By R. Vijay Kumar
A religion is a set of beliefs and practices. It refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. “Religion” is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘faith’ or ‘belief system’. Religion is also often described as a ‘way of life’ or a life stance. A person’s life stance is his or her relation with what he or she accepts as of his or her ‘ultimate importance’.
According to Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, www.ReligiousTolerance.org, ‘Religious Tolerance’ means to extend religious freedom to people of all religious traditions, even though you may well disagree with their beliefs and/or practices. Having tolerance toward another religion does not require you to endorse that faith group’s beliefs; it simply indicates your respect for its right to exist and for its member to hold different beliefs without being oppressed.
The web site also states that ‘Religious Tolerance’ does not require you to accept that all religions are equally true. You can criticize actions motivated by religions that harm others. You can compare beliefs of different religions with each other & with scientific findings. You can freely believe, worship and witness as you wish. You can change your beliefs or your religion at any time.
“The need of the moment is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions. – Mahatma Gandhi.
Before we discuss the above topic, let us delve into some historical facts in the area of ideas and religion long before the British arrival at the end of the 18th Century in South-East Asia.
The original inhabitants of South-East Asia were Animist, i.e. their belief was that nature has soul. They believed in the widespread existence of spirits which dwelt in trees, stones, mountains, animals and the sky. These spirits affected their everyday lives. They believed they had to appease the spirit of the forest before a hunter sets off to the forest, or the spirit of the sea had to be pacified before the fisherman sailed away into the sea.
In the first century, traders from the southern of India started to sail to the islands in South-East Asia. They continued for hundred of years. They went to Malaya, Indo-China, Sumatra, Java and Borneo, and established themselves and took the Indian culture and Indian arts with them. Some of the rulers in these lands gradually abandon animism and embraced Hinduism. Their states became Hindu states, and Hindu empires were established in these lands.
Soon, the Buddhism philosophy and teachings also arrived and also spread widely in these regions.
Towards the end of the 13th Century, religion of Islam also came to Malaya. Like the other great religions from India, the advent of Islam was also from South India and not direct from its country of origin, i.e. Saudi Arabia.
Soon, some of the rulers and their subjects in the region of South Thailand, Malaya and Sumatra embraced Islam. Foreigners who came here during that time easily integrated themselves into the local cultures. Soon the Europeans and Chinese traders who settled here adapted to their new environment. Many blended into the society but retained their original religious beliefs. There is no history of Islam being imposed upon the people. The Malacca Sultanate, which established in the early 15th Century, and the other early Malay kingdoms are testimonial to the existence of groups with different ethnic and religious backgrounds living harmoniously within one society. It was a matter of choice and preference, even then. They had already created a mindset of respect and tolerance amongst the rulers, the locals and the traders. The populace was mainly settled on the coastal areas or at river banks.
The era of the colonial rule began with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1511, and later the Dutch in 1641, to conquer Malacca. The British conquered Malacca in 1795, and eventually ruled Malaya and North Borneo. Together with these colonialists came the religious missionaries to introduce Christianity.
The European colonialists obviously came to this region for capital gains. It was the British rule that transformed the history of the Malay states/kingdoms. There was a great influx of Chinese and Indians into Malaya. These migrants came to work for a living in the rubber estate and the tin mines. During this ‘colonial pluralism’ there was a lack of interaction between these different ethnic groups, and thus a lack of knowledge of each other.
Because of this lack of interaction, religion was never a contentious issue between these different ethnic groups. The British govern the states, but the Sultans were the symbolic rulers of their states, the protectors of the Malay culture and the religion of Islam. With the use of religion were these rulers able to contain the locals and command loyalty.
Some of the ‘nationalists’ (or rather opportunists) who were perhaps unhappy with their own deficit of power and/or wealth, started hatching the perception that these ‘foreigners’ were a threat to the Malays. These ‘foreigners’ were amassing wealth at the expense of the Malays. But actually, many of ‘foreigners’ were lowly paid wage-earners, a minority were self-employed small proprietors, and the very few were affluent capitalists. These capitalists, together with the Malay rulers and chieftains, were the cohorts of the colonialists. This few become wealthy and prosperous and assimilated into the elite group.
To keep them within hold, several of these so called nationalists were also provided wealth and status, now at the expense of their own fellow ethnic people.
After the 2nd World War, in the middle of the 20th Century, the British could no longer maintain their imperialist statue over their colonies. Malaysia was finally becoming a sovereign nation state. The British tried to establish the Malayan Union. One of the contentions was the rights to citizenship of the ethnic Chinese and Indians, and the other was the sovereignty of the Malay sultans. Whilst the non-Malays and several ‘radical’ Malays were supportive of the Malayan Union, several of the ‘nationalists’ campaigned against it. They finally got all the Sultans in unison to oppose its establishment.
A concession was finally achieved and enshrined in the Federal Constitution under Article 153, which entitles citizenship to non-Malays and in return, grants Malays special rights in the fields of education, in public services and in commerce.
