The Malaysian Insight

AN Indonesian religious speaker who was exposed as being a fake nun three years ago has been invited to speak in Malaysia again.

Posters featuring Irene Handono, who touted her credentials as a former Catholic nun in Indonesia in 2014, is slated to speak at the Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS) from December 9 to 10 on the topic “Understanding Christology” (Mengenali Kristologi). The poster and event are being circulated on social media.

The event, which charges RM30 for students and RM100 for the public, describes the Indonesian speaker as “Ibu Irene Handono – mantan rahib (former nun)”. Registration for the event ends on December 1.

According to a person who answered one of the phone numbers on the poster, they have been inundated with queries about the Irene’s status since yesterday.

“We have called Irene and we are in the midst of verifying with her whether she was a former Christian or a former nun.

“Because there are people who told us she is not a nun as she was only studying then. We are discussing in our WhatsApp group on whether to change the poster or not,” said the person who asked not to be identified.

The person added that Irene had been invited to speak in Malaysia many times before this and this would be her second trip here this year.

In May 2014, Irene, also known as Irena, and another Indonesian, L.S. Mokoginta, sparked controversy when they spoke at a seminar organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on the “threat of Christianisation”.

Mokoginta reportedly said “every follower of Jesus should convert to Islam otherwise it would be a betrayal to Him”.

But a check with the Bishops Conference of Indonesia (BCI) by the now defunct news website, The Malaysian Insider, revealed that Irene’s claims that she was a former Catholic nun were untrue.

BCI executive secretary Father Edy Purwanto told the news site Irene did not complete her education and checks by the Indonesian church showed that Irena was only briefly with the Congregation of the Ursuline Sisters as a novice.

“She never completed. After that we don’t know where she ended up getting ‘educated’, to the point now where she is speaking at seminars belittling Christianity, especially the Catholic church,” Purwanto said in 2014. 

In the December event, the person who spoke to The Malaysian Insight today, said the main organiser is an organisation called Nur Fitrah, which was registered this year and that KUIS was only providing the venue.

The Malaysian Insight is trying to verify the Irene’s status and the event with Nur Fitrah.

In 2014, Mokoginta also claimed to be a former Catholic priest. But BCI said it had no data of the priest in its records.

Both speakers told the seminar then that the word “Allah” should only be used by Muslims as it originated from the Quran and was never used in the original Bible.

During the seminar, several speakers had also warned Muslims against the threat of Christianisation.

Several police reports were subsequently lodged in Selangor and Sarawak where complainants said the seminar was used for Christian-bashing and that no experts on Christianity were invited to defend the religion.

In its reply, UiTM said the seminar was to increase Muslims understanding about the issues concerning the hotly debated use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

The speakers also warned people of undercover Christian priests who have been sent to Malaysia to proselytise to Muslims.

Copies of books published by the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) on the threat of Christianisation and alleged evangelism among Muslims in Malaysia were also distributed freely to those present that day. – November 23, 2017.