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50 YEARS OF ISLAMISATION
Compiled by Aneel David Kannabhiran
1957: The Reid Commission
drafted the Federal Constitution, and at the behest of one of the Commission
members, Mr. Justice Abdul Hamid of West Pakistan High Court, Article 3 (1) was
formulated as such: “Islam is the religion of the Federation …” 1966: Restrictions were
placed on the employment, entry and residence of priests and religious
personnel. This led to the reduction of religious personnel in mission
schools. 1974: The Red Cross
Society was re-named Red Crescent Society. 1974 to present: The
airing of Islamic television and radio programmes began increasing. From 1974
onwards, prime time television programmes were paused to air the Azans [Muslim
prayer]. In 1982 Islamic content on TV stood at 10 per cent; in 1988 it rose
to 17.5 per cent. In 2007, new station
TV9 was launched, which features mainly Islamic programming. There is no
coverage of non-Muslim religious programmes, save for during the respective
festivals. Songs
that contain the word ‘Jesus’ have been banned [eg: “Jesus to a Child” by
George Michael], as well as movies depicting prophets [eg: “Prince of Egypt”,
a film about the life of Moses]. 1979: The Islamic
Revolution and revivalism in Iran had a direct effect on Muslims here. Muslim
clerics began exhorting their faithful to return to the fundamentals of the
faith. The Angkatan Budaya Islam Malaysia [Malaysian Islamic Cultural Force]
(ABIM) led by Anwar Ibrahim started the dakwah [the call] movement
mainly among government college and university students. Muslim women, for
the first time, were seen donning the tudung [head covering].
Over the years, wearing of the tudung has become the norm amongst
Muslim women. 1981: The Indonesian
translation of the Bible – “Alkitab” was banned under the Internal Security
Act. The ban was later lifted on condition the books were restricted to
Christian use. In 2000, the Bahasa
Malaysia translation of “Alkitab” was confiscated by the Special Branch from
the Daughters of St. Paul bookstore in Petaling Jaya. The then Deputy PM
Abdullah Badawi later released the books on condition that the words “for
Christians only” were printed on the cover. 1984: It became illegal
for non-Muslims to use 49 ‘Islamic’ words including Allah [God],
Alhamdulilah [Praise be to God] and Insya Allah [God willing]. 1985: The then Deputy
Prime Minister [PM] Datuk Musa Hitam said, “The government has set up a
committee to co-ordinate the various aspects of Islamic Syariah and
civil laws in line with efforts to infuse Islamic values into the
Administration.” [New Straits Times (NST) 9 March ‘85] Aug 1986: ABIM proposes
to government that, “Islamic laws be the basis of legislation in Malaysia.”
[NST 25 Aug ‘86] Sep 1986: The Federal
and State governments agreed to the integration of Syariah and Civil
Courts. The then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas said this integration was a
first step toward the Islamisation of laws in the country. He also said that
changes should not be made drastically … the best changes are those which are
imperceptible. [The Star 25 Sep ‘86] The above situation
led to a written protest by the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism,
Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism [MCCBCHS], and a nationwide church and
temple signature campaign denouncing the plans. 1988: The then Minister
of Education Anwar Ibrahim, directed all Principals, aged fifty-five and
above who were religious, to stop service with immediate effect. The
Principals who took over were mostly Muslim. Subsequently,
1988: Article 121 of the
Federal Constitution was amended by Art. 121 (1A), to state that, the Civil
Courts “shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter within the
jurisdiction of the Syariah Courts.” The result of this
amendment led to the Civil Courts being unable to adjudicate in cases where
the Islamic ingredient is present notwithstanding the fact the person seeking
judicial relief or remedy is a non-Muslim, especially in matters related to
conversion, matrimony, children’s custody and burial. Over the years, case
law has shown:
1980s: In line with Article
11 (4) of the Federal Constitution: “State and federal law may restrict the
propagation of any other religious doctrine among Muslims”, the Control and
Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions Enactment was passed
in six states. The penalties for such violations are a maximum RM10,000 fine or one year’s jail,
or both. Five persons
including a former Muslim were detained without trial under the ISA for
allegedly performing missionary work amongst Muslims. During
the 80s the print media attempted to portray that Christian evangelism was a
threat to the Muslim faith. As an example, on 9 Oct ’87, the NST reported
that, “Christians attempted to convert Muslims with bribe money”. On 5 Oct
’87 Mingguan Islam alleged that US$100bil was provided by the “World
Federation of Churches” for the Christianisation of Muslims. The Malaysian
Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism
[MCCBCHS] asserted that both these stories were false. Furthermore, there is
no such body as the “World Federation of Churches”. 1980s to present: Approvals
for building of non-Muslim places of worship became increasingly difficult.