Today, Malaysia is a sovereign nation. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural country. The Malay ethnic group make up about half the total population. The second largest ethnic group is Chinese who makes up over a quarter of the population. The Indians comprise the third largest ethnic group at 8% of the population.
The Eurasians, the aboriginal Orang Asli groups in West Malaysia and the non-Malay indigenous ethnic races in Sabah and Sarawak make up the rest of the country’s population.
Both the states of Sarawak and Sabah are also multi-cultural, with no real ethnic majority. More than half the Sarawak’s population is made up of about 30 ethnic (non-Malay) indigenous/natives races (of which 30% are Ibans). The Chinese make up 26% of the population and the Malays make up 21%.
In Sabah, 60% of the population is made up of about 30 ethnic non-Malay indigenous groups (of which 18% are Kadazan-Dusuns and 17% are Bajaus). The rest are Malay, Chinese and other non-Bumiputra races.
Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, according to the Federal Constitution. The Malay ethnic group are by definition Muslims.
The other religions commonly practiced include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and the other Chinese folk religions, which are a fusion of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and ancestor worship. There is also a small following of the Bahai Faith. Animism is very prevalent amongst the indigenous groups.
It is interesting to note that the majority of people in Sabah and Sarawak are non-Muslims. Christianity is very widely practiced in these two states. By large however, all the races in Sabah and Sarawak still celebrate their traditional animist festivals.
There is also large number of non-Malaysian populace living in Sabah, predominantly illegal Muslim immigrants.
Recently, the Parti Bersatu Sabah has asked for these non-Malay indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak be recognised as clusters of major races in Malaysia, namely Bumiputra Sabah and Bumiputra Sarawak, and not as ‘other races’ in the Federal government affairs and forms.
The choice of religious belief is a basic human right. Article 11 of the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
The first basic tenet of the National Principles (Rukun Negara) is “Belief in God”.
It is clearly enshrined in the Constitution that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as its official religion.
Malaysia has decided to maintain two parallel justice systems, one is the secular justice system based upon laws gazetted by parliament, and the other a Syariah Court, whose rules are set up by the various sultans of the state. The Syariah Court has jurisdiction over Muslim only. It is clear that non-Muslims do not have any legal standing in Syariah Courts. Syariah courts are limited in their jurisdiction by Article 121 of the Federal Constitution.
Debates on whether is Malaysia an Islamic country because it has a Muslim majority is no longer necessary.
There will be, however, a few small narrow-minded politicians, muftis and opportunists who will raise the general feeling of violence and racial clashes at the slightest chance to gain political mileage. They will raise any issue that is aligned along communal lines to intimidate, coerce and stamp their brand of dominance over others. This is especially at their political party meetings or offices, where they want to keep their political position or ‘religious statue’. They know what controversies motivate and excite their party delegates and people at large, and they will fan on these.
Praise God that such people are a fast dying breed.
The Malaysian populace has changed dramatically more recently. We are more vocal. We are not prepared to suffer in silence or watch others suffer. Most importantly we see clearly what is happening before us. The vast majority of us reject the notion of solving issues and misunderstanding through violence.
Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, former Bar Council President, a lawyer and an award winning human rights activist, in an interview recently said, “Religious tolerance is a sensitive issue but is not something that we cannot discuss. A sensitive issue merely means an issue that we must discuss with care and moderation. The rest of the world is looking for a platform to launch such inter faith discussions. A platform already exists in Malaysia by virtual of our multi-racial and multi-cultural background and it is a shame we are not setting an example for such inter-religious discourse. My view is that we lack the leadership for this and instead we find our leaders using religion as a political tool that creates divisiveness and hinders harmonious discourse. Take away the politics and we have a chance for common understanding. With politics, we will continue to regress on this issue.”
There has been several controversy concerning the conversion to and from Islam, conversion of a minor, the practicing of yoga exercises, the breaking of the Hindu temples, the ban of the usage of the arabic word ‘Allah’, spoken or written by Malay speaking non-Muslim., and the most recent issue of reciting a verse from the Holy Quran by a non-Muslim.
Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the PAS spiritual leader and one of the country’s most respected Muslim leaders, said recently that non-Muslims should be allowed to use the word “Allah”. He also recently came to the defense of Perak DAP secretary Nga KorMing, saying that non-Muslims can recite a verse from the Quran and it was not wrong if their pronunciation was not correct. “Anybody can read the Quran whether one is a Muslim or a non-Muslim and the Quran is not owned by the Malays or the Arabs”.
The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) had previously initiated interfaith dialogues aimed at promoting better understanding and respect among the country’s different religious groups. Participants included representatives from the Malaysian Islamic Development Department, the Malaysian Ulama Association, other mainstream Islamic groups, and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS). Such dialogues should be regularly conducted, also together with the other mainstream Islamic groups.
Also, the setting up of the much awaited ‘Inter-Faith Commission’ would provide a venue for people to seek advice.
I believe that the Pakatan Rakyat is making some real conscientious efforts to resolve the issues and promote mutual respect and tolerance towards one another.