By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 15: Sepang Umno chief Noorazli Said’s ‘joke’ involving the Catholic clergy has generated much controversy, with many asking him how he would have felt if someone said something unkind about Islam.
However, academician Datuk Prof Dr Jayum Jawan—a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and at the Institution of Malay Rulers Chair at UiTM, as well as an Adjunct Professor with the Institute of Borneo Studies in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), stressed that he is not among those individuals who called for retribution and advised letting the matter pass, adding that doing so would not benefit anyone.
“On social media, there are some who had argued that if someone had said something unkind about Islam, it was implied that there will be a flood of police reports and swift action would have been taken by the authorities against the perpetrator.
“Although that may be so, it does not make it right to want to play a similar card against the very foundation of one’s creed,” he said in a statement.
Jayum, a Christian himself, said he did not view Noorazli’s words as insulting, but rather that the incident strengthened his faith.
Citing verses from the Bible on forgiveness, he said Christians are not taught to hate or think badly of others, but to forgive them.
“Christians are not taught to hate or think evil of others. In Mark 12:31, Christians are taught to ‘love your neighbours as yourself’. In Luke 11:4, Christians are taught to pray for forgiveness for those who trespass against them because that is the way by which they would gain forgiveness for themselves,” he said.
Noorazli reportedly made the remarks during a recent Umno general assembly. — DayakDaily
