KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia idea suffered a setback yesterday with attacks on three churches stemming from an escalating row over the “Allah” ruling as police stepped up security at Christian houses of worship around the country.
Politicians from both sides of the divide swiftly condemned the firebombings at two churches and an unsuccessful attempt at another in the Klang Valley. Police also dismissed rumours and fears of other church attacks or car-smashing in a tense Kuala Lumpur.
"In just nine months, Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan is facing its most critical test as its very credibility is at stake," veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said in his first reaction to the firebombings.
Najib's vision of 1 Malaysia is a concept aimed at uniting Malaysians through their common, shared experiences but it has faced internal opposition within the ruling coalition and has been scoffed as another empty slogan by the opposition.
Lim said the attacks went further than just hurting the concept and damaging race and religious relations in the mainly Muslim country.
"Malaysia also cannot afford further adverse international publicity over the ‘Allah’ controversy, which would only aggravate Malaysia’s declining international competitiveness if there is escalation of deplorable incidents by irresponsible and extremist elements like the spate of church attacks," the Ipoh Timur MP pointed out.
His allies in the Pakatan Rakyat opposition bloc laid the blame squarely on Najib's ruling Umno party and Barisan Nasional coalition which the prime minister angrily denied.
While condemning the attacks, Najib reacted sharply to opposition claims that Umno politicians may have exacerbated the situation.
“Don't point fingers at Umno or anyone else,” Najib told reporters. “We have always been very responsible. Don't say this attack is motivated by Umno.”
The attacks demonstrate the fragile nature of race and religious relations in Malaysia, a country of 27 million people with a 64 per cent Muslim majority. In contrast, only 9 per cent are Christians, including 800,000 Catholics.
From another standpoint, the attacks seem to have had a sobering effect on Muslims, many of whom had promised to organise mass demonstrations after Friday prayers. As it turned out, only three protests — mostly mild affairs — were held under watchful police scrutiny.
To their credit, the men in blue reacted swiftly. “Since last night, I have instructed all patrol cars to patrol all church areas,” Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan told Reuters. “We are monitoring all churches.”
He confirmed to reporters that only three churches were attacked in the wee hours yesterday morning — the Metro Tabernacle Church in Ampang, Assumption Church in Petaling Jaya and the Life Chapel, also in Petaling Jaya. Only the Assumption Church is Catholic.
The attack on the Metro Tabernacle Church gutted its administrative office while a Molotov cocktail tossed into the Life Chapel damaged its porch slightly. Meanwhile, the firebomb hurled at the Assumption Church failed to explode.
In addition, a priest at St Francis Xavier, a Catholic church in Petaling Jaya, lodged a police report over a caller threatening to torch the church.
Another pastor was reportedly manhandled by four men later in the night.
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