World Wide Religious News (http://wwrn.org)
(1) "Malaysia urged to review Islamic conversion, ensure justice for non-Muslims"
By Elieen NG (AP, January 28, 2008)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - The family of an ethnic Chinese man buried as a Muslim despite protests that he was Buddhist urged Malaysia's government Monday to review the case.
Gan Hock Ming said his family has appealed to the High Court in southern Seremban state to challenge an Islamic Shariah court ruling that his late father, Gan Eng Gor, had converted to Islam before his death. "We want a declaration that he is not a Muslim. Our main intention is to seek justice, not just for our family but for the rest of the non-Muslim community," Hock Ming told The Associated Press. The case is expected to be heard Tuesday, he said.
It is the latest in an increasing number of interfaith conflicts that have raised tensions in multiracial Malaysia.
On Monday, opposition lawmaker Lim Kit Siang urged the government to end "body-snatchings" by Islamic authorities, warning they were aggravating racial polarization and hurting Malaysia's multiracial harmony.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims. A quarter are ethnic Chinese, who are mostly Taoist, Buddhists and Christians, and 8 percent are ethnic Indians, many of whom are Hindus.
Last week, an Islamic Shariah court ruled that Eng Gor, 74, also identified as Amir Gan Abdullah, was a Muslim and should be buried under Islamic rites.
The man's body was seized by Islamic authorities shortly after his death on Jan. 20 after a complaint by his eldest son, Abdul Rahman Gan, a Muslim convert. He claimed his father had changed his religion from Buddhism to Islam last July. His family disputed this.
Hock Ming said Islamic authorities claimed his bedridden father made an oral declaration in Arabic to accept Islam, but the family has medical confirmation that his father was unable to speak after a stroke in 2006.
He said the alleged conversion papers were also flawed because they weren't signed and certified.
"We hope the prime minister and the higher ups in the Islamic authorities review this case and ensure that the truth is unraveled," Hock Ming said, calling for all conversions to Islam to be "fair and transparent."
Authorities from the Islamic religious department in Seremban could not be reached for comment. No comment was available from the office of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Malaysia has a dual court system for civil matters with secular courts for non-Muslims and Shariah courts for Muslims. In interfaith disputes involving Muslims, the Shariah court usually gets the last word, making a favorable decision for non-Muslims less likely.
The latest case follows one earlier this month where Islamic authorities claimed a woman's body, arguing she had converted to Islam. Her husband, who maintained she had been Christian until her death, won the case after authorities retracted their claims.
Disclaimer: WWRN does not endorse or adhere to views or opinions expressed in the articles posted. This is purely an information site, to inform interested parties of religious trends.
(2) "Pro-Muslim tilt in Malaysia's courts"
By Simon Montlake ("Christian Science Monitor", January 29, 2008)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - An Islamic court ruled last week that a Malaysian man receive a Muslim burial, despite insistence by most of his family that he hadn't converted to Islam. His son, a Muslim, maintained that he had.
Such cases have become more common in Malaysia, whose leaders tout their multiracial democracy as a model of Islamic moderation and economic success. It's a claim echoed by American diplomats and Muslim intellectuals seeking a credible counterpoint to extremist voices in the Islamic world.
But the promises of religious and ethnic pluralism that nurtured a generation of Malaysians have begun to unravel. A pro-Muslim shift among lawyers and judges is alarming Christians, Hindus, and other non-Muslims who make up about 40 percent of the population. The remainder are predominantly ethnic Malay-Muslims, who benefit from affirmative-action programs to redress historic economic disparities.
Diplomats, lawyers, and religious leaders say that Malaysia's race-based coalition government – a power-sharing formula unchanged since independence in 1957 – is failing to address growing ethnic tensions fed by pro-Malay discrimination and a growing stress on Islamic governance. Minorities are largely invisible in the ranks of police, military, and civil service, while schools are increasingly segregated by race and language.
Although religious worship is freely practiced in Malaysia, Christians complain they can't get permits to build churches. Last month, a Roman Catholic newspaper was barred by the government from using "Allah" – "god" in the Malay language – to refer to a Christian God. The previous month, tens of thousands of Indian Hindus clashed with ethnic-Malay riot police during a heated rally over alleged social and religious discrimination.
The tensions haven't led to mass unrest, though, allowing Malaysia to continue advertising its stability to foreign investors. Its capital, Kuala Lumpur, displays new suburbs linked by smooth highways and a modern skyline.
Critics argue that pro-Malay policies introduced in 1971 have served their purpose, while antagonizing minorities. But government officials defend the race-based allocation of resources. "Without political stability and socioeconomic stability and consensus-based principles, there's not enough to distribute," says Nor Mohamed Yakcop, second finance minister.
