"As responsible citizens, we urge all Christians not to be provoked and respond with retaliation, but to … overcome evil with good," advised a statement from Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) which was circulated last December to its 5,000 member -churches and -organisations from the mainline, evangelical and Catholic groups.

Through restraint and good works, Christians, who are committed to peace and harmony, would ensure the continuous prevalence of national stability, the statement added.

Calling for greater sensitivity towards and understanding of other faiths, it advised members to adopt a gentler and more discreet approach in sharing the Gospel in their communities. For instance, distributing gospel tracts indiscriminately without considering the feelings of believers of other religions could cause anger towards the Christian community at large.

"As Christians, we are called to demonstrate the love of God, to have compassion on those who hurt us. Indeed, we pray for conviction of those perpetrators of their wrongdoing and that they will cease to intimidate the community with violence."

The statement also urged Christians to help contribute materially towards the re-building of the destroyed churches.

Besides the appeal to its members, the statement also implored the government and police to publicly condemn any acts of violence as well as provide greater protection to places of worship.

It also urged the government to ban the media from continuously broadcasting and publishing bias information on religious conflicts in areas such as the Middle East and Indonesia. Finally, CFM assured the government of its full cooperation in eradicating crime and extremist activities.

These appeals had earlier been presented to Deputy Home Affairs Minister Chor Chee Heung when he met seven CFM members in early November to discuss the arson attacks on churches.

This issue was again raised in a separate meeting several weeks later between Home Affairs Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi and representatives from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS of which CFM is a member of).

In a letter to Dato’ Seri Badawi, MCCBCHS expressed grave concern that the Government had viewed lightly the attacks against the churches. "While we recognise that some fires could be due to mischievous acts by irresponsible persons, there has also been evidence that in some cases arson was the cause of fires. Some churches had also received letters of threat, indicating that religious extremists are involved.

"We feel that if the Government does not provide the needed confidence and protection, religious and racial harmony could be jeopardised and the consequences could be serious," it said.

Dato’ Seri Badawi, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, briefed them on the status of police investigations and said that so far, police had found no link between the arson attacks and anti-Christian sentiments. He advised that the attacks were isolated cases with specific problems related to the churches concerned.

Last July, the interior of a church in Kedah was completely damaged after being pelted with Molotov cocktails. In October, two other churches in the same state had their chairs burnt and windows smashed while a church in Johor was attacked with petrol bombs. Another church in Selangor was razed to the ground in a pre-dawn blaze.

Commenting on the arson attacks, CFM Principal Secretary Rev. Wong Kim Kong said in a November interview with Internet news agency malaysiakini that the prevalent misconception, especially in the northern region, that Christianity originated from the West was a major cause of the tension between Christianity and other religions.

The intolerance towards churches was compounded by rumours of, for instance, secret conversions of Muslims to Christianity and the Christian link to the controversial Black Metal cult, Rev. Wong was quoted as saying.