Malaysiakini.com (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
(1) Open public interfaith dialogue a no-no, 14 January 2010
by Aidila Razak
There are no plans to conduct public interfaith dialogues to educate the public on the Allah issue, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mashitah Ibrahim.
www.malaysiakini.com/news/121951
(2) No immediate need for interfaith council, 19 January 2010
There is no immediate need to have a formal inter-ethnic or inter-religion committee or council, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Koh Tsu Koon.
www.malaysiakini.com/news/122286
(3) Mahathir gives thumbs up for interfaith council, 20 January 2010
by Andrew Ong
Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is supportive of calls for an interfaith council to be established, in view of inter-religious conflicts over the rights of non-Muslims to use the term 'Allah'.
www.malaysiakini.com/news/122380
(4) Muhyiddin: No plan for inter-faith commission, 30 January 2010
The government has no plans at the moment to set up an inter-faith commission as the ongoing closed-door dialogues between the groups are sufficient to address the issues at hand, said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Despite the tensions drummed up recently - particularly over the use of the term 'Allah' - such a commission is not needed as there are already ongoing closed-door dialogues to enhance understanding and create a peaceful atmosphere and mutual respects, said Muhyiddin.
(5) Inter-religious committee: Perak fatwa committee says 'no', 12 April 2010
The Perak Fatwa Committee which met from April 6 to 8 has unanimously objected to the formation of the Inter-faith Committee as announced by the government.
State Mufti Harussani Zakaria said discussions on Islam did not require the interference of non- Muslims as this could have negative implications.
"Any other existing religion is not the same as Islam," he said in a statement issued here today.
Harussani said although discussions and dialogues on religion were allowed, the Perak Fatwa Committee felt it should be avoided especially among the general public as it would only invite misunderstandings.
He added that although the setting up of the Inter-faith Committee was aimed at fostering harmony and religious understanding among Malaysians, the Perak Fatwa Committee was of the opinion that it was not a suitable medium.
Rulers' approval first
"This is in view of fears that unreasonable claims could be made by people of other faiths. Moreover, the formation of the Inter-faith Committee came about after the Inter-faith Commission was rejected by Muslims."
Harussani said the Perak Fatwa Committee also felt that the formation of the Inter-faith Committee should not only have been referred to the cabinet for approval but also to the Conference of Malay Rulers as the highest authority on Islamic religious matters in this country.
The cabinet had on April 6 agreed to the establishment of the Inter-faith Committee with representatives from all religions and without the interference of politicians so as to promote understanding among Malaysia's multi-religious society.
(Bernama)
(6) Muftis to be briefed on interfaith committee, 13 April 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today said he had asked Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Jamil Khir Baharom to organise a meeting to brief the country's muftis on the Inter-faith Relations Working Committee.
He added that the meeting, to be held in a day or two, is aimed at briefing them of the committee's role, objective and to assure them that the committee would not touch on the position and status of Islam.
"The Inter-Religious Committee that was formed recently is different from the Inter-Faith Commission (IFC) that was rejected by the government," Muhyiddin was quoted by Bernama as saying today.
"The committee was formed to promote understanding and harmony among religions and discuss sensitive issues on religion," added Muhyiddin.
Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria was quoted as saying that he was disappointed with the approval of the committee by the cabinet because they may be unreasonable claims by other religions.
Muhyiddin said the committee's role was to provide an avenue to foster mutual understanding and solidarity among races and religions in the country and placed under a National Unity and Integration Department of the Prime Minister's Department.
'Don't tell me we cannot even discuss'
"The committee does not have the power to decide on religious disputes. They may come out with findings that can be capitalised as guidelines to improve communication among various races and submit their recommendations to us," said Muhyiddin in response to the Perak Fatwa Committee's objection to the inter-faith committee.
"Don't tell me we cannot even discuss... we must be open and provide room for discussing issues but that does not involve the status of Islam."
The deputy prime minister also chided media reports that he had tried to belittle the committee's role by referring it as "small fry, little role, no power".
"I have not mentioned such words. I have been in politics for long and know what the media need and I have briefed them in detail, one by one, so that they can take down what I said.
“Such media must be more responsible in their reporting and I will have to look at their reports," he said.
(7) 1Malaysia foundation welcomes interfaith committee, 13 April 2010
Yayasan 1Malaysia says the formation of an interfaith relations working committee is a good move and it is also significant that Muslim institutions and the Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism are represented in it.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yayasan 1Malaysia, said although the stature and structure of the committee and its composition differed from what the Yayasan 1Malaysia had proposed earlier this year, "it is our hope that it will be able to resolve the outstanding religious controversies which have challenged the nation for a number of years now."
In the ultimate analysis, he said the committee, which would be under the aegis of the Prime Minister's Department, would not only have to provide solutions to concrete issues that impinge upon the different religious communities but also change the mindset of substantial segments of the nation's populace on how they understand and practise their respective faiths.
