Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
1.PAS once tried to seize Chinese temple, 19 January 2009
by Chloe Ting
PAS can blabber all they want that hudud laws will not be imposed on non-Muslims. PAS fails to recognise the fears of non-Muslims on how criminal cases would be judged should they involve both a Muslim and non-Muslim.
PAS can claim that they are ‘for all’ promising freedom of religion. They certainly have built in-roads into the non-Muslim community when they contributed funds to a temple in Kelantan featuring the biggest reclining Buddha in Malaysia.
And when one of their members of parliament spoke in a church after the March 8 elections.
But this does not cover the fact that when PAS ruled the east coast state of Terengganu from 1999-2004, they actually attempted to seize a piece of land belonging to the Thean Hou Kong temple, a temple with a 100 year history.
This sour point has not been forgotten by devotees. In the Terengganu government gazette dated February 13, 2003 (attached herewith), it is recorded that the PAS government had decided to seize the temple grounds with a size of 449,201 square metres as part of their plans to build flood insulators at the estuary of Mukim Gelugor Kedai, Kuala Terengganu, from Kampung Wakaf Mempelam to Sungai Pinang.
As reported in the Chinese vernacular media, then MCA Terengganu chairperson, Senator Lau Yin Pin, vowed to take legal action if necessary and said he would use any means to support the temple against the PAS government.
Media reports also showed current MCA Terengganu head Toh Chin Yaw leading a demonstration at the Thean How Kong temple to protest against the PAS government’s move. These newspaper reports reveal MCA’s commitment to protect the religious freedoms of the Chinese community in Kuala Terengganu against PAS’ ‘legalised land-grab’.
The sole Chinese PAS state assembly person who hails from Kelantan, Annuar Tan Abdullah then had to talk to the Terengganu government to persuade them to withdraw the gazette knowing too well that the Chinese community had grown incensed with the Terengganu PAS government.
For Annuar Tan to make the journey from Kelantan to Terengganu suggests that he was on serious damage-control, image-repair mission.
The press also reported that the PAS government had claimed that they did not know the location of the temple. This is absolute nonsense as the gazette clearly names Persatuan Hainan Terengganu as the temple’s caretaker besides the land area of the Thean Hou Kong temple.
While the PAS-led Terengganu government finally withdrew the gazette, voters did not forget the incident and threw them out of office in the 2004 general elections.
What assurances do the current Terengganu voters have that PAS will not implement hudud laws against non-Muslims or seize their sacred holy grounds and houses of worship if when they come to power?
2．Let universities teach about all religions fairly, 16 January 2009
by Galileo Chino
Recently, there have been some controversies in making ‘Islamic Civilisation’ a compulsory subject in all public tertiary education centers in Malaysia. Currently, ‘Islamic Civilisation’ is already a compulsory subject for both Muslims and non-Muslims in some public tertiary education centers though Universiti Sains Malaysia requires only Muslim students to pass the subject.‘Islamic Civilisation’ was introduced to eliminate fears among the non-Muslims towards Islam. And it is true that such Islamic courses would eliminate ignorance of non-Muslims towards Islam.
However, the fear is not due to the religion of Islam itself but often arises from a human nature to manipulate others and coerce others to adopt their own way of life even if the coercion is subtle.
The authorities’ inconsistency in protecting the minorities’ cultures , languages and religions has resulted in fear because of their highly discriminative past. On the other hand, Muslim students have not, in fact, reciprocated with a better understanding and sensitivity to other religions other than Islam.
The authorities have never emphasised with the equivalent connotation that the Muslims’ fear of other religions can likewise be due to their ignorance. This fear can be eliminated only if they too learn about other religions. Therefore, it will genuinely be meant for integration of the nation if Muslims, too, are made to learn about their fellow countrymen’s religions and cultures.
Only after the overwhelming response from the non-Muslim communities that non-Islam religions be made part of the univesities’ courses did the authorities decided to add the subject ‘Asian Civilisations’.
The initial insensitivity by the authorities, apparently, had neglected the feelings of the non- Muslims. Malaysia is a multi-religious society which requires each Malaysian to have an adequate knowledge of religions other than his own.
In other words, Muslims should recognise the universal values embedded in other religions and vice-versa - the non-Muslims should learn about the good values of Islam even though it is not meant for the purpose of conversion.
So far, no details of the proposed religious education subjects have been made known to the public for scrutiny. ‘Asian Civilisations’ should include Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Confucianism, and other religious and non-religious philosophies.
Western civilisation and Christianity, which is also a religion of many Malaysians, should be included with equal emphasis in the course. The rise and fall of Western civilization would be a valuable lesson for any world citizen, especially that distinct part of history that reveals the lessons of the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution and the most recent, the Information Revolution.
Based upon the concept of affirmative action and fairness, it is appropriate to inquire on the emphases of various content in the upcoming subjects of ‘Islamic Civilisation’ and ‘Asian Civilisations’ in the public tertiary education centers.
Whether there will be equal emphasis on each religion and civilisation is an issue of commitment to affirmative action. Will it be fair if 80 to 90 percent of the course hours be utilised to cover only one civilisation with only 10 to 20 percent of the remaining course hours be allocated to the remaining civilisations.Hence, an equal emphasis on each religion and civilisation would actually assure the realisation of affirmative action. Fear has often arisen from the religious insensitivity of the majority towards the minorities’ religions.
This could be overcome with the teaching of universal moral values such as brotherhood, justice and peace all of which are embedded in the dominant religion itself.
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