Zahran Hashim asks in a video : "What can Sri Lankan Muslims do for Zakar Naik?" Click on image to enlarge

COMMENT | In calling for an emergency debate on the Christchurch massacre, Anwar Ibrahim said: “Parliament must state its stand in being against the terrorist attacks on the Friday prayer congregations at the Al-Noor and Linwood mosques; extend condolences to all victims and their families, as well as record its support for the stern measures undertaken by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.”

Meanwhile, Harapan’s religious czar Mujahid Yusof Rawa said he would be holding a peace meeting among various religious stakeholders to “give their views on how this country can carry on peacefully and harmoniously.” He also organised a peace rally (which apparently was in the pipeline for years), to strengthen inter-racial relations in this country.

With close to 300 Christians butchered in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, will the Pakatan Harapan government hold an emergency debate or organise a rally in solidarity with the families of the Christian victims of Sri Lanka? Will the religious czar hold a “peace” meeting with the relevant stakeholders to discuss how Christians, Jews and other religious minorities are demonised by mainstream Malaysian politics in this country?

The blown up Church of Christians now being insulted as "Easter Worshipers"

Some people think this is a time for forgiveness and reconciliation. But is it, really? The hypocrisy when it comes to responses whenever Christians are vilified in this country is farcical. Mujahid claimed the Christchurch solidarity rally was free from politics, but this is not really true, is it?

Let us not be precious. People always go on about Islamophobia in this country, but nobody ever talks about the routine vilification of religious minorities, especially the Christian community in this country. Nobody talks about how it is acceptable to make unfounded claims that Christians are silently converting people – which is against the law – and the state does not take action, sometimes even “investigating" those unfounded claims. Nobody says anything when Islamic-based parties make claims of a “Christian” agenda to subvert the Malay political process.

Take Zakir Naik (above), for instance. When Hindu groups lodged police reports against the Perlis mufti for writing a poem that these groups claimed insulted Hinduism, the mufti claimed it was a personal letter to the prime minister of India.

Mohd Asri had made references to “cow worshippers” uniting to “trouble our preacher” and wanting to send the preacher to “the despotic government that worships fire and practices sati (widow burning)”. The practice of sati had long, long ago been abolished and outlawed in India.

Mohd Asri continued: “Here, they never thanked for what they have. Instead, they colluded to cause trouble. We cannot remain silent; tolerance and patience have its limits”.” I have no idea what went on in this “peace” meeting that Mujahid organised, but did anyone talk about how there were limits to “peace and tolerance” when it comes to the propagators of the Muslim faith?

We have got to a point where even Christian religious symbolism and architecture have become points of contention and part of the religious supremacy discourse. I have argued that Selangor state executive councillor Teng Chang Khim should resign for the manual guideline for non-Muslim places of worship: “There are procedural arcana in place to ensure that the state religion and its adherents are not 'insulted' or 'challenged' by the other religions and this normally translates to restrictions placed on expressions of worship.”

When it came to the public caning carried out by the Terengganu religious authorities, Mujahid claimed, “that all was in accordance with the caning – procedural and spiritual – and the only issue he had was the public spectacle”. What does this say about violence and religion?

If anything, the Christian massacre in Sri Lanka is a stark reminder that trespasses against Christian communities – the world over – is glossed over at the altar of political correctness to sustain narratives of victimhood when the perpetrators of such atrocities turn out to be Muslims.

In my interview with Siti Kassim (above), she reminded Malaysians why they should be terrified: “Malay-Muslims are participating in and leading terrorist organisations all around the world. We have groups like Skuad Badar, which is nothing more than a terrorist organisation without weapons terrorising people. We have people like Amri Che Mat and Pastor Koh disappearing in plain daylight and never to be heard again. We should be terrified. Not talking about it is not going to make it go away. We need to tackle it head-on with extreme conviction.”

Was she invited to that “peace meeting” or was it just a group of people kowtowing to the religious status quo in this country? The reality is that it is the majority who are in trouble if ever there is an extremist insurgency in this country. There is enough empirical evidence to illustrate that violence on Muslims by Muslims outweighs the violence Muslims think are perpetrated against them by non-Muslims.

If this government is really interested in any kind of peace and harmony among the races and religious groups here in Malaysia, it should respond to this Christian massacre as it did when Muslims were killed in Christchurch.