"This is a task that the committee will have to undertake with the support and cooperation of other groups in society that are also committed to a holistic transformation of dominant attitudes towards religion prevalent in Malaysia today," he said in a statement today.
Chandra said the committee should also study laws and policies in other Muslim majority countries which had to grapple with similar challenges in relation to their non-Muslim minorities.
"The experiences of other societies may help us understand our own situation better as we attempt to formulate solutions that are feasible in our own setting," he added.
Revisit draft report
Chandra also felt that the committee should hold discussions with groups and individuals outside the committee who had knowledge and understanding of the issues that the committee would be examining.
"In this regard, the committee may want to meet up with scholars of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), who have done a great deal of research on vital issues pertaining to Islamic jurisprudence in the contemporary world and on inter-faith relations," he said.
Chandra also proposed that the committee revisit a draft report prepared by a committee under the Attorney-General's Chambers, comprising state Islamic bodies, representatives of various religions, and non-governmental organisations, that sat from 2005 to 2007.
That committee had deliberated upon issues such as conversion and custody of children, the rights of a spouse when one party in a marriage embraced another faith, the status of a deceased person whose religious identity was the subject of dispute, and other related matters.
Chandra said although the report did not obtain the unanimous endorsement of the entire committee, many of the solutions it proposed were balanced, rational and inclusive.
"If they can be revisited with an open mind, the new Interfaith Committee may find its task a little easier," he said.
(Bernama)
(8) Interfaith meet postponed over 'small fry' jibe, 13 April 2010
The second meeting of the cabinet-established interfaith committee scheduled for today has been postponed indefinitely because of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's remark yesterday, dismissing the committee as a 'small fry'.
According to Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) vice-president Mohan Shan, the scheduled meeting today was cancelled because committee members are seeking an explanation from Muhyiddin.
"There will be no meeting pending verification from the deputy prime minister," said Mohan when contacted.
The cancellation of the meeting is yet another major setback for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1Malaysia campaign, aimed at strengthening currently fragile ties between ethnic groups.
Formed under the National Unity and Integration Department, which falls under the Prime Minister's Department, the new committee was aimed at promoting greater understanding between the many religious groups in the country.
Officially, the committee is known as the Committee on Promoting Inter-faith Understanding and Harmony.
However, the committee has come under fire from Malay rights pressure group Perkasa and the Perak Fatwa Committee, ostensibly because the inter-faith committee undermines the position of Islam.
Emergency meeting
Asked on this, Muhyiddin tried to sooth concerns of Muslim groups by dismissing the committee as a "small fry" with no legal powers.
Following this, the MCCBCHST held an emergency meeting yesterday evening to deliberate on Muhyiddin's remark and issued a statement condemning the deputy premier.
"It is unbecoming of a minister, more so the deputy prime minister, to look down on leaders of the other religious communities in the country.
"The various religious representatives of the MCCBCHS are committed to sincere and frank dialogue between different faiths as equals at the table.
"It would be difficult to proceed with the state goals of the committee, if this matter is not clarified," said MCCBCHST president Rev Thomas Philips.
Philips also urged Minister in charge of Unity and National Integration Koh Tsu Koon to clarify the matter as soon as possible in order for the interfaith committee to establish its framework in order to "proceed with credibility".
(9) DPM denies making 'small fry' remark, 13 April 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today denied news reports that he had dubbed the cabinet-established interfaith committee as "small fry".
Speaking to reporters in Perlis, Muhyiddin said: "I did not mention those words. I have been in politics for a long time and know what the media need, and I brief them in detail, so that they can take down what I said."
He added the media must be more responsible and he would have to look at their reports, according to Bernama.
Yesterday, it was reported that Muhyiddin had referred to the newly established Committee on Promoting Inter-faith Understanding and Harmony "small fry" with no legal powers.
According to him, the committee does not have the power to decide on religious disputes.
"It is not a council or commission as proposed in the past... It's just a small committee."
It was apparently a move to cool simmering tensions among Muslim groups who expressed concerns that the committee would undermine Islam and the Rulers' Council.
Reports of Muhyiddin's remarks have prompted angry reactions from committee members, forcing the indefinite postponement of the committee's second meeting today.
Koh is disappointed
In a related development, Minister in the Prime Minister Department Koh Tsu Koon expressed hope that the committee will continue the meeting once Muhyiddin clarifies the matter.
"I can understand why the religious leaders are upset and I am disappointed too," he said, at a function in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur today.
However, he said further clarification is needed on whether the deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin made the statement or he was misquoted.
He also added that he is in favour of the interfaith committee saying that it is a good mechanism to promote dialogue to dispel any misconceptions.
(10) Muhyiddin gilds the lily and shreds it, 13 April 2010
by Terence Netto
Like a canoeist facing rapids, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin paddled on one side of the issue of the government's interfaith panel (“let's give them a chance to work”) and then on the other (the panel is “small fry”) to placate the concerns of critics who charged that it detracted from Islam's constitutional stature as the official religion.
