Reporting from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — The Metro Tabernacle Church, a storefront with metal shutters, sits gutted, black smoke stains on the concrete pillars bearing witness to the intense fire that destroyed the property.
The attacks on this and more than a dozen other houses of worship in January, followed in February by the caning of three Muslim teenagers for extramarital sex and a kerfuffle this month over an insulting act during a Christian service have prompted some soul-searching in Malaysia.
Though religious tensions have occasionally simmered in this multicultural society, these were the first attacks in recent memory, and left some Malaysians wondering how committed their nation remains to its relatively tolerant brand of Islam and what the cost could be to its global image, foreign investments and tourism trade.
"It hurts your international reputation," said Kharis Idris, director of the MyFuture Foundation, which promotes multicultural engagement. "Church burning doesn't sound good in any country. If it goes on, it will be bad for the economy. And if someone were to kill someone, all hell could break loose."
The spark for the wave of violence was a successful challenge by the Herald, a Catholic weekly, of a government ban on continued use of the word "Allah" by Christians to describe God. The court has stayed its late-December decision pending a government appeal.
Analysts say the case has inflamed passions among politicians pandering for votes and extremists who have an interest in upsetting Malaysia's delicate blend of religion and ethnicity.
King Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin referred to the controversy Monday in his annual speech to Parliament, calling on all parties to "avoid raising sensitive issues that could jeopardize public peace."
This year Malaysia has seen the firebombing or vandalizing of 11 churches, two Muslim prayer halls, a mosque, the offices of the Catholic newspaper's attorneys and a Sikh temple.
"It's not just an issue of religious tolerance; after all, mainstream Malaysians are pretty tolerant people," said Norani Othman, a sociologist and founding member of SIS Forum Malaysia, a Muslim women's organization. "The silent majority has kept silent while the government keeps pandering to a minority of loudmouths."
A few miles from Metro Tabernacle, Father Lawrence Andrew sits at his desk at the Herald as colleagues prepare to distribute the latest edition.
