islam in interfaith commission irrelevant in our islamic state?

“i don’t agree with the setting up of the interfaith commission (IFC…Malaysia is an islamic state, will matters concerning islam also come under the purview of the IFC? no way, how can it be, i object to it,”

who do you think said that? none other than the minister in the PM’s department, datuk dr abdullah md zain. the idea of setting up an inter-faith commission was proposed by the bar council, and this matter formed the basis of the 2 days interfaith conference (beginning yesterday organised by the bar council, konrad-adenauer foundation and malaysian consultative council of buddhism, christianity, hinduism and sikhism (MCBCHS).

datuk dr abdullah continued to say that according to him, the situation in the country did not require the setting up of the IFC as the government had never restricted the practice of other religions.

what? did i hear that right? never? never ever? sure we have the FREEDOM TO PRACTISE our religions BUT it usually comes WITH RESTRICTIONS. just look at the shah alam catholic church issue. so much restrictions put on the construction of the church. and if you still remember the fiasco on no mentioning of jesus’ name in chrismas carols during the national christmas open house. (though in the end it was denied that there was no such restriction). what about no cross allowed in missionary schools? wasn’t that a restriction? nah, some people would sure say this was just a respect to other religions since the missionary school not only have students of christian religion but other religions too. oh well i can argue further on this but i’ll be digressing as this post is about the formation of IFC.

apart from datuk dr abudullah’s objection, yesterday’s paper reported that a number of various organisations representing muslims had voiced their concern over the formation of the IFC because they look to it as an attempt to interfere in islamic affairs.

among them were the umno youth movement, malaysian muslim youth movement (ABIM) and muslim lawyers association of malaysia, and of course PAS youth too. PAS youth said it clearly – “no to inter-faith talk”. whatever happened to dialogue?

it is good to hear that we do have a sensible minister, in the form of the arts, culture and heritage minister, datuk seri dr rais yatim, who urged all parties in the country to be open minded and not be prejudiced on the proposal to set up the IFC.

he wants the groups and individuals who opposed the formation of IFC to give the interfaith talk a chance. dr rais rightly said that opponents should set aside their differences and make an attempt to listen to what others are saying about the proposed interfaith commission.

i wonder why do some of the groups (and that one minister in the PM’s dept.) made such a hasty reaction to oppose the setting up of IFC when they couldn’t even bother to attend the conference first to voice their opinion – have a dialogue. they could attend the conference and then voiced out why and in what way they oppose it.

as datuk rais said during a press conference:
“i am here today with an open mind. we need to first listen to the content of the proposal and not pre-judge the discussion. if the content of the draft proposal (being discussed here) is not suitable, the attorney-general can make the relevant changes accordingly,”

the IFC has not been formed yet… it was just a proposal, therefore the draft can be change anytime… so why don’t those who oppose the formation just attend the conference to find out more and to voice their objection there on why they oppose IFC, and everyone can have a say what they want to see or don’t want to see in the proposal, or even to say they object downright to the formation. that is what we call dialogue. have a dialogue first before jumping the guns and objecting to this and that.

and speaking of dialogue, the formation of IFC, i’m sure is for dialogus of those of different faith so that there might be tolerance and understanding of the various religions (i stand corrected or open for explanation). since islam is not in the MCBCHS, it would be nice that ALL religions do have a platform for dialogue, and what better way than the IFC for ALL religions to come together.

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p/s – today can’t access my blog in the office, and home still no computer, so can’t reply to comments. gee… and i can’t even ping this post to PPS.