May 12, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The blogger Big Dog has continued to insist that pastors had pledged to install a Christian prime minister even after touching off angry protests that forced Datuk Seri Najib Razak to sit down today to clear the air with church leaders.
Pro-Umno blogger Zakhir Mohamad’s initial Christian Malaysia posting last week, suggesting the pastors and the opposition DAP were engaged in a plot to usurp Islam’s position, had been reported in Utusan Malaysia, a newspaper owned by Najib’s party.
But despite providing no evidence, Zakhir said yesterday in his latest posting that “what was maintained as an issue was the pastors’ pledge to bring a Christian prime minister to Malaysia and perhaps turn Christianity into an official religion.”
Church leaders, the DAP, and even some pro-Umno bloggers have criticised Utusan Malaysia and Big Dog for the unsubstantiated allegation.
A number of police reports have also been made to demand the authorities investigate Utusan Malaysia and the blogger for criminal acts.
Prime Minister Najib is also meeting Christian leaders in Putrajaya today in an attempt to soothe ties between the government and Christians who remain suspicious of the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration after the recent Alkitab Malay Bible seizures.
With the PM now drawing flak, a number of other pro-Umno bloggers have started attacking Zakhir while Shamsul Yunos, who had also made the initial allegations in his blog marahku.blogspot.com, appears to have removed the entire contents of his blog.
But Zakhir continued to highlight the allegations in his latest posting yesterday evening.
He said that the pastors should have prayed that the prime minister be godly irrespective of his religion.
“Surely as God-fearing people, they should have done this instead of blatantly dismissing the population in majority, who are obviously Malay Muslims happy with the present arrangement,” he wrote.
Utusan Malaysia carried a front-page article on Saturday, headlined “Kristian agama rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?), claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the religion of the federation.
The report in the Umno-owned daily was based entirely on the unsubstantiated blog postings by pro-Umno bloggers like Zakhir.
Christian groups and the DAP have repeatedly denied the allegation, and have slammed the Umno daily for printing “dangerous lies.”
Some pro-Umno bloggers have moved to discredit Zakhir, claiming that he has links to anti-BN figures such as Raja Petra Kamarudin and Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi.
Influential Umno blogger Papa Gomo criticised Zakhir for being “arrogant”, “resulting in other Umno bloggers being punished.”
He also implied that Zakhir was not loyal to Umno president Najib.
In his blog post yesterday, Papa Gomo referenced a claim by Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra that Zakhir was involved in a meeting to bring down the prime minister by implicating him in the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu.
He called for Zakhir to be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and this was supported by anti-Pakatan Rakyat blog Gelombang Wangsa Maju (GWM).
GWM said that Zakhir was a close friend of Ooi, who was also a well-known blogger before running for elections on a DAP ticket in the 2008 general election.
The blog accused Zakhir of being involved in a project with Ooi in the DAP-held state of Penang.
Pro-Umno blogger Zakhir Mohamad’s initial Christian Malaysia posting last week, suggesting the pastors and the opposition DAP were engaged in a plot to usurp Islam’s position, had been reported in Utusan Malaysia, a newspaper owned by Najib’s party.
But despite providing no evidence, Zakhir said yesterday in his latest posting that “what was maintained as an issue was the pastors’ pledge to bring a Christian prime minister to Malaysia and perhaps turn Christianity into an official religion.”
Church leaders, the DAP, and even some pro-Umno bloggers have criticised Utusan Malaysia and Big Dog for the unsubstantiated allegation.
A number of police reports have also been made to demand the authorities investigate Utusan Malaysia and the blogger for criminal acts.
Prime Minister Najib is also meeting Christian leaders in Putrajaya today in an attempt to soothe ties between the government and Christians who remain suspicious of the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration after the recent Alkitab Malay Bible seizures.
With the PM now drawing flak, a number of other pro-Umno bloggers have started attacking Zakhir while Shamsul Yunos, who had also made the initial allegations in his blog marahku.blogspot.com, appears to have removed the entire contents of his blog.
But Zakhir continued to highlight the allegations in his latest posting yesterday evening.
He said that the pastors should have prayed that the prime minister be godly irrespective of his religion.
“Surely as God-fearing people, they should have done this instead of blatantly dismissing the population in majority, who are obviously Malay Muslims happy with the present arrangement,” he wrote.
Utusan Malaysia carried a front-page article on Saturday, headlined “Kristian agama rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?), claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the religion of the federation.
The report in the Umno-owned daily was based entirely on the unsubstantiated blog postings by pro-Umno bloggers like Zakhir.
Christian groups and the DAP have repeatedly denied the allegation, and have slammed the Umno daily for printing “dangerous lies.”
Some pro-Umno bloggers have moved to discredit Zakhir, claiming that he has links to anti-BN figures such as Raja Petra Kamarudin and Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi.
Influential Umno blogger Papa Gomo criticised Zakhir for being “arrogant”, “resulting in other Umno bloggers being punished.”
He also implied that Zakhir was not loyal to Umno president Najib.
In his blog post yesterday, Papa Gomo referenced a claim by Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra that Zakhir was involved in a meeting to bring down the prime minister by implicating him in the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shariibuu.
He called for Zakhir to be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and this was supported by anti-Pakatan Rakyat blog Gelombang Wangsa Maju (GWM).
GWM said that Zakhir was a close friend of Ooi, who was also a well-known blogger before running for elections on a DAP ticket in the 2008 general election.
The blog accused Zakhir of being involved in a project with Ooi in the DAP-held state of Penang.
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