Rum bottle thrown at Malaysia mosque amid tension
As usual you will have to forgive me from the outset, but this major Washington Post headline made me grimace.
Christians have had nothing but trouble in Malaysia since the court ruling allowing Malaysian Christians to continue using the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God, as they have done for two millenia.
So far the “outraged” Islamic extremists have fire-bombed with molotov cocktails 11 Churches and yet we have this large piece in a major newspaper blathering on about someone throwing a bottle at a Mosque. Apparently this is an Associated Press story which means that it will be picked by other major newspapers around the world.
Here is a snippet of this important development:-
Vandals threw a rum bottle at a mosque in the first attack on a Muslim house of worship after almost a dozen similar assaults on churches in Malaysia the past week, police said Saturday.
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The bottle was thrown at a mosque in eastern Sarawak state late Friday and found smashed near an outer wall inside the compound, said local police chief Abu Bakar Mokhtar. He said they didn’t know if it contained any alcohol when vandals threw it. Most Muslims consider alcohol illegal.
So fire-bombing 11 churches is a “similar assault” to throwing a bottle at a Mosque.
Check out this Google search and note how many major media platforms have run with this story, it is truly amazing.
Google Search – Rum bottle thrown at Malaysia mosque amid tension
As I write this, the Associated Press have just release another news article relating to the church attacks and this is the headline:-
Malaysia church attacks ‘minor aberration’: PM
So the Malaysian Prime Minister feels that this is all just a “minor aberration” and the media are quick to promote and pump his view. Are you getting that sinking feeling? Bear in mind that this is the same guy who on the 4th Jan had to ‘appeal for calm‘ and has since announced that his own government would be appealing the court ruling in favour of Christians.
This is how the article goes on:-
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said attacks on churches in his country were a “minor aberration” that did not reflect the feelings of most Malaysian Muslims, in an interview published on Sunday.
“This is a minor aberration. National unity and mutual respect between various racial and religious communities in Malaysia has been a cornerstone of Malaysia for a long time,” he said in the interview with Okaz newspaper and published in its English-language sister, the Saudi Gazette.
“It should not be seen as a widespread attempt by the larger Muslim community to attack churches in Malaysia,” he said.
Several churches in predominantly Muslim Malaysia have been attacked after a court ruled on December 31 that non-Muslims could use “Allah” as a translation for “God.”
Nine churches were hit with Molotov cocktails, splashed with black paint and had windows smashed with stones, triggering tighter security at places of worship nationwide.
The offices of lawyers for Malaysia’s Roman Catholic Church were also burgled and ransacked.
Najib downplayed the attacks.
It’s hard to know which is worse; the attacks on churches, or the complicity of the media.
Tags: Media