8 December 2017

Press statement by MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Secretary Chris Daniel Wong


Prevent further upheavals - President Trump must withdraw US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel


In view that US President Donald Trump has announced that that America will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as well as plans to relocate the US Embassy there, MCA Religious Harmony Bureau finds this announcement as dangerous and can re-ignite Muslim-Christian-Judeo tension and conflict.

As it is, both UMNO Youth and PAS has already announce that they plan to demonstrate in front of the US Embassy along Jalan Tun Razak, and the US Embassy, in turn, has also released a Security Alert reminding its citizens to be vigilant.

President Trump’s announcement is highly inflammatory and dangerous as it does not take into account the United Nations’ policy of a two-state solution to resolve Palestine-Israel conflict. Trump has completely disregarded the Oslo Accords signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), a peace process aimed at achieving a peace treaty based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and at fulfilling the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

If President Trump is in the dark, for centuries and millenniums, Jerusalem has been and continues to be inhabited by practitioners of Abrahamic faith, ie Muslims, Christian also and not solely Jews. His unilateral decision breaks with international consensus on a highly emotional issue that is best left to negotiations.

Coming into power, President Trump must recognise that mutual respect is the cornerstone towards the peace process in the Middle East and the progress and development of any society and nation. As it is, his announcement has already sparked clashes and violence in the West Bank, thus putting lives and properties at stake, while protests are planned in Kuala Lumpur after Friday prayers.

Meanwhile, our Bureau hopes that UMNO and PAS will recognise that Trump’s announcement is not a Christian crusade, and that our Bureau fully supports the rights of the Palestinian people to be free away from oppression and discrimination under the Zionist regime.

President Trump’s dangerous rhetoric must be rejected and where necessary, the United Nations, as the highest governing international body, should intervene.

Chris Daniel Wong
MCA Religious Harmony Bureau Secretary
MCA Youth Lembah Pantai Chairman

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