Nothing wrong with visits to houses of worship, says Sarawak minister
Published on: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
By: FMT
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Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah says attending missionary schools did not affect his Islamic faith.
PETALING JAYA: There is nothing wrong with visiting houses of worship of other faiths, says Sarawak’s tourism, creative industry and performing arts minister.
“It doesn’t make you less Muslim if you were to visit a church or a temple. It doesn’t make you change your faith,” Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah told reporters after an event in Kuching today.
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Karim was commenting on recent attacks towards youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh for her ministry’s involvement in the “Jom Ziarah Gereja” programme.
He said visiting other religions’ houses of worship would not be a problem in Sarawak as most people in the state, including himself, attended missionary schools.
“I took Bible study for my Senior Cambridge Examination. It was one of the subjects that I took,” he said, adding that doing so did not make him lose faith in his religion.
Karim also described Yeoh’s intentions as “good”, saying the minister was likely trying to make Malaysians more harmonious and tolerant of one another.
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“Don’t tell me the Muslims are so low in their faith that they will become Christians just by taking them to church,” he said.
“It is not as simple as that.”
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Last week, Yeoh’s aide lodged a police report against Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, after the latter linked Impact Malaysia, a non-profit organisation under the ministry, to Christian evangelism.
Impact Malaysia had organised a visit to a church in Klang as part of its “Jom Ziarah” initiative aimed at fostering a better understanding among youth of different faiths.
Badrul had lodged a police report against Yeoh, accusing her of proselytising Christianity to Muslim youths through the programme, as it was carried out by the agency under her ministry.
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