MALAYSIAN CHRISTIANS FACE THREATS

Malaysian Christians Face Threats, Worries       
Posted by Raja Petra    
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 
By George Thomas

CBN News Senior Reporter
Malaysia bills itself as a moderate Islamic country,
but today powerful forces are trying to turn it into a
fundamentalist Islamic state

This has Malaysian Christians worried about the future
of religious freedom.

"They forced me to renounce Christ but I said no way!"
said Daniel, a Christian convert.

Daniel is a young Malaysian who has lived a secret and
sometimes dangerous life.

"I've been threatened with death so many times by
radical Muslims, but by the grace of God I'm still
alive," he explained.

Daniel converted from Islam to Christianity in 1998.

"Under the Islamic laws of my country, the authorities
can arrest me for my conversion," he said.

Malaysians attempting to leave Islam has become one of
the most controversial issues in this country.

The debate erupted last year when Malaysia 's highest
court rejected a Muslim convert's battle to be legally
recognized as a Christian.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a well-known human rights lawyer
and a Muslim, presented a brief in support of Ms Lina
Joy's conversion case.

"It crystallized a legal basis to implement the kind
of measures that we say are undermining the entire
societal framework of this country," he said. "Lina
Joy was a bad decision, a very, very bad decision."

A decision that forced Lina Joy to flee the country.
Meanwhile, Sarwar's support for Joy made him a wanted
man. Posters carrying his picture circulated calling
for his death. He's been branded an Islamic traitor
because he believes that Malaysians should be free to
choose their religion.

"The freedom is to profess and once one professes, and
this is even in the Koran, it is for that person and
God after that."

Malay-Muslims make up 60 percent of the population.
The rest are mostly Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Wong Kim Kong is the head of the National Evangelical
Christian Fellowship.

"The extreme fundamentalists tend to believe that the
laws of Malaysia must be Sharia compliant," he said.

Kong says there's been a subtle and gradual
encroachment by extreme fundamentalists in the affairs
and rights of Christians.

A case in point: The Malaysian government recently
announced that certain Arabic words such as "Allah"
cannot be used by non-Muslims. They argue that "Allah"
- which means God in the Malay language - refers to
the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims.

"The Islamic authorities failed to recognize that the
word "Allah" predates Islam. This word existed way
before the Islamic religion came into existence," Kong
said.

At the center of this controversy is The Herald, a
Christian newspaper, that's been warned repeatedly
that its permit may be revoked if it refuses to drop
the use of "Allah" in its Malay-language section.

The Herald has filed a lawsuit against the government
on grounds that the ban is unconstitutional and
against freedom of religion.

Meanwhile, violations against the Christian community
continue. Officers of the Malay Internal Security's
religious department raided several Christian
bookstores recently and seized children's books,
claiming that they violated Islamic Sharia law and
aroused Muslim sensitivities.

Ioannis Gatsiounis is a freelance journalist based in
Malaysia .

"One of the things we hear quite a bit of in Malaysia
is the need to protect Muslim sensitivities. I don't
think that bodes well for tolerance. Tolerance is not
about protecting sensitivities but about getting
people used to accepting other people as they are."

In the last year several indigenous churches have also
been destroyed by the Islamic police.

These episodes leave many worried about the future of
religious freedom here and uncomfortable with the rise
of a new and radical form of Islam that threatens to
undermine Malaysia 's image as a moderate and
progressive nation.

"We want people around the world to pray for us,"
Daniel said. "We want people to speak out on our
behalf so that we can have the freedom to practice our
faith."