KUCHING: The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) has declined an invitation to participate in a Christmas carol programme by state-owned television station TVS. This decision was made after TVS declined ACS’ request to include the song “O Holy Night”.
Datuk Danald Jute, the chairman of ACS, wrote a letter to the state’s Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) on Nov 13, stating that the association could not participate in “A Christmas Carol, Sarawak in Diversity” due to TVS’ refusal to replace “Jingle Bell Rock” with the requested Christmas carol.
According to the letter, TVS stated that their decision was “due to religious elements and also protocols from LPF (Film Censorship Board) and MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission).”
ACS expressed disappointment with this reasoning, highlighting that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, and their request to replace one song with another was made with this in mind.
Datuk Michael Tiang, SUPP Youth chief, voiced his shock at ACS’ request being rejected due to “religious elements”, emphasizing that Christmas is a religious festival for Christians to celebrate in their own way.
Tiang also expressed support for ACS’ decision not to participate in the programme, asserting that if the intention was to hold a secular Christmas programme, that was acceptable. However, if churches were expected to participate, there should be respect for their way of celebrating by singing a Christian Christmas song.
He further called on state and Federal authorities not to adopt any restrictive protocols or policies that would impede the freedom of religious groups to celebrate their festivals, citing Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion.
