Malaysia

Malaysian Christians are more fearful than cheerful this holiday season as tensions rise with Muslim counterparts.

The New York Times reports Muslim groups continue to accuse the Christian minority of trying to “Christianize” the country and politicians by using the tension to court their Muslim majority base

“It’s unfortunate that the authorities don’t take the relevant action against those making such wild allegations,” Bishop Jason Selvaraj of St. Mary’s Anglican Cathedral told The New York Times. “We are upset about that. There’s a sense of justice is not done. We have not done anything wrong.” more >>

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Following controversy over a raid on a church event in which Muslims were present, Christian leaders in Malaysia welcomed a sultan’s pronouncement that neither the Christians nor the state officers who disrupted the meeting would be prosecuted.

A number of local commentators, however, have continued to express concern over the Aug. 3 raid by the officers of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS).

The sultan of the state of Selangor, Sharafuddin Idris Shah, issued a statement on Oct. 11 saying the Muslim religious officers did not breach any state laws in the raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC). The sultan came to the conclusion after considering a report prepared by JAIS. more >>

There was drama at a kindergarten today as 30 students and four teachers were held hostage for more than six hours by a man armed with a machete and hammer.

The male perpetrator forced the 3-5 year-olds and their instructors to the upstairs of a two-story building in in the Malaysian suburb of Muar town in Johor state.

The reasons for the seige remain unknown, but in dramatic scenes the man, who was reported by local media to have been mentally unstable, had threatened to kill the children if he was not given a gun and some food. more >>

Malaysia Airlines issued a statement Wednesday to defend its controversial policy to ban babies from traveling in first class cabins.

Earlier this month via Twitter, MAS managing director and CEO Tengku Azmil cited complaints from passengers who "spend money on 1st class and can't sleep due to crying infants" as reason why the airline is banning babies on its Beoing 747-400s and soon-to-debut Airbus A380s.

The airline’s director of operations, Capt Mohamed Azharuddin Osman, on Wednesday backed that call. more >>

Allegations that church leaders are plotting to make Christianity the official religion in Malaysia are stoking religious tensions in the Muslim-majority country once again.

The accusation was made on two blogs which were then quoted in a front page story in Utusan Malaysia, a Malaysian daily owned by the ruling party.

The newspaper claimed that Christian leaders had dinner with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and discussed making Christianity Malaysia’s official religion. more >>

KUALA LUMPUR – Christian importers of Bibles that Malaysian officials detained are balking at conditions the government has imposed for their release, such as defacement of the sacred books with official stamps.

The Home Ministry stamped the words, “This Good News [Malay] Bible is for use by Christians only” on 5,100 Bibles without consulting the importer, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM), which initially refused to collect them as it had neither accepted nor agreed to the conditions. The Home Ministry applied the stamp a day after the government on March 15 issued a release order for the Bibles, which had been detained in Port Klang, 38 kilometers (24 miles) southwest of Kuala Lumpur, since March 20, 2009.

Another 30,000 Bibles detained since Jan. 12 on the island of Borneo remain in port after the Sarawak state Home Ministry told the local chapter of Gideons International that it could collect them if the organization would put the stamp on them. Gideons has thus far declined to do so, and a spokesman said yesterday (April 5) that officials had already defaced the books with the stamp. more >>