understanding each other’s religion?

Abdullah also praised Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who joined in to sit with legs folded in the mosque, listened to recitals of Quranic verses and tazkirah (short sermon) delivered by the Religious Adviser to the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Othman at the official opening of the mosque, held before the Friday prayers.
taken from bernama.

whoa! kwai gia koh! (that’s ‘good boy’ in penang’s hokkien). not that i am going to praise our CM (heck, you’ll never know what was going on his mind at that time) – in fact, some might said he was just doing it ‘for show’. anyway, that’s not what i am going to point out.

what i am going to point out is this – say, let’s reverse the role – CM koh in church, pak lah joining him, sitting in the pews, listening to ‘Our Father’ and everything in the church service and also the homily. do you think this will happened? ok, let’s not say it is pak lah but just any of those umnoputera minister? will it ever happened? not on your life, i’m sure!

if a umnoputera minister were to step into a church or a temple, the others would screamed “scandalous! how can a muslim step into a church, and joined the christians in prayers?” not to say step into a church, just by wearing a headgear with a cross on it, would lend the muslim minister in hot soup, as our ex DPM, musa hitam learned.

PM pak lah continued his praise of CM koh saying koh’s gesture was praiseworthy as he took the initiative by getting a closer understanding of religious practices, including those of the muslim community.

yes, we should all take the initiative to get to know other people’s religion… but how the heck will that happen if the govt. is fond of slapping a ‘not for muslim’ (or ‘for non muslim only’) prohibition on say, a non muslim literarture or exhibition or concert, or prohibiting them from entering a church or temple.