Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is visiting Italy and is scheduled to meet the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict.
Malaysian and Vatican officials have been in talks for years intended to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The timing of Mr Najib’s visit is said to be intended to reassure Christians in his Muslim-majority nation.
Ethnic and religious tensions have risen ahead of expected national polls.
The visit to the Pope’s summer home near Rome is significant for Malaysia’s Christian community, which makes up about 9% of the population.
A string of religious disputes in recent years has raised fears among the country’s religious minorities that their rights are being eroded, says the BBC’s Kuala Lumpur correspondent Jennifer Pak.
In 2009 the authorities tried to enforce a ban on the use of the word “Allah” by Christians when referring to God in the Malay language.
But the efforts heightened tensions, leading to arson attacks on churches and tit-for-tat defacing of mosques, through such means as leaving pigs’ heads at doorways to Islamic prayer halls.
Ramon Navaratnam, who works for a Malaysian inter-faith council, said forming ties with the Vatican would give the concerns of Christians a better hearing.
‘We now will be saying things the way we have, what is right, what is wrong, what we like, what we don’t like about religious freedoms or the lack of it, and we know we will have somebody in the Vatican who would be able to at least talk to them, the government, privately and say look, we can’t accept this. Please moderate your views,” he said.
Mr Navaratnam said the government could no longer ignore religious minorities, who are ethnically Chinese and Indian.
However, some Malay Muslim groups have become more vocal in demanding privileges and support from the government.
In 2008, Chinese and Indian minorities across Malaysia, who are mainly Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, abandoned the government and voted for the opposition.
Many complained of racism and a lack of religious freedom.
Source : BBC NEWS ASIA PACIFIC
@MDHAFiZ
What do you think about this? Cool isn’t?
its good thing to meet and discuss about the christian community in Malaysia.
Even they are minority, but they were lucky to live peaceful and freedom in Malaysia.
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there is a problem when 1 read this entry…
maybe it will attact more readers, when the line spacing is good and the paragraph are in justified alignments..
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good luck to him!
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Kamarul Azri™ Reply:
July 20th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
good luck?
it’s that +ve way or not?
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might be a good move. He needs to win over the Christians again after all the furore surrounding the Kalimah Allah issue. I can see that Najib is taking the 1Malaysia concept very seriously and try to get all the races in Malaysia united under his administration. I wish him best of luck and hopefully he will gain some support from the Christians after his visit.
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sometimes we have to respect these minority but we need to be careful about them. I see, PM is trying gain some supporter.
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bEe Reply:
July 21st, 2011 at 4:35 pm
correct nizamghazi. I think PM try to gain a supporter
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Our PM is trying to clarify the use of Allah for Bible issue with the Pope, I guess. However, seems there is no Muslim cleric brought together with him, unlike Tun Dr. Mahathir visit where Tan Sri Harussani is also one of the delegation.
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Apa Perlunya Mohd Najib Bertemu Pope (Ketua Agama Kristian)?
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MDHAFiZ.NET Reply:
July 19th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Might be something related to his democracy country named Malaysia. Tapi saya pun pelik juga punyalah ramai ulama-ulama di dunia ini kenapa tidak ada berita mereka untuk berjumpa bincangkan pasal negara ya? Wallahualaam…
Semuga Allah SWT merahmati Pak Najib kita…
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Hopefully things will be clear soon and christianity will have more sensitivity to islam and so are we.
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semoga dipermudahkan urusan Najib jika niatnya baik..huhu
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hmmmm all the best…
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mgkin ada niat yg baik kot dia jmp org tua tu… utk rakyat jugak.. rakyat didahulukan.. katanyaa…
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MDHAFiZ.NET Reply:
July 25th, 2011 at 7:20 am
Walaupun berbeza pandangan politik…
it doesn’t matter for me to say that this visit bring nothing. Am I right?
But if im wrong…just forget about this lol.
Tak baik buruk sangka kan?
May Allah Bless Najib Razak
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takde masalah nak jumpa..jumpa aje..jangan gaduh-gaduh sudah la..
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tapi bila fikir balik.. ape point sebenarnya Si NAjib pegi jumpa si Pope ni..? adakah hanya kerana nak meraih undi..?
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dnoBiz Reply:
July 21st, 2011 at 1:38 am
macam macam versi ada bro hehehe
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it ok for me.. but i dunt know what the intention??
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Buat benda elok takpa.
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‘usah buat tafsiran songsang..’ UM, 20 Julai 2011.
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rakyat MAlaysia mengharapkan sesuatu yang terbaik dr PM kita….:)
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There is no issues about our PM meet the Cristian leader. Just for visited and for future about Islam n cristian.
Tapi kadang2 rakyat selalu pandang negatif dengan segala tindakan Najib ni yang dikatakan tak bawa makna pun. Zaman Rasulullah dulu pun ada bermusyawarah dengan setiap pemimpin kaum di tanah arab. Itu takde pulak jadi isu…. Pelik kan…. hehehe
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hemm..sape nama betul pope tu?
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tapi katanya sebelum ketibaan Najib dah sampai satu surat dari malaysia terlebih dahulu…
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This is a great news for all people…Thanks for the update…
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mulut kita ni minta benda yang baik cukup.
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Semoga pjumpaan itu ada mbawa manfaat kpd negara
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Site visit
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it’s nothing for him to meet the Pope as long as not affecting the Islam.after all,let’s wish the best for our beloved country
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izwannizam Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:19 pm
** it’s nothing wrong…
sorry for the typo
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ni yang buat saya pening nak komen apa..hehe
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rasanya Tum Dr. M dulu pun ada jua jumpa pope ni….
kalau tak silap KA la…
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That’s good news and I hope they establish mutual trust & respect.
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This is really cool!! I have learned here that Malay Muslim groups have become more vocal in demanding privileges and support from the government.
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This is the first time I have heard of this news…Thanks!!
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Our PM is trying to clarify the use of Allah for Bible issue with the Pope, I guess. Might be something related to his democracy country named Malaysia. good luck to him!
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