Pressure on multi-faith Malaysia
A church in Johor was demolished recently
Malaysia is considering its multi-cultural credentials after a crowd of
Muslims on Sunday broke up a meeting called to defend the rights of
religious minorities.
The country's leaders condemned the disturbances, but the BBC's Jonathan
Kent in Kuala Lumpur says non-Muslims feel increasingly beleaguered.
"I'm becoming an alien in Malaysia, in my own country," says Dr Jacob George.
The president of the Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam in
Selangor State has been helping to organise efforts to stop the local
authorities in the ethnic Malay-Muslim dominated city of Shah Alam from
demolishing a 107-year-old Hindu temple.
Earlier in April another 19th-Century temple was demolished a few kilometres
away in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The authorities said in both cases the temples' founders did not have
permission to build them. But the demolitions are surprising because
Malaysia has forged for itself a reputation as a successful multicultural
society.
There's a creeping Islamicisation in our society and this isn't
appropriate because we're a multi-religious, multi-racial country
Fong Po Kuan, MP
In living memory it has had only two serious outbreaks of inter-communal
violence; in 1946 and 1969. But lately, non-Muslims in Malaysia have
expressed fears that the delicate balance between themselves and the
majority may be shifting.
Malaysia is one of Asia's great melting pots. Sat at the crossroads of the
continent, trade and migration have left the country with a rich mix of
races, cultures and religions.
It is a secular democracy where Islam is the official religion. Just over
half the population is ethnic Malay and, by law Muslim; while the rest is a
mix of ethnic Chinese, Indian and indigenous peoples who are mostly
Christians, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, Sikhs and animists.
The country has a far better record of multicultural harmony than most of
its neighbours.
Some local authorities want to prosecute couples for hand-holding
But the recent demolitions are not without precedent.
Last year the compound of a cult known as the Sky Kingdom was levelled by
the authorities, weeks after an attack by a Muslim mob. Many of the cultists
are now on trial.
And just before Christmas a newly completed church of an indigenous
community near Skudai in Johor state was reduced to rubble, closely
monitored by Islamic department officials and the police.
In all cases the Muslim-dominated local authorities say the buildings were
illegal. Many such buildings are deemed as such because they pre-date land
records. Others are put up illegally because some local authorities seem
reluctant to grant permission for temples and churches, but worshippers
build them regardless.
In contrast, the issue of illegally built mosques rarely arises because many
local governments are generous with both land and money for their construction.
Nor are the demolitions non-Muslims' only cause for concern.
The police recently ordered non-Muslim policewomen to wear Muslim
headscarves for their annual parade, something that many non-Muslims felt
set a worrying precedent.
And then there have been moves by some local authorities to ban or restrict
dog ownership - conservative Muslims see dogs as unclean - and prosecute
couples for holding hands or kissing in public.
"During our parents' time there was no problem when you hold hands in the
park," says Fong Po Kuan, a non-Muslim opposition MP.
"There's a creeping Islamicisation in our society and this isn't appropriate
because we're a multi-religious, multi-racial country."
Political background
That Islamicisation partly stems from the 1980s and 90s when government and
opposition both tried to play up their Islamic credentials to win the battle
for the Malay vote. But now even some Malay Muslims are starting to look at
events with concern.
"Many of these issues that have generated controversy were not handled in a
way that was thoroughly thought out," says Dr Mazeni Alwi, Chairman of the
very conservative Muslim Professionals Forum.
He suspects that those responsible may come from backgrounds where they've
rarely mixed with people from outside their own community and so suffer from
"a lack of empathy and of understanding of other people's needs for their
religion".
Even Teras, a vociferous Malay rights - and by definition, Muslim - group,
has called for more understanding.
"There should be a discussion and we should approach things sensitively,"
says its president, Mohamad Azmi.
Another prominent Malay leader, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim,
widely seen as an architect of Malaysia's Islamicisation, thinks that local
government and religious officers have been given too much freedom and not
been held to account.
"There's been a failure of leadership," he says.
One senior state religious officer suggested off the record that the issue
was not necessarily about faith at all.
"Some people see Malays and Muslims as one and the same thing. Some Malays
feel they're much worse off economically than the other communities and want
us to take their side on everything," he says.
"We have to be very careful not to get dragged into race problems."
The inter-faith Sky Kingdom, or teapot cult, has suffered attacks
Indeed several sources suggest that it is indeed less an issue of Muslim
intolerance and more one of right wing Malay ethno-nationalism.
But the people who I'd hoped to ask about such charges - politicians from
the Malay Umno party which leads the government - were not forthcoming.
Several calls to Mohamad Khir Toyo the Chief Minister of Selangor state, to
Shah Alam MP Aziz Shamsuddin and to Malaysia's Islamic Affairs Abdullah
Mohamad Zin elicited no response.
It must be noted that the man who many non-Muslims put their faith in to
protect their rights is Umno's leader Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi;
both a Malay and a devout Muslim.
"I believe that the rights of non-Muslims are actually expanding under the
Prime Minister's liberal leadership," says Reverend Wong Kim Kong, head of
the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship.
While Mr Abdullah's predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, maintained the balance
between Malaysia's communities with an iron fist, the consensual Mr Abdullah
has avoided a showdown over these religious issues.
Many who value Malaysia's multiculturalism will be hoping that the soft
spoken approach of a leader often dubbed "Mr Nice" won't be taken for weakness.
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