KL must reconsider interfaith talks

KL must reconsider interfaith talks

P. Ramasamy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, The Straits Times,
Asia News Network, Singapore

Being a multi-racial and multi-religious country, Malaysia
cannot take for granted that relations between different
religious groups would continue without major problems.

Recently, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohamad
commented that although he was personally not against the idea of
having inter-religious dialog in Malaysia, Muslims, in general,
were still quite apprehensive about engaging in formal dialogs
with members of other faiths in the country.

Dr Mahathir did not elaborate on the reasons for this, but it
is clear that the official position enjoyed by Islam, its
constant use as a political rallying point for Malays and the
apparent perspective that other faiths are second to Islam have
contributed to this state of affairs.

The absence of inter-faith dialog seems to be related to the
way politics has taken root in the country over the past four
decades or so.

In the earlier decades, it was not so much religion that
occupied the minds of Malaysians but rather ethnic differences
between Malays and non-Malays.

During the independence and post-independence periods, the
ruling government sought to organize and institutionalize
politics in such a manner as to give priority to Malay concerns.
Given this, it was natural to expect the polarization of politics
along ethnic lines.

However, in the last two decades or so, Malay concerns have
embraced the component of religion -- that is, the need to
prioritize Islam in the country, its significance as a political
rallying point for Malay-based political parties and, more
importantly, the effort on the part of UMNO to infuse Islamic
values in the country's administration.

While non-Malays were able to deal with the ethnic politics of
Malays, they found it difficult to deal with the Islamic issue.
More particularly, the competition between UMNO and Parti Islam
SeMalaysia (PAS) served to introduce Islam as a conflictual
dimension in the relationship between Malays and non-Malays.

The government's effort to introduce Islamic elements in the
society and special privileges for Muslims/Malays, set up Islamic
institutions in both the private and public sectors, and put in
place restrictions on non-Muslim cultural and religious practices
have alarmed non-Muslims in the country.

Furthermore, PAS' recent call to set up an Islamic state and
the countermove made by Dr Mahathir to declare Malaysia an
Islamic state have raised anxieties among non-Muslims.

Thus, given this context, it is not surprising why Muslims in
general would be opposed to having meaningful inter-religious
dialog with their non-Muslim counterparts.

Given the hegemonic role of Islam vis-a-vis other religions,
inter-religious dialog might give the appearance that Islam is
on par with other religious faiths. This is something the
government would want to avoid as it has played a major role in
the Islamisation of society.

So, if the government is seen to promote this kind of
dialog, it might be interpreted by the opposition parties and
others that it is not serious about the pre-eminent status of
Islam.

Needless to say, the call for such a dialog might provide
ammunition for parties like PAS to go on a road-show to expose
UMNO's lack of sincerity and commitment in promoting Islam.

Since Malaysia has been declared an Islamic state recently,
moves to have dialogs with other religious communities might
serve to contradict the government's stand.

In this respect, Dr Mahathir might not be exactly correct to
say Muslims in the country are not prepared to have dialogs and
that it might take some time for them to be so.

The real obstacle that stands in the way of inter-faith
dialog is the government. Since the present nature of racial
and religious politics tends to favor those in the government,
one can expect very little from it to change the contours of
national politics.

Even if the formalization of inter-religious dialog might take
some time, surely, the government should initiate such activities
to promote racial and religious integration. What is more, the
war on terrorism has provided concrete indications that religious
extremism is counter-productive as it is organized along
exclusive lines.

As Malaysia has taken a strong stand against terrorism in
general, there is a need for it to promote some kind of religious
pluralism among the masses.

Given the strong position of the government, without the
necessary political will, societal forces might not be capable of
initiating such a dialog.

There is need for a strong push from the government. It is
fully aware of the fragile nature of ethnic and religious
relationships in the country.

So, rather than saying that Malaysians are not ready for a
dialog, the government should look seriously into the issue of
formalizing and institutionalizing dialogs between different
communities.

Time is not on the side of those who adopt a wait-and-see
attitude.