Politicians should ‘shut-up’ on religious matters

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Hindu Sangam has today called on politicians to back off and not politicise religion for their personal agenda.

“Politics and religion are two different things. We should not politicise religion.

“Religious issues are sensitive as it involves people’s faith and must be handled professionally,” said its president RS Mohan Shan

Mohan’s caution comes in the wake of raging religious provocations against the non-Muslim communities in the country.

The latest being last Thursday’s raid on the Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) and seizure of over 300 Al-Kitabs and Iban bibles.

The “unconstittuional” act has been widely derided.

The raid comes on the heel of temple demolitions late last year and other acts of intolerance by Prime Minister Najib razak’s Muslim majority administration.

Speaking to FMT, Mohan said simmering discontent over the issue has been going on for sometime and the current ‘mood’ was “not good” for the unity.

“This issue is between the Christians and the Muslims and hopefully they can calm things down between them.

“The best thing to do is for both religion leaders to have a dialogue and come up with a workable solution.

“The authorities must understand that Malaysia is a democratic country and freedom of religion should be practice at all time” he said.

The Selangor Sultan prohibited the usage of the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay bibles last year but certain churches in Selangor insisted on using it during their Malay prayer, citing the thousands of Sabah and Sarawakians working and residing in the Klang Valley.

The Allah controversy first erupted in 1988 and has been simmering since.