The sacred cow..a need for religious tolerance

In a few days , Malaysia will be celebrating its independence day. However recent events make most of us nervous on which road this glorious and blessed country will lead to in the years to come.

There is no doubt to the world that Malaysia is a success country, we may have our flaws but overall we have shown the world that a Muslim moderate majority country can progress and prosper based on the fundamental principle of a paramount respect for each other and among others a practice of religious tolerance.

Of late though one cant help noticing that the racial tensions is not between the majority Muslim Malays and the economic prosperous Chinese but between the Malays and the Indians.

While thinking that the worse has pass us by with the Hindraff incident , suddenly today a more grave and potential racial time bomb happened...

Dozens of Malaysian Muslims paraded Friday with the head of a cow, a sacred animal in Hinduism, in a dramatic protest against the proposed construction of a Hindu temple in their neighborhood.

The unusual protest by some 50 people in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state, raises new fears of racial tensions in this multiethnic Muslim-majority country where Hindus comprise about 7 percent of the 27 million population.

The demonstrators who marched from a nearby mosque after Friday prayers dumped the cow head outside the gates of the state government headquarters. Selangor adjoins Kuala Lumpur.

Protesters stomped on the head and spat on it before leaving the site, Xavier Jeyakumar, a state government official in charge of non-Muslim affairs, told The Associated Press.

"This is a sign of disrespect, insensitivity and a huge insult to the Indian community," he said.

Such an overt display of religious discord is almost unheard of in Malaysia, which has carefully nurtured racial harmony among its three main ethnic groups, Malay Muslims, Chinese and Indians, since 1969 when the country suffered its worst racial riots.

We sometimes forget that Malaysia is forged by our forefathers through a concept of tolerance and respect for each other. The prosperity of the country was not achieved only by a single community but through a unique Malaysian capacity of working together despite our religious and racial differences.

We hope that the authorities as our Prime Minister said will tackle this issue and "nip it at its bud".

We also prayed that the maturity and superior leadership qualities of our leaders will succeed in avoiding a potential racial bloodshed because i dread to think of how it will end up if this is to happen.

Malaysia belong to all of us irrespective of race, religion or position in society.

LONG LIVE MALAYSIA