Malaysia in the Spotlight For The Wrong Reasons

Thanks to saboteurs and hate merchants, Malaysia is now in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

And, negative reports about a country are fodder to the foreign media, with the latest spate of attacks on places of worship in Malaysia attracting international media coverage.

It was not too long ago when the caning of model Kartika Sari Dewi Sukarnor grabbed the international media’s attention, with wide coverage on the issue after she was ordered by the Kuantan Syariah Court to be whipped six times.

She was drinking beer with her husband in a hotel in Cherating in 2007 when she was caught by Islamic enforcement officers. She pleaded guilty a year later. She was fined RM5,000 and sentenced to six strokes of the rotan by the Pahang Syariah High Court on July 20 last year.

There was public outrage over the caning sentence.

And now the controversial use of the word ‘Allah’.

I believe, the desecration of mosques would not have caught that much attention as much as the earlier episode involving the burning of churches following the high court decision granting Catholic magazine, the Herald to use ‘Allah’ in its weekly publication.

In the latest episode on Wednesday, pig heads were thrown into the compounds of two mosques in Petaling Jaya, almost a week after two suraus were torched in Johor.

The mosques are the Al-Imam Tirmizi mosque in Kuala Lumpur and the Masjid Jumhuriyah in a suburb between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

Both are located near Kampung Medan, where a bloody ethnic riot took place in March 2001.

This incident is the latest in a string of desecrations of places of worship across the country over the past three weeks, involving 11 churches, one Sikh temple, one mosque and the two suraus in Johor.

Strangely, the Sikh temple has become the target of attacks, although the issue had created tension between Muslims and Christians.

Are these culprits the same people? Police said they believed that the same people were behind the two incidents, which occurred around 6am.

If they are the same people, what exactly is their motive?

We have no answers but hope that the authorities find ways to bring these trouble makers to book.

Meanwhile, let us all remain calm and remain united amidst the tribulations.