Religious strife caused by Malaysians pushing the envelope, says minister

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysians eager to test the limits of how far they can expand their faiths are the cause of growing religious friction in the country, said Malaysian Cabinet member Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Defending Putrajaya against allegations that it was fomenting religious divisions as part of a political power play, the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister insisted the religious strife was largely due to people’s desire to expand their spheres of influence.

“First and foremost, everybody wants to test the envelope, whether it will break or not.

“Everybody is pushing the envelope. Muslims are pushing the envelope, the non-Muslims are pushing the envelope, you know. So, everybody is trying to test the system,” the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) lawmaker told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

Mr Rahman also said liberalism is not a negative trait, but must be managed well to avoid upsetting Malaysians who are generally conservative.

While liberal traits are easily integrated into areas such as business and the economy, introducing these to Malaysian society could anger conservative Malays and Muslims in particular, he said.

“By definition, it’s not that bad, but you must understand that this is still a conservative society. The majority of Malaysians are still conservative, especially the Malays and Muslims in the rural areas, so we have to take into consideration their feelings and sensitivities,” he told Malay Mail Online.

In particular, he said care must be taken with ideas that could challenge religious orthodoxy in Malaysia, especially Islam.

The nation’s religious authorities have long derided liberalism and pluralism, with Friday sermons nationwide claiming a conspiracy by the “enemies of Islam” to manipulate Muslims through ideas such as secularism, socialism, feminism and positivism, in addition to the two.

Much of the resistance towards liberalism in Malaysia is in part underpinned by claims the ideology would be used to erode the Muslim faith.

On May 14, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Islam and its followers are still being tested by the threat of liberalism, citing the case of Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, a Malaysian maths scholar recently convicted for possession of child pornography in the United Kingdom, as an example.

Mr Najib said liberalism and advocates of liberal ideas had been posing tough challenges to Muslims in Malaysia and could even end up ruining the Muslim identity.

Religious ties in Malaysia have been strained during recent months. A decision by Malaysia’s top court in January dismissed a final bid by the Catholic church to use the word “Allah” in its newspaper, ending a six-year legal tussle between Muslims and Christians over the use of the Arabic word for God.

More recently, about 50 Muslim residents in April staged a protest against a church in Selangor for affixing a cross on its façade, claiming the act was a challenge to Islam and could influence young Muslims.

Such incidents were why Putrajaya must intervene in the attempts to keep pushing the proverbial envelope, Mr Rahman explained.

“Now imagine if it breaks, chaos will ensue. So this is where the government has to step in and say ‘No’,” he said, adding that it is not the government’s intention to encroach on religious freedom. THE MALAY MAIL