KUCHING, Nov 24: Turning away the request of the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) to change one song for the ‘A Christmas Carol, Sarawak in Diversity’ programme is a grave insult to the Christian community in Sarawak.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan pointed out that ACS represents more than one million Christians out of a population of 2.6 million in Sarawak.
To Voon, if the organisers think that the song, ‘O Holy Night’, has “religious elements”, then there was no reason to invite ACS to the programme in the first place because ACS is a religious body whose members are spiritual leaders who are looking after the interest of Christians in Sarawak.
He said ACS has rightly rejected the invitation to participate in the ‘A Christmas Carol, Sarawak in Diversity’ programme to be held on Dec 3 at Padang Merdeka, Kuching, as the refusal is necessary to prevent setting “a bad precedent”.
“It seems all the songs for the programme were chosen without consultation of ACS, and this prompted ACS to seek to change one song — ‘Jingle Bells Rock’ to ‘O Holy Night’, but the organisers turned this down.
“The reason for its rejection was due to the ‘religious elements’ and also due to the protocol from LPF (Lembaga Penapisan Film) and MCMC (Malaysian Communication & Multimedia Commission,” said Voon in a statement today.
He said the organisers had failed to understand that there is freedom of worship under the federal constitution by other religions in this country and the sensitivity of the matter among Christians in Sarawak. — DayakDaily
