Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing said citizens of goodwill would not
hesitate to support Prime Minister Najib Razak’s push for moderation if
the latter himself was unequivocal in matching deed to word.
Citing examples over the past year where he said Christians have been
“unjustifiably accused of a host of deeds that contravene
inter-religious harmony,” he said the PM chose not to display his
vaunted moderation when “that very quality would have gone a long
distance in pacifying the situation.”
Commenting on the PM’s remarks
to an international convention of the Global Movement of Moderates in
Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the head of the Catholic Church in the
Melaka-Johor diocese said:
“You
have to excuse me for the use of what may seem an oxymoronic expression
that the prime minister has to be immoderate in his push for
moderation.
“This way he will correct a deficit in our existing status as a people
and a nation of moderates. We were once that way, but not now.”
Najib had told the convention that Malaysia has always striven for moderation which made for harmony within its diversity.
Bishop Tan, who is also president of the Conference of Catholics Bishops
of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, said Najib was “papering over
current discord with a past that was harmonious” and that this was a
“poor way of boosting moderation and combating extremism.”
“A better way to go about promoting moderation is to candidly admit that
the country has lost its previous moderate ways and retrace its steps
towards restoration of the status quo ante,” asserted the Jesuit-trained
prelate.
Najib pays lip service to moderation
According to Bishop Tan, our founding fathers knew the difficulty of
uniting a country composed of different races and belief systems.
“They plumbed for a democratic system into which was interwoven a
transient programme for raising the standard of living of the
underprivileged so that a level-playing field would soon be obtained
among all its citizens,” opined the prelate.
“But what has happened is that gross deviations in policy implementation
have resulted in great inequalities in wealth and in opportunity,
causing discontentment.
“In these straits, racial and religious demagogues have risen to
fracture our society into its constituent factions so as to enhance
their power and privileges,” elaborated the bishop.
“This is where the prime minister has to be immoderate in his push for
moderation, by setting his face unequivocally against the demagogues
which would then encourage the people of goodwill and moderation to come
to the fore.
“Paying lip service to moderation while leaving demagogues unchallenged would only invite cynicism.
“The prime minister has to match unequivocal deed to his moderate word
and resist the temptation to subsume discordant present realties under a
concordant past that is now beyond retrieval,” added the bishop.
“Nostalgia is fine but a sentimental attitude is not helpful in dealing
with the threats to its well-being that our nation faces.”
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