Many people across the world will be
celebrating Christmas – and Malaysia is no exception. On Christmas Day, I
will have the pleasure of taking part in a tea party with members of
the Christian community to mark Christmas and listen to their views.
Malaysia is of course a majority Muslim
country but Christians do play a full and welcome role in our society –
especially in Sabah and Sarawak. Some people may not realise that
around one in 10 Malaysians count themselves as Christian.
The roots of this can be found in our
country’s rich and varied history. Nestorian Christianity was brought to
the region by Persian and Turkish traders as far back as the 7th
century. The Portuguese then brought Catholicism here in the 15th
century, followed by the Dutch bringing Protestantism in the 17th
century.
As most readers will know, since
becoming Prime Minister I have placed a lot of emphasis on the unifying
concepts of 1Malaysia and the Global Movement of the Moderates. These
concepts are partly about establishing a dialogue, which is important,
but I am also determined that they lead to real action too.
That’s why I visited Pope Benedict XVI
last year, and Malaysia formally established diplomatic relations with
Vatican City. I very much enjoyed meeting Pope Benedict XVI in person,
and now look forward to following his tweets! Another step forward came
last week as the government announced that it will ensure that any
Malaysian Christian who wishes to travel to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage
is able to do so.
We are very fortunate that Malaysia
continues to enjoy peaceful relations between different faiths and
races. This doesn’t happen without our continued efforts to keep it that
way, so I will always be open to hearing any hopes, concerns and ideas
that members of the Christian community may have.
As Christmas comes in the last week of
the year, it is also a good time to reflect on what has been and will
be. I will come on to this subject in my next blog. In the meantime, I’d
like to once again wish all Malaysian Christians a very Merry
Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment