Death by a thousand cuts: the erosion of non-Muslim rights

 

Dennis Ignatius

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Death by a thousand cuts: the erosion of non-Muslim rights

29ThursdayOct 2026

Posted by Dennis Ignatius in religious freedom

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constitutional guarantees, non-Muslim rights, respect and tolerance

[1] For more than six decades, non-Muslim servicemen and veterans have been able to buy duty-free beer at Pernama, the armed forces’ trading outlets. It was a modest privilege – a monthly ration capped at two crates – but one valued by men who gave the best years of their lives to the defence of the nation.

[2] Now it is to end. A directive from the office of the armed forces chief has instructed Pernama’s 80-odd outlets to stop selling beer once existing stocks run out.[1] No reason has been given, but I would not be surprised if the decision were driven by religious considerations.

[3] Non-Muslim soldiers served, bled and died for this country alongside their Muslim comrades. Why should a facility used only by non-Muslims, and harming no one, be quietly withdrawn? Malaysia may be a Muslim-majority country, but that does not mean non-Muslims have no rights. What is forbidden to Muslims cannot simply be denied to everyone else.

[4] On its own, the Pernama decision might seem trivial. But it is part of a steady and unmistakable trend: officials, bureaucrats and politicians extending Islamic norms into the public space and onto the lives of non-Muslims, often without law, debate or explanation.

[5] In 2021, Kuala Lumpur City Hall banned the sale of hard liquor in sundry shops, convenience stores and Chinese medicine halls, despite protests that it infringed on the rights of non-Muslims.[2] Two years later, City Hall was still insisting the ban stood.[3]

[6] In 2015, after a row over dress codes at government offices, a mufti suggested that non-Muslims dress “appropriately” out of respect for Muslims.[4] Today, it has become normal for non-Muslim women to be denied service at government departments unless they cover up, often with a sarong handed to them at the door.

[7] In February 2025, the religious affairs minister announced guidelines that would have required organisers of non-Muslim celebrations and funerals attended by Muslims to seek the views of Islamic authorities. The idea was shelved only after the Sultan of Selangor intervened.[5]

[8] In October 2025, the prime minister himself issued a “stern warning” to the tourism minister after wine and beer were served at a Global Travel Meet dinner – one the minister insisted was hosted by private industry players.[6] And when Christmas comes around, some religious official will inevitably make a fuss about whether halal-certified restaurants are permitted to display Christmas decorations.[7]

[9] Each incident is invariably dismissed as an isolated misunderstanding. Taken together, they tell a different story – of creeping Islamisation, where someone, somewhere decides that his personal vision of what Malaysia should look like must apply to all.

[10] None of this happened overnight. In September 2001, when then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad declared Malaysia an Islamic state[8] – a declaration with no basis in the Constitution – non-Muslim leaders in his government kept quiet. Their silence laid the groundwork for much of what we are witnessing today.

[11] The Constitution is clear. Article 3 makes Islam the religion of the Federation but guarantees that other religions may be practised in peace and harmony. Articles 8 and 11 guarantee equality before the law and freedom of religion. Nowhere does it authorise the state to impose the religious obligations or values of one community on another. Nor does it demand that respect and tolerance be reserved for one community alone.

[12] Non-Muslims are frequently warned not to touch on Islamic matters. But this is not about Islam; it is about our constitutional rights. And every time we keep quiet, those rights are eroded a little more.

[13] Which brings us to the most troubling question of all: where are the politicians who swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution? Where are the non-Muslim parties in government that once loudly championed minority rights? Too often they fall silent, fearful of being labelled anti-Islam or anxious not to upset their coalition partners.

[14] Silence is not neutrality. It is acquiescence, and acquiescence only invites further encroachment. It is incumbent upon our leaders – and upon ordinary Malaysians – to stand up for the rights the Constitution guarantees.

[15] It is time for an honest national conversation about the rights of non-Muslims in the public square – not as favours to be granted or withdrawn at the whim of officials, but as constitutional entitlements. If we do not have that conversation now, we may soon find there is very little left to talk about.

Dennis Ignatius | Kuala Lumpur | 29 October 2026

 

‘Arab voice doesn’t count’: Jewish Israeli blocs reject Palestinian support

Palestinian voters could decide Israel’s future, but its political class refuses to accept their mandate.

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Supporters of Israel's Palestinian-led Joint List political alliance cheer at the alliance's campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on October 27, 2026 [AFP]

By Simon Speakman Cordall

Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026

Few certainties have emerged from Israel’s parliamentary elections. The diverse coalition of Israel’s self-styled ‘Zionist’ opposition remains short of a majority. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud appears to be the largest party, but its electoral bloc has not secured enough seats to form a government.

What is not in doubt, however, is the surge in turnout from Palestinian citizens of Israel, which has established Arab parties as a pivotal bloc in the parliament, potentially one able to determine which of the rival camps forms a government, if either is willing to work with them.

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Anger over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and what analysts have described as the overt racism of its governing coalition helped drive Palestinian citizens of Israel to the polls in large numbers.

An estimated 80 percent of eligible Palestinian voters in Israel turned out for Tuesday’s election, marking a surge in participation by a community that accounts for about 21 percent of the population.

The turnout has given the two main electoral lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel – the United Arab List (Ra’am) and the Joint List – a combined 19 seats in the 120-member parliament, potentially giving them a decisive role in determining who forms the next government.

However, rather than acknowledge that groundswell of support, Israel’s leading politicians have sought to either delegitimise their vote – attributing it to foreign interference – or somehow cast Palestinians exercising their democratic right as an “attempt to steal the election”.

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Arab votes don’t count

Framing the result as a bid to secure the “Islamisation of Israel”, Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party has gone so far as to call on Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, to investigate the possibility of foreign election interference into the large-scale Palestinian turnout. In doing so, they appear to have thrown the legitimacy of the Arab vote into question and tainted any future attempt by the opposition to ally with the Arab parties.

Despite denouncing Netanyahu’s government as corrupt, incompetent and damaging to Israel’s international standing, much of Israel’s Jewish-led opposition has remained reluctant to embrace the support of Palestinian parties to remove him from power.

The left-wing Democrats have been the likeliest to cooperate with the Palestinian parties, while other opposition figures have either resisted such an alliance or stopped short of rejecting allegations that foreign actors helped engineer the surge in Palestinian voter turnout.

Yousef Jabareen, leader of Israel’s Joint List political alliance, centre-left, and other members cheer at the alliance’s campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on October 27, 2026 [AFP]

On election night, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid ruled out sitting alongside Palestinian parties in government, despite having relied on their support during their brief 2021–22 government.

On Thursday, another leading member of the opposition, Avigdor Lieberman, the hard-right leader of Yisrael Beytenu, also ruled out forming a coalition with Palestinian parties. He said he would sit alongside “neither Bibi nor Tibi”, using Netanyahu’s established nickname and invoking Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta’al party – part of the Joint List – as a stand-in for the wider Palestinian bloc.

“It was clear from campaigning that there was going to be a large turnout,” said Orly Noy, who stood for the Palestinian-dominated Balad party. “The [governing] coalition had shown there were no red lines in Gaza and Palestinians in Israel sensed they might be next. People also just couldn’t face another term of soaring crime and a police force headed by [far-right National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir.”

“What few rights Palestinians had have been slipping away since October 7. The last tool they had in their toolbox – the only thing they had that was equal to everyone else – was their vote, so they used that in massive numbers, but even that now seems to be being undermined and delegitimised,” she said.

With all ballots counted, the pro-Netanyahu bloc has 53 seats, while the anti-Netanyahu Jewish opposition bloc has 48. However, with the 19 seats held by Palestinian parties, the majority in parliament is against Netanyahu.

“Why are the opposition and the press even thinking of this as a three-way split? In any other rational democracy, people would be framing this as an overwhelming victory for the opposition and a rejection of Netanyahu, but we’re not doing that,” Noy said.

“Instead, we’re hearing elements of the opposition talking about joining with Netanyahu in some kind of National Unity government. That’s both a measure of how racist these parties are, when they won’t align with Arabs to form a majority, as well as how profoundly undemocratic they are,” she said.

Different visions

Political differences do exist between an opposition that deliberately frames itself as Zionist and a Palestinian minority whose claim to equal national and civic rights is seen by some as a rejection of that. But underlying that disagreement is a fundamentally different vision of Israel’s future, according to political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg.

“Given that much of Israel’s mainstream politics rests on the assumption of Jewish supremacy, I think it’s understandable that the Arab vote is seen as a challenge,” he said of a sentiment that many argue has been state policy since the 2018 Nation State Law, which enshrined the right to national self-determination as exclusive to Jewish people.

“There are very different ideas at play of what it means to be a citizen of Israel and of how Israel should be governed and for whose benefit,” he said. “These are fundamental differences, of course they are, but they can’t disguise the racism underpinning all.”

“They want to form a government with only Jewish voices,” said Mauricio Lapchik, Hebrew campaign director for the Joint List. “If the numbers of these results were in a different country, in a democratic country, I think it would be crazy to think that they will not be able to say that they won the elections, having this majority. But only in Israel, because the voice of the Arabs do not count as the voice of the Jews, we cannot talk about a victory.”

Malacca polls: MCA gets Kota Laksamana after PN hands seat back to BN

Malacca polls: MCA gets Kota Laksamana after PN hands seat back to BN

N Faizal Ghazali

Published: Oct 30, 2026 3:53 PM


MCA has secured another seat to contest in the Nov 14 Malacca state election after Perikatan Nasional handed back the Kota Laksamana seat to BN.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong said PN voluntarily returned the seat to BN, with MCA agreeing to field a candidate.

"As I mentioned a few days ago, MCA is ready to respond and accept whatever challenges or trials. We remain with the people. We are not afraid, and we will field a candidate in Kota Laksamana.

"After obtaining the agreement of the BN chairperson, Melvin Chua has been given the mandate to represent BN and MCA in Kota Laksamana," he told a press conference in Malacca today.


Malaysiakini earlier learnt that PN had decided not to field a candidate in the seat and instead offered it to a BN component party.

The development leaves PN contesting in only five seats, as announced last night, while MCA's allocation increases from two to four.

BN had initially decided to contest 21 seats, with the remaining seven allocated to PN, including Kota Laksamana.

Wee had earlier given a positive indication of the seat's return when contacted by Malaysiakini.


"PN handed over the state seat, not PAS," he said briefly via WhatsApp when asked whether MCA had received an offer from PAS to contest in Kota Laksamana.

Seat allocations

PN announced last night that it would contest five of the six seats allocated to it. PAS and Wawasan were each given two seats, while Gerakan was allocated one.


MCA was initially allocated two seats, Machap Jaya and Kelebang, a distribution that left the party dissatisfied. However, BN subsequently gave it an additional seat in Bandar Hilir, where Jasmine Low Hui Yi will be its candidate.

Kota Laksamana is a DAP stronghold held by Low Chee Leong since 2018. In the 2021 Malacca state election, he retained the seat with an 11,494-vote majority, defeating candidates from MCA and Gerakan.

Low will face Chua again, five years after their first electoral contest in 2018, when the DAP candidate won by a majority of 16,173 votes.

Nothing unusual about Bersatu CSA deal, Anwar says, citing previous Perikatan-BN arrangement

Nothing unusual about Bersatu CSA deal, Anwar says, citing previous Perikatan-BN arrangement



Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the arrangement was based on an understanding reached with the administration of former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, when Anwar was leading the Opposition. — Bernama pic



First Published: Friday, 30 Oct 2026 2:53 PM MYT
Last Modified: Friday, 30 Oct 2026 3:09 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said the confidence and supply agreement (CSA) with Bersatu follows a mechanism previously agreed upon under the Perikatan Nasional-Barisan Nasional (PN-BN) government when he was Opposition Leader.

He said the arrangement was based on an understanding reached with the administration of former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, when Anwar was leading the Opposition.

“That was the understanding in principle, similar to what I did as Opposition Leader with the government at the time, when the government comprised Umno, PAS and Bersatu.

“So, when they discussed and proposed the allocations, that was what was implemented. There is nothing unusual about it,” he told reporters after performing Friday prayers at Masjid Al-Muqarrabin, Bandar Tasik Selatan here.


