Jul 15: Former chief editor of UMNO-owned New Straits Times Kadir Jasin today chided Muslim organisations who were unhappy with the Vatican ambassador's remarks on the 'Allah' controversy, saying their anger should instead be directed at prime minister Najib Razak.In a blog posting today, Kadir said it was natural that Archbishop Joseph Marino, the Vatican's 'Apostolic Nuncio' or ambassador to Malaysia, to speak as a representative of his faith first rather than as a diplomat.
"(We) shouldn't be angry at him. He is first a man of religion, and then a diplomat. So it is incumbent upon him to prioritise his faith rather than diplomacy," he said.
Instead, Kadir reminded Muslim groups of the person who initiated the opening of the Pope's diplomatic office in Malaysia.
"We should first check ourselves. Ask, who was so eager to visit the Vatican, to meet the Pope, to establish diplomatic ties with the Vatican?" he wrote, referring to Najib and his highly publicised 2011 meeting with the Pope.
Kadir (left), a staunch loyalist of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said Najib was continuing his predecessor Abdullah Badawi's 'openness' which he claimed was undermining Malay-Muslim leadership."Pak Lah opened the flood gates and Najib demolished the flood gates in the name of openness, 1Malaysia, inclusiveness and all sorts of liberal slogans and cliches," he lamented.
In 2011, Najib visited Pope Benedict XVI, becoming only the second Malaysian PM to visit a reigning Pope after Mahathir met the late Pope John Paul in 2002. Najib's visit formalised ties between Kuala Lumpur and the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Marino had earlier expressed support over the Malaysian Catholic Church's opposition to the prohibition on the use of the Arabo-Islamic term 'Allah' in Christian texts. This sparked protests among several UMNO-linked right-wing groups, including its offshoot Perkasa.
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php/berita-utama/7571-mahathir-loyalist-tells-groups-to-blame-najib-over-vatican-diplomatic-gaffe.html
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