In the process, he sounded even less convincing than he did recently when in avowing he was 'Malay first' he said he was also Malaysian simultaneously.
In this connection, there is a not-so-well-known history to the connotations to the term 'Melayu' that offered justification for Muhyiddin's stance.
One need not be tendentious to hold that there is less justification for his straddle on the issue of the interfaith panel: His plea that the panel must be given a chance to work simultaneous with his description of it as “small fry” is tantamount to gilding the lily and then shredding it.
To the more rabid critics of the interfaith panel, the constitutional designation of Islam as the 'official religion' has a supremacist flavour.
Hence they feel that if the government allows its Islamic bodies to talk to other religions, they must condescend to do so and not appear to sit in equality with the other religions.
These nuances are significant in the discourse of supremacists.
Muhyiddin's straddling the issue with simultaneous placation of interfaith dialogue proponents and Islamic supremacists must be compared with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's handling of the same issue that occurred almost at the same time.
In a speech to the Sixth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Jakarta on Sunday, Anwar met the issue head on.
Compromises from all sides
It is best that those excerpts from the speech be quoted in full to convey the salience of the points he made:
“If we agree that a constitutional democracy must concern itself with the protection of minorities as well, government must ensure that their rights and liberties be not infringed even if it may entail the loss of popularity with the majority.
“Naturally this would entail making adjustments to overlapping claims to entitlement of rights or competing goals. Among the most significant of these competing claims is religion where history has shown that attempts by one community to impose its will on another will only lead to disharmony and eventual violence and bloodshed.
“No doubt religious harmony can only be realised by making compromises from both sides. Leaders of democratic regimes must therefore not just attempt to play to the gallery or engage in grandstanding whenever the situation suits them. They must not blow hot and blow cold.
“They cannot on the one hand pride themselves as leading the way for cultural and ethnic harmony while on the other hand furtively stoke the fires of religious animosity through state-controlled media and other organs of propaganda.
“Religious strife of whatever denomination or faith would seriously undermine the very foundation of constitutional democracy. There is therefore much sense in the saying that the empowerment of one cultural group at the expense of another in any society would only lead to a clash of interests.
“This clash if left unchecked would threaten the essential overlapping consensus, recognised as a central feature of the kind of democracy that we are talking about.”
Malaysians ought to be glad that on the great questions of the day, they now have a choice between exponents of the straddle and those who see these questions in the light of a long history from which they distill understanding for the wisdom to face them nobly.
・TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
(11) Apco's PR work: What say you, Perkasa?, 14 April 2010
Inter-faith meet postponed over 'small fry' jibe
Disgusted: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) should not take part or involve itself in the small-fry interfaith committee as it will be a waste of time.
It has been set up under an insignificant minister in charge of unity and national integration Koh Tsu Koon to pull wool over the eyes of non-Muslims to convince them that the government and ruling party want to have dialogue and discussion to promote greater understanding between the many religious groups.
It is just eyewash and never intends to listen to such committee except Perkasa and other Umno-backed NGOs. It will be a non-starter and will be forgotten after the Hulu Selangor and Sibu by-elections.
MBN: Who says Umno hasn't changed? It has changed for the worse since the last general election. It's so easy to see through the 1Malaysia camouflage/propaganda/insincerity. There is no way to attain peace in Malaysia other than to vote out BN.
Ong: Many of us already know that both Koh Tsu Koon and the cabinet-established inter-faith committee are small fry right from the beginning. It is only the small fry who have been deluding themselves all this time into believing that they are important enough to have influence over the racists and fanatics. Now these dreamers are seeking verification from the deputy prime minister.
The adroit politician that he is, the DPM will tell them some cock and bull story which the small fry will swallow, and then they will then go back to deluding themselves.
Lucia: Let the interfaith committee rest in peace. Oops, I forgot. It was never born. It was still in the womb when it already faced problems. MCCBCHST should distance themselves from this so called interfaith committee. There is no point setting it up and sitting in it when the Umnoputeras and extremist Muslims like Perkasa are shouting ketuanan Islam all the time.
Ghkok: I think it is impossible to have interfaith dialogue which involve parties that practise the concept of ketuanan. Interfaith dialogue must go on, but it must involve people who are sincerely committed to unity, diversity, mutual respect, and to the embrace of one another as equals.
DPM denies making 'small fry' remark
Perak Boleh: Correct move by the interfaith committee to boycott the meeting indefinitely. Why does the BN government propose to have this interfaith committee in the first place when they are not sincere in listening to the views of non-Muslims.
Our DPM Muhyiddin Yassin and his sidekick Nazri Aziz claimed that the 'small fry' committee has no legal powers. It's better for those in the committee to talk at a coffee shop where everything can be uttered without reservations, as they would not be subject to any legal implications.
(End)
