1. Malaysiakini (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
(1) M'sia needs interfaith act, not faith crime act, 10 August 2011
'What we need is legislation that actually encourages dialogue and brings religions together - not laws that will further set them apart.'
Deputy minister: Make it a crime to convert Muslims
Anak Malaysia Muda: An Umno deputy Minister has proposed that a 'Faith Crime Act' (Akta Jenayah Akidah) be enacted to criminalise any action to proselytise Muslims.
I agree to this proposal but it should apply to all religions in Malaysia and not one single religion - no religion should have the right to proselytise anyone from any other religion.
Danny Lazaroo: This is an unconstitutional and irrational idea.
Unconstitutional because freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. Irrational for a few dozen others reasons, like how there would then be double standards in how different religions are treated, and this kind of sentiment will only spread further religious intolerance and discord.
What we need is legislation that actually encourages dialogue and brings religions together - not laws that will further set them apart.
The biggest thing for me though, is the illogical idea that someone converts another to a religion. Religion is a personal choice - people convert themselves, in that they choose to embrace a new way of understanding God and life.
We're talking about personal attitudes and viewpoints. And if you want to start arresting and prosecuting people for their thoughts/beliefs, then Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi, that makes you worse than a Nazi.
MCA, now is your chance to put your money where your mouth is. MCA, via Theng Book, has slammed Pakatan Rakyat MPs for not speaking up for the people. Well, now an MP from your political master, Umno, is calling for legislation that will legalise religious persecution, and this is definitely not what those who elected you want.
Are you going to speak out against this Umno MP? Do you dare go against your political masters, even though it is what the people who elected you will want you to do?
Geronimo: All the non-Umno component parties of the BN have better speak up now or be held accountable for the rest of your miserable lives. If such a bill is tabled, you must stand up and reject it. You can't have the cake and eat it too.
Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Such a law cannot offend Article 8 of the federal constitution - which means it will also be an offence for Muslims to convert non-Muslims as being done at present with the Orang Asli, and the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, and poor Indians in the estates.
Lover Boy: Come to think of it it is fair to have such a law. However, I would like a law also to be enacted that those non-Muslims who are converted to Muslim should declare publicly that they are Muslims and that this conversion of 'saudara baru' be widely publicised in the newspapers.
Another law to be enacted that conversion made in other countries by Malaysians must be registered in Malaysia. Why? We do not want cases of grave snatching and heartache dispute when families fight over the bodies thinking that they are Hindu or Christians. Please also add in that you must not, and cannot, convert a child who is a minor.
Azizi Khan: I would agree only if we enforce capital punishment on any individuals who are selling/handing out permanent resident and/or citizenship to illegal immigrants in return for votes.
In addition, any Muslim who is officially or unofficially uses religion to damage relationship with non-Muslims including preaching in mosques must be punished with capital punishment. Fair?
DontPlayGod: We have people from the 'superior race' who are actually thinking and acting like idiots. They think along the lines like, "what I can do to you, you cannot do to me". This is their sense of justice and being holy.
Example: A non-Malay company must employ at least 30 percent Malays for their workforce, but a Malay company need not employ a single non-Malay in their workforce. The Muslims can convert a non-Muslim into Islam, but a non-Muslim cannot convert a Muslim to say, Christianity, Buddhism, or Hinduism.
Is this what Islam and being Malay all about? Is this their sense of justice and fairness all about? So how do the Muslim Malays expect the non-Muslims to respect them, or look up to them? How do you become a towering Malay with such attitudes?
Md Imraz Muhammed Ikhbal: Converting Muslims to become 'munafiqs' is even more rampant in this country as I see too many nowadays amongst the "supposedly Malay Muslims".
That should be of far greater concern and chauvinistic racist bigots the likes of Umno, Utusan Malaysia, Perkasa and many other Muslims NGOs should first be slammed behind bars for desecrating the beautiful name of Islam.
Muak: The Malays in this country pay 'zakat' (alms) and this is deductible from their income tax. But this 'zakat' does not go to the state. It goes to Islamic organisations and are used for 'Islamic' purposes only.
The non-Malays pay taxes and this money is used by the state for various purposes, including funding Islamic activities. So are the non-Malays (pendatangs) in this country helping to fund the country's development as well as Islamic activities?
Mamak Bendahara: It is obvious that the Jais raid is part of the overall strategy to recapture Selangor. Umno and BN will do anything to win back Selangor.
Artchan: Actually it is very insulting to be a Muslim, when we have these so-called leaders fearing every Muslim will become apostate if they read a bible or enter a church. Is their faith so weak?
As ex-Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said, if going to a church compound can suddenly make you Christian, then PM Najib Razak would have been apostate now as he had set foot in Vatican.
