ARCHBISHOP Julian Leow’s speech in 2014 was purposely edited in a video in a manner intended to break up religious harmony, said the Catholic Lawyers’ Society of Kuala Lumpur.

CLS was commenting on a Facebook video in which Leow could be heard addressing the congregation, believed to be at the St Francis Xavier Church in Petaling Jaya. The lawyers said the parts of the speech in the video were taken out of context.  

“Leow’s speech has been misused and purposely misunderstood for nefarious reasons with the intention of threatening religious harmony and peaceful coexistence enjoyed by the various peoples of different faiths in Malaysia,” said CLS president Godfrey Thomas Fernandez.

Fernandez urged the authorities to take immediate action to protect the safety of Leow as well as the sanctity of the Catholic Church.

The video post, by a Facebook account called Hud Hud Crew, said Leow was speaking of a 25-year plan against Muslims.

The post titled “Rahsia Besar: Rakaman Perancangan 25 Tahun Archbishop Katolik Kuala Lumpur Untuk Rebus Orang Islam Seperti Merebus Katak”, alleged Leow had used an analogy of boiling frogs to describe his plan to pressure Muslims in the country.

Leow had allegedly said that when a frog was thrown into boiling water, it would immediately react and jump out but when placed in cold water in a pan on top of a fire, the frog will remain quiet while it is being cooked.

In the post, Hud Hud Crew said the video footage was handed to them by a member of the church congregation who did not want to be named.

The person had allegedly wished to thwart Leow’s plan which the person believed would cause a rift between Muslims and Christians in the country.

Fernandez said all peace-loving members of the Malaysian public should be outraged over the video, which had contained only an extract of Leow’s full speech.

“The CLS abhors hatred and violence that is directed against any person on the basis of race or religion,” Fernandez said, adding CLS recognises the inherent dignity of every human being whose rights must be protected regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.

“The CLS wishes for all parties to be engaged in and to promote inter-religious cooperation to address any issue that could give rise to a potential conflict in our multi-religious country.”

“Investigate the video in question, the owner of the Facebook page and the makers of the incendiary, inflammatory and derogatory statements on the Facebook page in question for sedition, criminal intimidation and criminal defamation.” – April 28, 2021.