Building bridges: Malaysians of diverse faiths come together in first CPHM post-pandemic Christmas dinner

PETALING JAYA, Dec 20 — Christians For Peace and Harmony (CPHM) hosted its first interfaith Christmas dinner post Covid-19 here last night, to celebrate Malaysia’s unity amid diversity, even as the country becomes more politically polarised.

The event, held at the Royale Chulan Damansara Hotel, was attended by representatives of the five major religions in the country, including Muslims.

CPHM chairman Lee Min Choon said the dinner was meant to send a positive message and counter the perception of growing religious intolerance.

“Unity is always threatened by extremism, politics and misunderstandings,” he said in a brief dinner speech.

He said CPHM began in an effort to build communication among people of different faiths and beliefs so they could better understand and appreciate each other.

“We have taken small steps even if the destination is still very far ahead,” he added.

Shah Kirit Kakulal Govindji, president of Global Unity Network, which usually partners CPHM to hold joint programmes, said the dinner underscored religion's role as a bridge for conflict and misunderstanding.

“There are a lot of fights, not only in Malaysia but everywhere, and some people blame it on religion.

“I would say religion is not the cause of these fights but is actually the solution,” he said.

Since its inception in 2015, CPHM has held several interfaith banquets and conducted various humanitarian programmes.

CPHM adviser Jason Leong said ideally the goal would be to hold more interfaith dialogues, but conceded that achieving it would first require more “trust-building”.

“The thing about interfaith dialogues is it tends to get tense and then people end up leaving,” he told Malay Mail.

“There is a lot of suspicion so we have to try and overcome that first. Holding a dinner like this helps people relax and that builds more trust,” he added.

Calls for more genuine interfaith dialogues have intensified in the past decade as communal politics appear to give rise to more exclusivist orientation among adherents of certain religions.

Observers said this has fuelled more negative attitudes and sometimes even hate speech directed at believers of different faiths.

Some 150 people attended last night's dinner. One of the non-Christian groups that was present was the Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia.

Among the notable Muslim NGOs that attended were the Malaysian Islamic Associations which represents 58 NGOs, and the Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs.