Putrajaya practises ‘extreme political Islam’, says Baru Bian

(TMI) Malaysia is heading towards an oppressive Islamist regime for allowing state enactments to take precedence over the Federal Constitution on the religious freedom of non-Muslims, a Sarawak opposition leader said.

In a swipe at the Najib administration, Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian (pic) said the “extreme political Islam” practised by Putrajaya was almost similar to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s stand on the alleged conversion of Muslims.

Baru, a senior lawyer in the state, said many lawyers and scholars were not arguing against the authority the states have under Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution to enact legislation to regulate the preaching of religion to Muslims.

“But they have no jurisdiction over non-Muslims," he pointed out

“The state laws which ban the usage of Arabic words without any reference to attempts at proselytisation are arguably unconstitutional and open to challenge,” he said.

Selangor are among several states in the peninsula that have enactments banning non-Muslims from using the word 'Allah'.

The ban not only affects Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians from Sarawak and Sabah, but also Sikhs.

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, in November last year decreed that the use of the word 'Allah' in the Bible and Malay section of the Catholic weekly, Herald, cease immediately to avoid confusion among Muslims in the state over the use of the word in the context of other religions.

The sultan said everyone in the state, regardless of their religion and origin, must abide by the ban under Section 9 of the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988.

On Mahathir’s allegations that the word 'Allah' was used by certain parties to convert Muslims into Christianity, Baru said: “There has never been any proof to support this accusation and the former prime minister invites ridicule in making such baseless claims.

“However, I have to concur with him that Muslims did not have problems with Christians for a long time, but I differ with his answer as to why the issue is raised now, if not for an ulterior motive.

“My question to him is: who was it that first created the problem if not the Home Ministry in issuing the ban on the Herald?”

Baru said Mahathir was right to observe that, “we lived in harmony and there was no friction between Muslims and Christians”.

“None until the tsunami of the 2008 election, when Umno realised it needed to salvage the support of the Malays.

“Before that, no Muslim claimed to have been confused by the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Christians, a word that had been in their vocabulary for centuries,” said Baru.

“After 2008, the Umnoputras decided that the Muslims could be confused and started fomenting fear and mistrust between them and non-Muslims.

“Where no fear existed previously, the Umnoputeras planted the seeds of fear. That was when the problems started.”

Baru said the religious tension is spooking foreign investors.

“Foreign investors are having doubts about the wisdom of their decision to invest here. Should they pull out, we will become a bankrupt nation, if we are not there already.” - January 28, 2014.