Silence best medicine for 'Christian conspiracy'

The better answer to certain quarters constantly attempting to conjure up the Christian conspiracy spectre would be silence, says Kuala Lumpur Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute director Rev Clarence Devadass.

That response, he added, was accorded Gombak Setia state assemblyperson Hasan Ali who had constantly repeated the claim of systematic Christianisation of Muslims.

"These accusations have been thrown, not just at Catholics, but at the Christian community (at large).

"We've talked about it, and we felt that sometimes to be silent is better than to respond," he said during a meeting with the press in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Devadass (right), who is also a committee member of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, added that Hasan was one man and eventually people would realise that his accusations do not hold water.

Hasan had in April produced a 42-minute video interview featuring a Muslim couple 'telling all' after allegedly being converted to Christianity and later finding their way back to Islam with Hasan's help.

Following the 'revelation', Hasan later claimed that the couple was harassed and was involved in a lorry accident which he speculated could be related to the video.

Devadass said: "My personal opinion is that if you keep responding, you give credibility to what is being said, sometimes if you don't respond, I feel it will just fizzle out.

"So I think, sometimes maybe if we just keep quiet, maybe it is a good reponse."

He was responding to a question on the steps taken by the Catholic church in addressing Hasan's constant allegations.

Earlier, Devadass had explained how the Catholic church had kept up with the progress in the use of social media, particularly through the Cahayasuara Communications Centre.

On top of maintaining a presence in the social media, he said, the centre also provides media literacy training which includes youths to enable them to look at information with critical eyes.