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.