PAS’s Pasir Puteh MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi offered a qualifed apology and has withdrawn the word “distorted” when referring to the Bible in Parliament in August.
“I would like to withdraw the word ‘distorted’ and instead say ‘Is YB using the Bible that has been altered and not distorted?” said the Pasir Puteh MP in the Dewan Rakyat this morning.
“And I apologise if there is anyone who is unhappy with my remarks because this was not my intention. My intention was to defend the originality of religious texts which was sent by God without changes. That was what I was defending,” said the PAS Dewan Ulama chief.
Earlier, Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he had considered the issue that was brought up by Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) and decided that the remark should be withdrawn.
On August 26, Nik Muhammad said the Bible had been “distorted or corrupted” during the debate on increasing drink driving penalties in the Road Transport Act.
During the debate, Nik Muhammad said Christianity also prohibited alcohol consumption.
But when Ngeh Koo Ham disputed this, Nik Muhammad said Christians drink alcohol because the Bible had been “distorted”.
Nik Zawawi made the remarks during the debate on amendments to raise penalties for drink driving.
Zawawi had said no religion allows alcohol consumption, and the government’s move to impose harsher penalties for drink driving should not be a religious issue.
“From what I have learned studying comparative religion, no faith allows its believers to drink alcohol. No religion. Not Buddhism, Hinduism or others allow this,” Nik Zawawi had said in his debate speech.
“This issue should not be a sensitive issue for other faiths.”
DAP’s Beruas MP Ngeh Khoo Ham then raised a point of order to say the PAS MP’s points were inaccurate as other faiths allowed its followers to drink alcohol in moderation.
Wine for instance is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist or The Lord’s Supper, Ngeh said.
Nik Zawawi then rejected Ngeh’s explanation, arguing that “before the Bible was distorted, Christianity had forbidden alcohol”.
Today Nik Zawawi said he respected all religions and that an issue affecting the Bible also affects Muslims.
“An issue that affects the Bible not only affects Christians. We, Muslims also refer to the Bible that was sent by God through the prophet Jesus Christ.
“When I said ‘distorted or amended’ my intention was to defend the originality of the text so that there are no changes to the religious texts.
“But during the debate (in August), Ngeh said Christianity in general allows alcohol consumption when the academic data indicates different schools of thought,” said Nik Zawawi.
He said there were three schools of thought – prohibitionists (who don’t allow alcohol consumption, abstentionism (who avoid alcohol) and moderationists (who allow alcohol consumption in small quantities).
“So, when Ngeh said that Christians in general are allowed to consume alcohol, it was unfair and caused me to make the remark ‘distorted’.”
Nik Zawawi’s remark drew strong reactions from the country’s clergy.
The Sabah Council of Churches demanded the lawmaker be probed for sedition.
“The government of the day (must) initiate an investigation into the seditious statements made by the Pasir Puteh MP which have hurt the feelings of other races and the Christian communities,” SCC president Rev James Wong said in a statement.
Wong also urged the Perikatan Nasional government to reprimand Nik Zawawi for issuing such disrespectful and insensitive statements, which have offended Christians.
The SCC also demanded that Nik Zawawi issue an unreserved apology to all Christian communities in Malaysia and to fully retract his statements.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) chairman Archbishop Julian Leow said PAS should denounce Nik Zawawi’s behaviour and the authorities should investigate his “offensive conduct”. – November 3, 2020.
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Comments
Posted 5 years ago by Alphonz Jayaratnam · Reply
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Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply
https://www.wikihow.com/Apologize
"One of the most common mistakes of apologizing is using you instead of I statements. When you apologize, you must accept responsibility for your actions. Dont push responsibility for the offense off on to the other person. Keep the focus on what you did, and avoid sounding like youre blaming the other person.[4]
For example, a very common but ineffective way of apologizing is to say something like, Im sorry your feelings were hurt or Im sorry you got so upset. An apology does not need to apologize for the other persons feelings. It needs to acknowledge your responsibility. These types of statements dont -- they push the responsibility back onto the person who was hurt."
Whether this is intentional or not, we don't know, but we can just note that this is not really an apology but a sort of self-justification.
Posted 5 years ago by Anak Kampung · Reply