Madani govt should explain what rights non-Muslims have

Madani govt should explain what rights non-Muslims have

S Thayaparan


"The actions of the two reporters may have hurt the feelings of the people but I was satisfied that they did not intend to offend anyone. It was an act of sheer ignorance," he said in a statement.

"Therefore in view of the circumstances at that particular time and in the interest of justice, peace and harmony, I decided not to press any charges against them."

- Former AG, Abdul Gani Patail former (2010)

COMMENT | The case the quote above refers to is the one where two “reporters” spat out the holy communion after going undercover in a Roman Catholic church.

Former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, at the time, while declining to press charges, claimed that the act was one of sheer ignorance.

Non-Muslims are constantly told not to hurt the sensitivities of Muslims in this country.

And this is why non-Muslims cannot use certain words, cannot construct their places of worship in the manner they choose, cannot proselytise and lately cannot hold fellowship with Muslims in certain states because apparently, this would confuse their Muslim brethren.

Yet, we are told we live in a country of equals. We live in a country of equals where a young non-Muslim/Malay kid cannot dream of becoming the prime minister because this would spook the Malays.

We live in a country of equals where Malay special privileges supersede the basic rights of access to education and affordable housing in this country.

And nobody cares about our sensitivities. Even the parties we vote for are subjected to speech meant to incite hatred and violence.

Remember when the Pahang mufti declared in 2016: “Not DAP only. Whoever is ‘kafir’ (infidel) and against Islam” and therefore an enemy of Islam [the implication being] who can be killed.

Here is a state mufti advocating the murder of non-Muslims and the state security apparatus remained silent. How exactly is this different from the threats of Islamic State?

Non-Muslims over the decades have coped with these restrictions and have thrived.

For the most part non-Muslim communities, although having to struggle, have overcome (for the most part) the systemic dysfunction against them.

And this has been used against the non-Muslim communities. Our success in the face of systemic discrimination has been weaponised against us.

If we are successful, this is at the expense of the majority of Malays. If we stand up for our rights which necessarily means everyone’s rights, we are warned not to spook the Malays.

Meanwhile, the political apparatus of this country has peddled political bromides in the form of state-sanctioned propaganda like Keluarga Malaysia and Malaysia Madani.


Religion trumps bread-and-butter issues

Non-Malay power structures have dispensed the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid. When Pakatan Harapan Malay/Muslim political operatives claim an issue like unilateral conversion plays well with their base, they are probably more right than wrong.

It really does not matter if political pundits bray about bread-and-butter issues; the reality is that for a majority of Muslims, their religion trumps the bread-and-butter issues that connect us all as citizens of this country, regardless of race or religion.

People don’t support PAS because of their brilliant economic or social programmes; they support PAS because they believe they are the keepers of the faith.

Similarly, those who supported Umno on the basis of race and religion did so because they believed that religion was better when it came to entitlement programmes.

Take the “Allah” controversy for instance. I know some people will get angry when I write this but compared to other issues like unilateral conversion for instance, this ranks rather low on my list of what rights do I have to give up as a non-Muslim in this country.

This is the truly sickening part of all of this. We as non-Muslims have to prioritise our rights and consider which rights are expendable to maintain the peace. Why? Well, the state security apparatus which enforces rights is certainly not on our side. The political apparatus, even those we vote for, is not on our side.

Then, of course, the Islamophobia card is played. Islamophobia is something religious extremists use when attempting to deflect.

There is no such thing as “Islamophobia”. Of course, there are racists, bigots and other cretins who disparage Muslims and Islam around the world.

Unfortunately, the world is filled with racists and bigoted people who disparage all sorts of people, their religions and cultures. This is not solely a Muslim issue.

What is solely a Muslim issue is this idea that any criticisms of Islam are an attack on Muslims or that acknowledging empirical evidence of the way how “Islamic” states operate is anathema to freedoms and rights enjoyed in the progressive world is verboten in "civilised" society.

Whenever someone makes the claim that people do not understand their religion, it most often means that their religion has a lot to answer for.

All religions have commonalities. Those positive commonalities make it possible for people of diverse religious faiths to play well with others.

So what can we non-Muslims do? Absolutely nothing. We have neither political actors with the requisite political will nor the voting polity to ensure that our rights are protected.

What we need to do in this new phase before this house of cards collapse is for the government to spell out the rights of non-Muslims.

Why? Because this saves time and energy and we do not have to go through this horse manure every time issues like this crop up.

This way, political operatives do not have to make feeble excuses as to why certain rights are prioritised and even then chucked by the wayside to ensure that the Malays are not spooked.

Tell us what words we cannot use. Tell us who can enter our places of worship. In fact, list out the sensitivities so we non-Muslims are clear that our presence is tolerated insofar as we observe these legal provisions.

So what this Madani government should do is spell out what rights non-Muslims have. Also include how, if Muslim provocateurs make statements against non-Muslims, nothing will happen to him or her.

In fact, codify these laws so we won’t have all these political operatives and concerned citizens wasting their time making police reports.

People just do not get it. Sooner or later, religious imperatives will trump democratic norms. Why? Because religious charlatans understand that their religious con bears fruit.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”