I refer to the letter published in The Star of Dec 8, as proposed and promoted by 25 well-accomplished Malays of various backgrounds and cultures. They speak for the rest of Malaysians and have set an excellent example of leadership by example.
When anyone puts their name to a subject matter, and states a common public position on the matter of deliberation, and you realise that they are not simply blinded Umno members, who scream and yell at their AGM, but they are public servants of some calibre and have served the public interest in their services of repute; then, you very well sit up and take note.
I also took note of another equally paradigmatic event: the Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) statement that the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) officers had desecrated the very bibles they illegally confiscated from BSM and have now returned to the church authorities by the backdoor of the Anglican Church, presumably with the concurrence of the BSM, but obviously unbeknown to them that these bibles have been abused by human hands.
Are Jais or the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) good examples of Islamic jurisprudence?
When the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI), our NGO, hosted a forum called ‘The Islamic State: Which version, whose responsibility?’ in November 2012, the contents and coverage of the dialogue was rubbished by the “bad publicity” given by the Malay mainstream newspapers such that they screamed YB Nurul Izzah Anwar had said that Muslims can become apostates?
She did not and never did, based on our recording .
The theological problem facing Islam in Malaysia and worldwide, is that there is no hierarchy of thought or authority system within Islam to clearly define her jurisprudence. Unlike, for example, the Catholic Church, or the mainline Protestant Churches of the World Council of Churches, which have hierarchies, Islam does not have any formal or approved hierarchy.
While there are centres of excellence for Islamic thought; none has formal authority to “issue global encyclicals or ‘fatwas’ which then become the basis for Islamic law for different jurisdictions”.
Therefore, what we get is chaos or confusion, not just between relative secular or civil systems and the religious systems, but also between the federal constitution and the state enactments in Malaysia. Therefore, when these religious but ignorant zealots ‘break the law, and abuse the private property of others’, we expect the attorney-general (AG) to take action but is he really impartial about law enforcement?
Article 121 (1A) cannot therefore be the licence for all wrong-doing in the name if Islam. The inspector-general of police (IGP) has already set a very bad example; or abusive interpretation of the law.
Azmin’s bold initiative, and apparent political failure
I have written about Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s positive energy after his assumption of the leadership of the state to resolve the Bible issue, but now we hear that maybe he had trusted the wrong people to be honest and truthful. It appears to me, viewing from the outside, that the Mais/Jais officials may have deceived the state leadership, if they did ‘in fact’ conduct the desecration of the bibles privately and illegally.
Even more importantly, there are now grounds for criminal negligence action being taken against Jais officials who ‘undertook the actual stamping of the bibles.’ I am not involved with BSM and do not know what their formal system would do, as Christian teaching always focuses on forgiveness rather than revenge or retaliation. But that story will unfold.
This does not however mean that Christians, as a Malaysian congregation of 3 million people, need to allow themselves to be bullied under a false political philosophy of humility which must be displayed at any cost.
I disagree with such political philosophy, as there is always the alternative of peaceful resistance but which is also equally Christian, as exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr. Change in democratic values and rule of law comes when our voice of protest is really and unconditionally heard, too.
Therefore, I think we must positively engage with Azmin Ali instead of blaming him for the work of the uneducated elders in the Jais/Mais who ignore the federal constitution and make their rules based on whims and fancies. They must be taken to court instead. I pray we do.
Concurrently, I am glad to also note that the Majlis, or Inter-Faith Council has registered a formal disagreement about the abuse of constitutional rights of other communities vide an Islamic jurisprudence system that is both illegal and unconstitutional.
Failure of mutual respect and due regard
Faith will always be a personal and private matter. That is the nature and meaning of any spiritual reality. Matters of the spirit pre-empt religious rules or any legal system. That is why, in matters of law, the spirit of the law is more important than the actual words of the law. The spirit always provides context for specified text.
Under the federal constitution, and premised on our foundation principles for Malaysia; only the nine states of the Federation of Malaya have religious enactments for the reality of Islam as the religion of the state, and sultans as head for the religion.
By unilaterally extending such Islamic jurisdiction and enforcement issues to the higher level of the Federation of Malaysia, which is made up of three larger entities, we have reduced all to the level of 13 states of Malaya. We have thereby changed the power of Islamic jurisprudence to include areas and arenas not originally covered and agreed to in the Malaysia Agreement.
That is a serious violation and abuse of the spirit of the Malaysian foundation in 1963, and therefore can have serious implications for the continuity of our nation state.
Therefore, it is outstanding that 25 notable individuals have addressed all related issues but what is even more significant is that they speak for Moderate Middle Malaysia. It is time therefore for PM Najib Abdul Razak to give substance to this moderation agenda, or step down, and allow some else to assume this agenda, if the PM is not serious about it at all.
If not, please abolish that agenda and do not mislead all moderate human beings, who are the majority in Malaysia. We can reorganise ourselves and begin to communicate the need for real change of directions in this country.
Come on, moderate Malaysians; we are Malaysia and must wake up from slumber and speak up, as did these 25 Malaysians, and then make our views on such matters public. We have no choice if we love this country. May God bless Malaysia, regardless.
