Guang Ming Daily, April 23, 2015
PENANG – The cross protest incident outside of a church in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya has ignited religious sentiment. The sensitivity of religious sentiment should be resolved through harmony approach and this approach has been adopted by the multi-religious community of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling or “street of harmony” (from Lebuh Pitt to Lebuh Farquhar) in Penang. For over a century, the community has been living in peace with no history of conflict.
The uniqueness of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling is highlighted by the four places of worship of four religions which include St. George’s Church with 200 years of history, a century old Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Goddess of Mercy Temple (Kong Hock Keng Kuan Yin Teng) and Kapitan Keling Mosque the oldest mosque in Penang. Not only the four religions have coexisted peacefully in the neighbourhood for over a hundred years, but its followers have been helping each other in ensuring the streets are crime free, hence the street was given the name “street of harmony” and become one of the most famous tourist spots in the state.
Against the objective of religion
Kong Hock Keng committee vice chairman Dato’ Lam Wu Chong said Malaysia is a country that respects religious freedom, the incident of Taman Medan should not have happened. He believed that the group of Muslim protestors had offended other’s religion and acted against the religion’s purpose of guiding people to be kind.
“Kuan Yin Teng was built in 1800, in its history of over 200 years, there has been no conflict with other religion followers, and everyone live harmoniously with mutual respect.”
He added that worshippers who visited Kuan Yin Teng are not limited to Chinese; there are Indians and people of other races who are praying at the temple. Most worshippers will follow the etiquette of the religion in order to show respect.
Mohammad Nor, a fresh flowers seller at Lebuh Pitt said as a Muslim, he had never seen dispute or conflict happening between followers of different religions since he started work at the street for over ten years, the people are living harmoniously together.
“The protestors’ act was too extreme. They should not infringe other’s religion and belief because of their personal belief.”
He is proud of the liberal religion atmosphere and friendly relationship between all races in the state and hoped the current situation will be continued.
Coordination to achieve consensus
Living in a country with multi-racial and religious background, conflict is inevitable. This is why interracial coordination and collaboration is very important, if things are not handled right, misunderstanding and division in races will occur.
In Penang, there had been an occasion when the Hungry Ghost Festival and Ramadan happened to fall on the same date, the two religions managed to handle the issue with friendly, peaceful and tolerating manners in order to reach consensus. Since then, the incident has become a great example to demonstrate racial harmony in the state.
Penang Hungry Ghost Festival Joint Committee executive advisor Hung Siat Hee said the concurrent arrival of Hungry Ghost Festival and Ramadan happened several years ago. Some Muslims complained that the volume of Chinese opera performance was affecting their prayers and conflict was building up. Eventually, both quarters decided to take action to resolve the problem.
He said after negotiating on the issue, his committee decided to lower the volume and postpone the start time of the opera show in order to avoid dispute and unnecessary conflict.
“In a multi-racial society, interracial harmony can only be achieved through tolerance and mutual respect of each other’s cultural.”
Commenting on Taman Medan cross protest incident, Hung Siat Hee said the protestors should be penalized to prevent similar incident of destroying racial harmony from happening in future.
Original Source:
4宗教驻守和谐街 各族百余年和平相处