Unusual conditions were imposed – height restrictions on steeples, design
restrictions temple domes – Sikh gurdwaras are barred from building
their traditional domes for fear that it may cause confusion for looking too
mosque-like. The Church of the
Divine Mercy in Shah Alam took no less than 28 years to be approved and built
due to vexatious bureaucratic delays and protests from residents. To date, over 10
Hindu temples have been demolished by local councils on grounds that the
structures were illegal. 1980s to present: Muslims
by virtue of paying their tithes [zakat] are allowed a tax rebate of
the amount tithed. This has resulted in Muslims having a lower effective tax
rate, while non-Muslims with the same level of income are taxed a higher
percentage. 1993: Banks and finance
companies were allowed to offer Islamic banking services. 1993: Kelantan State
Legislative Assembly, which is under the control of opposition Parti Islam
SeMalaysia [PAS], passed the Syariah Criminal Code [II] Bill, which
included Hudud laws that call for stoning to death and chopping of
limbs – these laws could be applied to those from any religion. [As the
Federal Government does not recognise these laws, to date, they have not yet
been enforced.] 1999: The ruling Barisan
Nasional [BN] party suffered its biggest setback in its history when apart
from Kelantan, also lost the state of Terengganu to PAS in the General
Elections. PAS, with its vision
of setting up a Syariah-based Islamic State, replaced the Democratic
Action Party [DAP] as the main opposition party in Parliament. This
led to a race between the BN and PAS to try and ‘out-Islamise’ each other by
posturing themselves to appear more ‘Islamic’. 2001: In an apparent
attempt to thwart support for PAS’ plans of an Islamic State should it come
into power, the then PM Mahathir Mohamed declared that Malaysia was already a
“model Islamic Country”. Despite public outcry from the non-Muslim
population, the non-Malay component parties within the ruling coalition were
either compliant or silent on the issue. 2002: The policy
“Absorption of Islamic Values” into government administration was launched.
According to the booklet, “Malaysia is an Islamic Country”, the “policy will
be implemented on a continuous basis until the goal of entrenching Islam into
the nation’s system is fully achieved.” The booklet was later withdrawn but
the policy is arguably still in force. 2004: PAS was ousted by
the DAP as main opposition party in Parliament when it lost Terengganu to the
BN and retained Kelantan by the narrowest of margins in the General Election.
The BN, helmed by new PM Abdullah Badawi, experienced its biggest victory to
date winning nine tenths of the contested Parliamentary seats. Badawi
then introduced the new concept of Islam Hadhari [Civilisational
Islam]. 2005: Plans to set up an
Interfaith Commission, a statutory non-adjudicative body to assist the
government in shaping coherent policy pertaining to religious harmony, were
scuttled by widespread protests from Muslim activists who alleged the
Commission would “interfere with the holiness of Islam”. 2005: City Hall
enforcement officers arrested a non-Muslim couple for hugging and kissing in
a public park. The couple appealed to the Federal Court, which ruled that
City Hall was correct. The decision has now empowered local council
authorities to act as morality police. 2006: An elderly American
couple on holiday in Langkawi were harassed and humiliated by State religious
enforcement officers who raided their apartment on suspicion they were
Muslims committing khalwat [close proximity] – an offence under Syariah
law. 2006: A coalition of
non-governmental organisations [NGOs] formed “Article 11” [named after the
constitutional provision which enshrines freedom of religion], with the
intention of reminding the government to defend the Federal Constitution and
reaffirm the country’s secular nature. Their nationwide fora were repeatedly
disrupted by Islamist activists. The PM stepped in and assuaged the protestors
by putting a halt “Article 11’s” activities. 2006: The Attorney
General’s Chambers now has a Syariah unit whose functions, inter
alia, are to “take steps toward the realisation of a set of laws and
specific body that will be responsible for the harmonisation of civil law and
syarak [laws of Islam]”. This
could be seen as a resumption of the 1985-1988 initiative towards the
integration of Syariah and Civil Courts. 2007: Islamic authorities
have been observed to have grown more tyrannical in their enforcement, as
evidenced by the recent Revathi Masoosai case where they forcibly took away
her child on the grounds that she was a Muslim who illegally practised
Hinduism, despite her claim that she had been a practising Hindu since
childhood. A
“Building Bridges” seminar of prominent Muslim and Christian scholars under
the auspice of the Archbishop of Canterbury scheduled for 7-11 May 2007 was
abruptly postponed by officials of the Prime Minister’s Department. No new
date has been yet fixed. July 17 2007: Deputy
PM Najib Abdul Razak said Malaysia has never been a secular
state as the government has always been driven by the fundamentals of Islam,
according to state Bernama news agency. Sources: ‘Hudud
Laws, The Constitution and the Penal Code’ by O.C. Lim, SJ. ‘Islamisation
of Malaysian Laws’ by Paul Tan Chee Ing, SJ. ‘Why
the MCCBCHS Rejects the Application of the Syariah on Non-Muslims’ by
Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and
Sikhism [MCCBCHS]. ‘Journey
of the Catholic Church in Malaysia’ by Maureen Chew, IJ. ‘Unity
Threatened by Continuing Infringements of Religious Freedom’ by Malaysian
Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism
[MCCBCHST] MalaysiaKini.com Catholic
Asian News : March, May, July, Sept
2006, May 2007.
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