THE CICAK.com

Thinking about God in Malaysia

By SAMUEL HO

First, the obvious:

Malaysia is home to a large and diverse group of religions with approximately 60 percent of the population Muslim; 19 percent Buddhist; nine percent Christian; six percent Hindu; and with three percent adhering to Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese religions. The remainder is accounted for by other faiths, including animism, Sikhism, and the Baha’i Faith. (Source: U.S. Department of State)

Malaysia also has several places of worship for the main religions of the country (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism).

There is no doubt that Malaysia indeed is a country where religion plays a very large role in society.

Now for the not-so-obvious:

Is Malaysia a “religiously free” country?

Constitutionally, religious freedom is provided for under Article 11 of the federal constitution. This article grants non-Muslims to practice their religion freely and without disruption by other members of the community.

In reality, however, religious freedom in Malaysia has been subject to constant debate.

As far as religion is concerned, Islam has long enjoyed its status as the “official religion” of Malaysia. It helps that it happens to be the religion practiced by the majority of the population here. Generally, Islam isn’t contested as the official religion of Islam due to legal and societal reasons, but one can’t help notice a common chord of dissatisfaction among the other religions with regards to Islam’s status.

Malaysia in all its religious glory has been subject to a number of religious incidents: we have the Lina Joy case , the M. Moorthy case, the Shamala versus Jayaganesh case, and the infamous incident of the destruction of Hindu temples by irresponsible local officials.

More recently, we have had the Islamic authorities throwing their weight against a small group of “deviants” who call themselves the Sky Kingdom, led by Ayah Pin. With their followers locked up, their complex demolished and their teachings banned, the Sky Kingdom bore the brunt of the Islamic religious authorities.

As you can see, living in a religiously pluralistic society has its “perks.”

As a result of these aforementioned cases (and a few others), several groups have called for greater religious freedom in Malaysia, with more regulations and checks and interreligious mediation for matters which overlap between religions. This resulted in an effort to form an independent interfaith council.

The recent move to form the Article 11 coalition is seen by many Muslims as an effort to undermine the comfortable seat of power they have held since independence.

Members of the other religions, however, see it as a move to better protect their rights in a country where they are the religious minority.

But religious confrontations in Malaysia aren’t just confined to those between Islam and the other religions. There is also a lot of Christian–Buddhist conflict (think young Chinese Buddhists converting to Christianity) and also Christian–Hindu conflict (think of Christian-Hindu intermarriages).

But are things really that bad here in Malaysia? Is the condition of our religious freedom so appalling?

Let’s take a moment to ponder…

Can we seriously say that we have found it difficult to practice our own religion?

Think about it.

Can we go to church on Sundays?

Can we pray and meditate at our temples in peace?

Can we build glorious statues in honour of Lord Ganesh?

Can we pray five times a day without disruption?

Religion has and will always play an important role in Malaysian society. As a society we are still a very conservative bunch. Most families take religion very seriously and make it a point to instill their respective religious values in their children.

But despite this general conservatism, Malaysians realise that living in a multireligious society means interfaith relations must be taken care of very carefully.

An example of this is the serving of vegetarian, non-beef and halal food at most official events, and the acceptance of the turban and the headscarf into the formal attire of schools, universities, and government institutions.

You may not realise it, but religious freedom is something which most Malaysians take very seriously.

I believe that we all believe in the same God, the same “all-powerful being.” It’s just that we choose slightly different ways of approaching Him.

Sometimes I wonder what God thinks of us. I wonder what He thinks of the way we have somewhat accepted all the very different methods of being close to Him.

Even though we all have different names, different characteristics, and even different forms for Him, many of us still believe in Him, the Almighty.

Therefore condemning the religion of others is just as bad as condemning your own religion.

Rather than vilify each others’ beliefs, we should be rejoicing in the fact that most of us believe in a greater power which governs us.

For the record, Malaysia is not even on the blacklist of countries(prepared by the U.S. Department of State) where there is very little religious freedom.

We live in a nation where religion and belief play a very strong role. Yet interestingly enough it is this same love for conservatism and pragmatism that binds us together.

True enough, the level of religious freedom in our country could be better.

But it could also be a lot worse.
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SAMUEL HO is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

Samuel thinks the world is flat. It was slightly rounder before. He is so shocked at how flat it is becoming that he has even taken steps to flatten his belly in order to keep up with the times. His hobbies include blog-stalking and joining various online groups under different pseudonyms.