Anwar said the current arrangement was also based on a similar understanding, stressing that parliamentary allocations had continued as usual for both government and Opposition MPs despite criticism that the government was withholding funds.

He said the mechanism was not introduced by his administration but followed the approach used by the previous government, which included Bersatu, PAS and Barisan Nasional.

“Allocations through MPs are bound by an understanding, just as was done by the Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional governments when they were in power and which we signed. At that time, I was the Opposition Leader and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri was the prime minister,” he said.

Anwar described Bersatu’s agreement to the arrangement as a positive development, adding that other parties were also free to participate if they agreed to the same mechanism.


He said the allocations would be based on the current Budget and could be channelled by the end of this year after it had been debated and approved.

“Once the Budget has been debated and approved, we can channel the allocations by the end of this year in accordance with the understanding reached,” he said.


Anwar also said there were no conditions imposed on Opposition MPs under the arrangement.

“There are no conditions imposed on any Opposition MP. There are no conditions,” he said.

Bersatu signed the CSA with the government yesterday, with party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin saying its MPs would receive the same constituency development allocations as government backbenchers.

In return, the seven Opposition MPs involved in the agreement pledged support for Anwar’s administration until the end of the parliamentary term, as well as the Supply Bill 2027.

Muhyiddin had also stressed that Bersatu would remain in the Opposition and continue to perform its role of providing checks and balances.

Confidence and supply pact does not restrict parties’ political decisions, says Adam Adli

Confidence and supply pact does not restrict parties’ political decisions, says Adam Adli



Melaka PKR State Leadership Council acting chairman Adam Adli Abd Halim said all parties involved in the agreement remained free to maintain their respective political positions, including performing their roles as the opposition in providing checks and balances in the Dewan Rakyat. — Picture by Firdaus Latif


First Published: Friday, 30 Oct 2026 2:02 PM MYT


MELAKA, Oct 30 — The Confidence and Supply Agreement (CSA) signed between the Federal Government, Bersatu and independent members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday does not bind any party’s political stance or decisions, including ahead of the Melaka State Election on November 14.

Melaka PKR State Leadership Council acting chairman Adam Adli Abd Halim said all parties involved in the agreement remained free to maintain their respective political positions, including performing their roles as the opposition in providing checks and balances in the Dewan Rakyat.

“The agreement is a step towards strengthening the administration and allowing the government to focus on implementing policies and national development.

“This is in line with the spirit of the Madani Government, which remains open to cooperation in the people’s interests, regardless of political differences,” he told a press conference at Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) main operations centre in Bukit Piatu here today.


Yesterday, the Madani Government signed the CSA with six Bersatu MPs led by party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and seven other MPs, including Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Adam Adli noted that PH had previously entered into a similar agreement while in opposition during the administration of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Asked whether the agreement would affect PH’s relationship with Bersatu in the Melaka election, where candidates from both sides are expected to compete in four state constituencies, he said PH had no issue with the situation.

“In Melaka, every party is free to uphold its own principles and make its own decisions, and we respect that.


What matters is demonstrating political maturity by placing the people’s interests above everything else,” he said.

Earlier reports indicated that PH and Bersatu candidates could face each other in Ayer Keroh, Kelebang, Gadek and Pengkalan Batu.


At the same press conference, Melaka DAP chairman Khoo Poay Tiong said the party would maintain its allocation of seven state seats despite other PH component parties increasing the number of constituencies they planned to contest.

Yesterday, PKR secretary-general Datuk Dr Fuziah Salleh announced that retired Major Jaimi Dimon would contest the Ayer Limau seat, bringing PKR’s total to 10 seats, up from the nine announced previously.

Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) also named two additional candidates — Aminuddin Abdul Jalil for Sungai Rambai and Junainah Sahat for Taboh Naning.

The additions mean PH will contest 24 seats altogether in the Melaka polls on November 14. — Bernama

Sore Loser with Pre-Planned Allegations

 Khai Beng Tan

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'Israeli' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party claims Qatar, Turkey allegedly funded Arab parties in ‘Israeli’ elections.

Read more: https://en.royanews.tv/news/75446