity, come up with your evidence quick!"

But never this: "Forgive us God for we have sinned under your name." Or this: "We really don't know why we rally." Really.

Avatar 111: Obviously the organisers have the tacit approval from the ruling elite to thunder the might and supremacy of their religion. This can only create further distrust and disharmony among the various faiths in the country.

Narrish : This is an Umno political move to unite the PAS Malays and Umno Malays, and this will go on until next general election. It's a way to confuse the opposition Muslim voters.

Not Confused: It has been the raison d'etre of the leaders of every religion to plant fear and uncertainty in the minds of its less well-educated followers.

The objective is to keep those followers cowed and in fear. However, it also creates what we see today - a siege mentality where there is a threat in every shadow.

It is all so silly and childish. Thankfully, with the rise in literacy and education (not high enough though) and the Internet; this spread of fear and doubt is now much more difficult for those who want to protect their so-called august positions within their religious hierarchy.

Pemerhati: One of Umno's main strategies to get the majority Malay vote to win the elections is to pretend to be the champions of the race and religion.

As the elections are coming nearer, they have manufactured a religious crisis out of a gathering to help Aids victims, which even former top cop Zaman Khan (president of Malaysian Aids Council which supports Harapan Komuniti) said had nothing to do with proselytising.

Umno then used the sultan to make an ambiguous statement on the issue for which he was correctly criticised by law professor Abdul Aziz Bari. Umno then used its hounds in the monopolised media to unfairly attack him. But when it suits Umno, they will get their lackeys to call the royalty nasty names, which their media will never criticise.

As a follow-up of the manufactured incident at the church, Umno has come up with the anti-apostasy rally. It would be rather stupid of PAS to get involved in the rally and give credence to this mischief orchestrated by Umno. PAS should instead tell the Malays the truth behind Umno's crooked and nasty actions.

Compass: I respect your right to organise the rally. I hope your attendees had also supported the Bersih 2.0 rally and will continue to support other peaceful rallies to come.

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