The sharp end of the religious wedge is Malaysia's legal system. Assertive Islamic shariah courts, backed by Muslim bureaucrats, have forced civil courts to retreat on sensitive issues such as interfaith conversions. Lawyers say several recent judgments have eroded the civil rights of non-Muslims and highlighted a creeping Islamization in a secular judiciary.
A prominent case in 2006 pitted a Hindu widow against Islamic authorities who claimed the body of her husband, an Army corporal, for a Muslim burial. A civil court declined to rule on whether he had converted to Islam, deferring to the shariah court. Last year, a court refused to uphold a Malay woman's conversion to Christianity.
"We can't depend on the judiciary. Every case where a Muslim is involved in a dispute, the outcome isn't favorable for us," says A. Vaithilingam, a Hindu community leader.
Also troubling, say lawyers and analysts, is conservatives' reaction to public debate on such issues. A proposed interfaith commission was shelved in 2005 after Islamists objected to the inclusion of liberal Muslim organizations.
Far from confronting these extremists, Malaysian leaders have resorted to media blackouts on sensitive topics. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak tried to end the debate last July by saying that Malaysia was an Islamic state, not a secular state, raising eyebrows among constitutional lawyers.
The judiciary has also been tainted by graft allegations and political tampering. A royal commission began hearings on Jan. 14 into corruption in the appointment of judges.
Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a human rights lawyer, traces the shift in the judiciary to the 1980s when the government tried to outdo political opponents by promoting Islam among civil servants and judges. At the same time, a purge of judges and a constitutional amendment to reinforce the jurisdiction of shariah courts removed a secular brake on Malay-Muslim policymakers. "We've let the tiger out of the cage, and we're trying to catch it by the tail," says Mr. Imtiaz.
Aides to Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi say he's aware of the sensitivity of recent legal judgments but won't intervene in shariah courts. A better way, they say, is to gradually appoint senior federal judges who will defend civil safeguards on religious freedom.
Mr. Badawi, an Islamic scholar who took office in 2003, said at a UN conference this month that Islam respected cultural and religious diversity, and that Muslim governments should put social justice before popularity. "A true Muslim will also not abdicate the principle of fairness in managing ethnic relations even if it makes him somewhat unpopular within his own ethnic community," he said.
But his actions in office haven't spoken as loudly, says Bridget Welsh, a professor at John Hopkins University. "What you're seeing is a serious deterioration of race relations."
Disclaimer: WWRN does not endorse or adhere to views or opinions expressed in the articles posted. This is purely an information site, to inform interested parties of religious trends.
(3) "Hindus, Muslims worship together in Malaysia"
("The Times of India", January 28, 2008)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - A mosque and a Hindu temple located a few metres from each other in Kampung Baru, the oldest Malay residential area in downtown Kuala Lumpur, are making 'religious harmony' more than just a catch phrase, a media report said on Monday.
Situated at Lorong Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, the two shrines have had devotees of their religious faiths worshipping without any communal problems for the last four decades.
While the mosque began as a surau in the 1950s, the temple started off as a shrine in a simple wooden structure in 1968. It was built by Kannan alias Veerapan, in thanksgiving to goddess Kaliamman for healing V Rajeswary, his then 16-year-old daughter, The New Straits Times reported.
Rajeswary had been falling ill often and could not be treated, but recovered after going into a trance on several occasions. The shrine evolved into a temple with devotees comprising staff of the nearby hospital and occupants of the railway quarters in Sentul.
Rajeswary's husband, 68-year-old V Narayanasamy, who runs the temple, told the New Straits Times that the temple and mosque have been co-existing without any problems.
"Cooperation, freedom and mutual respect have been shown by Hindus and Muslims alike. We have lived in harmony and even helped each other during festivals," he said.
A senior Kuala Lumpur Hospital Mosque official, who declined to be identified, said only zinc sheets separated the two structures.
"What began as a surau in the late 1950s has flourished together with the temple over the years. Prayers at the temple do not bother us when we conduct our prayers. We have made some adjustments to accommodate the temple's wishes," he said.
He said there were "one or two" difficult moments, such as during the May 13, 1969 riots, when a flag of Barisan Nasional was set on fire and thrown at the main altar of the temple. The wooden structure was razed but the shrine survived the fire.
In 1979, floods in the city destroyed both structures.
P Vasudevan, 53, who was born in Kampung Baru and worships at the temple, said the religious institutions are a unique testament to unity in diversity.
Disclaimer: WWRN does not endorse or adhere to views or opinions expressed in the articles posted. This is purely an information site, to inform interested parties of religious trends.
(End)
