Never before has MCCBCHS worked as hard.  The urgency of the matter forced them to seek out cabinet ministers who apparently were unaware of the gravity of the proposed 'Guidelines for Planning Non-Islamic Places of Worship’.  The Housing and Local Government Ministry which was responsible for the proposal seemed oblivious to the possible suffering and hardships of the non-Islamic community if ever the guidelines were implemented.

And so it was that, a MCCBCHS delegation met up with, Dato’ Seri Samy Vellu, President of the Malaysian Indian Congress.  Would he be willing to bring the urgent issue of the “Guidelines on places of worship for non-Muslims” to the attention of the cabinet?  The delegation brought a copy of their memo to the Prime Minister to him.  True to his word, date’ Samy Vellu did as he promised.  The cabinet was told. Then it was the turn of the Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri, Abdullah Badawi.  And them Dato’ Seri Ling Leong Sik, President of the Malaysian Chinese Association.  But that was not the end.  Just to be on the safe side, a week after that meeting with Dato’ Ling, it was a meeting with the Minister for Health Dato’ Chua Jui Meng.

Happily, all the leg work and especially the patient explanations of the serious consequences and damage that the guidelines would wreck, finally produced results.  There will be a review of the guidelines and the objections and proposals made by the MCCBCHS will be taken seriously. 

At each meeting with the Ministers, the one consistent fact was that each Minister claimed to be quite ignorant of the content of the proposed guidelines.  These ministers, one after the other claimed that they were equally surprised that such a guideline could have been born in our multi-religious, multi-racial society.  Each one agreed that the most offensive clause in the proposed guidelines, that of forcing non-Muslims to consult the Islamic Council when applying to build places of worship was unimaginable.

It it appeared that many Ministers were often in the dark when guidelines suddenly appeared out of the blue and if MCCBCHS was not alert, then these very guidelines with all the unbelievable proposals which are often unconstitutional would have been implemented through default.  “The guidelines that were proposed were unconstitutional, unconscionable and unacceptable and show a clear lack of understanding and sensitivity for non-Islamic religions’, said Harcharan Sigh, the Assistant Secretary of MCCBCHS.

The president of MCCBCHS, Vaithilingam reported that the Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Abdullah was emphatic that there was no way that the National Fatwa Council or any Islamic Council should be the approving authority for non-Islamic places of worship.

Dato’ Chee Peck Kiat, President of the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia as well as MCCBCHS executive council members, also insisted that the guidelines should not have even been sent out in the first place as it was totally not in favour of non-Muslims.

Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi assured MCCBCHS that the cabinet had agreed to consider proposals from the various non-Muslim religious organizations before a revised guideline is released.  The MCCBCHS vowed that it would get its act together and prepare an alternative as soon as possible.  Kudos to MCCBCHS for being alert as usual.