Umno has no political capital, so the only way they can hope is to spread fear among the people.
Quigonbond: With the general elections coming, ministers have to start showing their relevance to the 'cause', which in Umno parlance means ultra-racism and religious bigotry.
Some have chosen to do it earlier, like Information Minister Rais Yatim and his Bersih communist agenda, but others have only woken up to the fact and are beginning to mobilise.
Anyone else want to say something really stupid about this matter? Why, maybe Umno can make it their election manifesto. Let's have a Anti-Conversion Act.
JBGUY: Religion is a personal issue between a person and his God. Compulsion or coercion will never reap good results. You cannot force anyone to believe in a god that he does not have faith in. Only in Malaysia, you have such stupidity and fools suggesting laws of that nature.
David Dass: Freedom of worship has as its corollary freedom of conscience. One cannot legislate religious belief. We already have laws that prohibit the dissemination of non-Muslim religions among Muslims. That is as far as you can go.
The courts have ruled that a Muslim cannot give up his or her faith except in exceptional circumstances to be determined by the Shariah Court. To do anything more is to send us backwards.
Raw: Once a person gives up his religion, it does not matter to him anymore what the religion or the law says. Religion is largely a matter of personal conviction.
Man-made law may keep someone as a believer of a faith only on paper. The law cannot win his spirit nor can it help to deepen his faith.
・The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments.
(2) Jais to issue arrest warrants for 12 Muslims, 10 August 2011
The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) will issue arrest warrants for 12 Muslims who attended the dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) last week, for refusing to assist in investigations.
According to Malay daily Berita Harian today, Jais had written to and called the 12 to present themselves at the department's office yesterday to give their statements, but none of them showed up.
Jais' deputy director in charge of investigations and enforcement, Sharom Maarof, was quoted as saying that arrest warrants will now be issued.
"Jais will apply for arrest warrants in 24 hours from the Syariah Court after the letters were issued today (Tuesday). They should present themselves to assist the investigations, but none of them was here," he is quoted as saying.
"We have given them time, and they could have contacted Jais any time to present themselves, but did not do so."
Sharom claimed that the 12 had been advised by their lawyers not to assist Jais in the investigations into the raid.
Quiz on Islam 'found in dustbins'
On the night of Aug 3, between 20 to 30 Jais officers had without a warrant, raided Dream Centre, an activity complex located in the compound of DUMC, as a multi-racial thanksgiving dinner was being held in honour of non-profit organisation Harapan Komuniti.
Amidst criticism from Christian groups, NGOs and political parties, Selangor exco member in charge of Islamic affairs Hasan Ali had justified the raid on basis that there is proof of proselytisation to Muslims attending the dinner.
Subsequently a Muslim NGO representative had come forward with the 'evidence': copies of a 'quiz' on matters of Islamic faith that had allegedly been found in the dustbins at the centre.
Jais director Marzuki Hussin has called on all quarters to stay calm until his department has concluded its investigation.
"Jais is still investigating the case," he said in a text-message sent to reporters.
2. The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)
PAS Youth supports church raid , 10 August 2011
SHAH ALAM: PAS Youth said the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had used its prerogative to raid a function at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church last week, adding that the movement backs the action.
PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan said it supported the Jais action on the principle that the department was keeping the akhlak (conduct) of the Muslims in check.
“Basically, the role of Jais is to protect the sanctity of Islam.
“There should not be any doubt on the action it took. Instead, it should be supported,” Nasrudin said after meeting Selangor executive councillor Datuk Dr Hasan Ali at his office here yesterday.
Claiming Dr Hasan had shown him strong “evidence” that led to the raid, Nasrudin said he was satisfied with the explanation given by the state exco member.
Dr Hasan had been criticised over his support of the raid, with calls from the DAP that he be removed from his state government post.
Urging critics not to be prejudiced, Nasrudin said Jais was merely carrying out its duty.
Meanwhile, Jais said it would issue warrants to the 12 Muslims who attended the church function to come to its office to help in the department's probe on the issue.
Jais investigation and enforcement assistant director Sharom Maarof said the department would apply to the Syariah court for the warrant to be issued.
“We have issued letters and had phoned them for their statement. However, no one has yet to come forward.
“We understand their lawyers had advised them not to turn up.”
Sharom added that Jais would give them time to turn up before issuing the warrants.
In another development, Malay rights group Perkasa lodged a police report to call for an investigation into allegations that the church function was used to proselytise Muslims.
Selangor Perkasa chairman Abdullah Mansor, accompanied by about 50 members, lodged the report at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters yesterday.
He claimed an unnamed Malay woman had confessed in a blog that she was given a Malay language bible and recordings of hymns at the event.
