Have ‘thicker skin’ when discussing religious issues, says interfaith Muslim speaker - TMI

A Russian Muslim speaker has raised concerns about the way religious minorities are being "demonised" in Malaysia as it paves the way for more divisiveness in the country.

Julia Sveshnikova, policy coordinator for non-governmental organisation (NGO) Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), said that interfaith interaction was under threat because people's minds were being cultivated to think less of others who are different.

"That is why it rings a warning bell when religious minorities are being demonised in the eyes of a religious majority, for instance, that attitude has paved the way to the resentment about the Shia sect in Malaysia," she said at a CCM Interfaith Ecumenical Conference public forum in Petaling Jaya.

Sveshnikova referred to the history of the Jews under the Nazi regime which cultivated people's minds to the point of dehumanising the "other". When people accepted this view, it was then sufficient to condone a massacre of the Jews.

"It is a very extreme example but we are concerned that this kind of practices should not take place anywhere else," said Sveshnikova, who is based in Malaysia researching political Islam.

She added that even among university students, there seemed to be a hesitation to speak up about how they really felt, more so when their views were different from the official stand.

More worryingly, she added, was the "authority of religion" that was used to deny citizens their rights on the basis of religious affiliation.

"Sometimes non-Muslims, for instance, are advised not to speak out against injustices on the grounds they are not qualified to judge on the matters of Islam, even if they are well-versed on the theme," she said.

She also said that the government adopted a dual track – promoting the concepts of religious moderation on one hand but not actively counteracting the right-wing extremists groups on the other.

She said that one of IRF's efforts was to try and move the country from a race-based paradigm to a human-rights paradigm with attention given to matters of spirituality.

"But considering the interrelations between religion and race in Malaysia, there is always a challenge for the proponents of change to be labelled as not adhering to the tenets of Islam.

"There appears to be a 'thin skin' approach to discussing racial and religious issues, where the moment someone felt annoyed or offended, the discussion has to stop and the law is invoked," she said.

Sveshnikova added that despite these challenges, IRF was committed to intellectual discourse to promote unity and peace-building and was continuously engaging with young people to promote non-discrimination and protection for minority communities.

The three-day conference in Petaling Jaya is a platform where Christian and Muslim groups have come together to discuss ways to promote interfaith dialogue in the country.

Multi-ethnic Malaysia has in recent years seen a rise in religious intolerance expressed both by certain politicians as well as ordinary citizens.

Critics blamed the government for failing to act decisively against conservative groups and for perpetuating tension, such as in its reluctance to conclusively resolve the "Allah" controversy. – September 24, 2014.

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