DAP wants BN to walk religion talk

Najib said the open celebrations of various religious holidays proved freedom of religion in Malaysia. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — DAP wants Putrajaya to resolve the country’s religious strife, in line with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent remarks that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government guarantees religious freedom.


DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua today reminded the prime minister that the practice of religious freedom should not only be skin deep, where celebrations are held in the open but both written and unwritten restrictions are placed on the various religions in the country.

He said if Najib’s claim were true, the premier should then instruct  Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to retract the government’s appeal against a December 2009 High Court decision permitting the Catholic Church to use of the term “Allah” beyond a Muslim scope.

“No such rule exists even in the predominantly Muslim Middle East, and history has shown the use of the term for centuries among Christians and Sikhs.

“However, the Barisan Nasional government has chosen to unreasonably restrict the religious practices of non-Muslims resulting in the suit filed by the Catholic Church against the former,” Pua said in a statement.

The Catholic Church’s newspaper, The Herald Weekly, had challenged the home ministry for the right to use the word “Allah” to describe God in the Christian context and had won in a landmark ruling at the High Court on New Year’s Eve in 2009.

Pua reminded Najib that religious freedom must go beyond appearances.

However, the paper remains barred from using the term pending an unresolved appeal by the home ministry.
 
On Thursday, Najib had joined the Thaipusam celebrations in Sungai Petani, where he said the freedom of religion practised in the country proved that the government is fair to all.

He also said the facilities and assistance provided to religious bodies also reflected the government’s aspiration in seeing the people live in peace and harmony.

But Pua said there is a growing list of cases where non-Muslims had to battle government officials and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, whom he described as having adopted the impromptu roles of Islamic religious authorities in Malaysia.

“These have included the cases of Tan Cheow Hong, Indira Gandhi, Nedunchelian, Shamala, and Genga Devi where their family lives totally disrupted when their children were converted to Islam without their knowledge or consent by a disgruntled spouse,” he claimed.

He then sought for the prime minister to expand the scope of the Cabinet-sanctioned Committee for the Promotion of Inter-religious Understanding and Harmony amongst Adherents and allow it to openly discuss critical issues affecting religious harmony in the country.

“The BN government has repeatedly postponed the inter-faith meetings which reflect the degree of intolerance among certain religious leaders in Malaysia, including a petty dispute over the name of the sub-committee,” he said.

He said while Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component parties had been active in convening such inter-faith dialogues, Umno had chosen to endorse a demonstration where protestors paraded a severed cow’s head to complain against the building of a Hindu temple in Shah Alam, on the basis that “a majority of the residents are Muslims”.

“It is hence completely hypocritical for Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman to call PAS extremists, and to claim that a vote for BN is a vote for moderation when it is clear that Umno today represents the voice of the religious and racial extremist.

“Moderate Malaysians must not be misled by the sweet rhetoric from BN leaders and instead make itself heard to protect the freedom of religion as enshrined in our federal constitution,” he said.