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3. Asia Sentinel (http://www.asiasentinel.com)
Tension Grows in Malaysian Religious Controversy , 9 August 2011
by Our Correspondent
Damansara Utama Methodist Church
Religious police accuse Christians of attempting to convert Muslims
Always-tense relations between Malaysia’s religious communities continue to be strained again over a raid on Aug. 3 by officials of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on a Methodist church in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Petaling Jaya where they said Malay Muslims were being converted to Christianity.
The Christian leaders say nothing of the sort was going on, and that the affair was a dinner to recognize an NGO called Harapan Komuniti (Community Hope) for its efforts to combat Aids. About 100 to 150 people were attending the dinner, among them 12 ethnic Malays.
Yesterday afternoon, the religious department said it was considering arrest warrants for the 12 Muslims, who apparently have refused on the advice of lawyers to give the department statements about their activities at the dinner.
Both Malays and Christians have repeatedly accused the other of attempting to convert the opposite members to their respective religions. According to Malaysia’s Demographic Statistics Division, 60.3 percent of the population is ethnic Malay, 22.9 percent Chinese and 6.7 percent Indian, with other races making up the difference, although the size of the Malay majority is disputed by the smaller ethnic groups.
The story has been complicated by reports in the Malay-language Berita Harian, a daily owned by the United Malays National Organization, and Harian Metro, a tabloid, that two women who attended the dinner said they had been offered RM1,000 each to convert to Christianity. The stories said Christian groups often target poverty-stricken Malays and offer them money to change their religion. The religious police also said the fact that a speaker had used the words Quran and “pray” in a speech was an indication of proseylitizing.
Christian leaders denied the charge. The raid has been roundly condemned by other religious groups as well, who expressed shock that Islamic religious police would enter a church. However, the youth wing of Perkasa, a group that advocates so-called Ketuanan Melayu, or Malay rights, said the reports by the two papers could be credible and asked for a police investigation into the claims.
The federal constitution, which ensures freedom of religion in Malaysia, also bans conversion attempts. Other state governments have enacted other statues that prohibit proselytizing by non-Muslims.
The presence of the Malays at a Christian church dinner during the Muslim fasting month was particularly sensitive, said a Malay source in Kuala Lumpur. “You don’t enter a church during Ramadan,” he said. Muslims are forbidden by their religion from taking food between sunrise and sunset.
The raid has caused confusion because the Selangor State government, which has control over the Islamic religious department, is in turn controlled by the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition. Typically it is the United Malays National Organization, the leading ethnic party in the national ruling coalition, which is accused by the opposition of fomenting religious tension. In fact, the raid was condemned by Khairy Jamaluddin, the chief of the UMNO youth wing, although mainly because the opposition coalition had allowed it to go forward.
Parti Islam se-Malaysia, which is still largely a fundamentalist Islamist party despite the election of moderate officers earlier this year who declared the party to be secular one now, shares an uneasy balance in largely moderate, middle-class Selangor state with the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party and more moderate urban Malays.
The state’s chief minister is Khalid Ibrahim of PAS, who apologized to the church. However, Hasan Ali, the executive councilor in charge of Islamic matters, defended the raid. No action apparently is being contemplated against Hasan by the party despite the embarrassment the raid has caused with the coalition’s non-Malay elements. That has spurred speculation that party leaders are concerned that action against Hasan would alienate conservative Muslims in the kampongs, or rural villages who are uneasy about the basic shift in the party’s philosophy.
The strongest condemnation came from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, an interfaith group that said in a prepared release that it “unreservedly condemns the unwarranted raid... which clearly breached the constitutionally guaranteed, and internationally recognized, sanctity of a holy place of worship – an event which has been confirmed by the Malaysian AIDS Council to have been organized to raise funds.”
The council described itself as “astonished as to how using the words “Quran” and “Pray” in speech can amount to proselytizing towards Muslims when these very words are used every day by Malaysians when conversing with each other.” The religious police’s action, the council said, “sets a dangerous precedent which must be stopped and condemned by all peace-loving Malaysians. The constitutionally guaranteed and internationally recognized sanctity of all places of worship cannot be compromised, and this unprecedented violation must be investigated and those responsible, appropriately punished.”
The statement also questioned whether any people had been asked to convert, as the newspapers reported, and demanded that: “If the newspapers in question are found to have published false statements likely, or meant, to incite religious or racial hatred between Malaysians, the authorities must initiate the necessary action to punish them to the full extent provided for in our laws.”
The UMNO-owned newspapers in the past have been criticized for consistently using inflamed language to describe relations between the races. At one point earlier this year they reported that Christian leaders in Penang had met to seek to convert Malaysia from an Islamic state to a Christian one, which Christian leaders dismissed as nonsense.
(End)
