Ngeh's views on 'religious freedom' become PN election fodder

Ngeh's views on 'religious freedom' become PN election fodder


DAP leader Ngeh Koo Ham’s views on religious freedom in the country - including those from almost a decade ago - are coming back to haunt him and the government ahead of the six state elections.

This is after a 2014 newspaper clipping on Ngeh's remarks urging Muslims to respect that religious freedom under the Federal Constitution also protects a person's right to leave a religion, went viral on pro-Perikatan Nasional social media accounts.

According to Parliament's Hansard, the Beruas MP had said on June 11, 2014, that if everyone can respect the Federal Constitution, then interfaith problems can be resolved.

"I wish to state that non-Muslims must accept the fact that laws can be made to restrict them from spreading their religion to Muslims.

"However, I also hope that Muslims can also accept that Article 11(1) gives the absolute right to religious freedom to an individual.

"And if that individual wants to leave a religion and that person is above 18 years old, then we must respect the right God has given to that person, and which is enshrined in the Federal Constitution," Ngeh (above) added.

Apostasy is forbidden in Islam, and is a syariah criminal offence in several states.

Utusan Malaysia had reported on the remarks touching on Muslims at the time, with the headline “Koo Ham mahu umat Islam hormati murtad" (Koo Ham wants Muslims to respect apostasy).

The Utusan article is the main basis for the current social media content attacking Ngeh on the issue.


Interfaith marriage

Checks by Malaysiakini found that this was used as campaign fodder on social media even during the 15th general election.

However, the issue gained traction again after Parliament published a written reply last week, to Ngeh’s question on whether a Malaysian Muslim who legally wed a non-Muslim abroad can have their marriage recognised in Malaysia.

The PN-linked social media accounts - particularly those on Tiktok - have used both the 2014 remarks and the parliamentary query last week to paint Ngeh and DAP as anti-Islam.

Some also call for Malay Muslims to reject DAP, Pakatan Harapan, and their allies in the upcoming state polls.

PN's latest political recruit, Annuar Musa, also hopped on the bandwagon.

"The goal and mindset are the same, but the method may be different now," he said on Facebook yesterday.

PAS’ Annuar Musa


Attached to the post was the Utusan article clipping, and a screenshot of Ngeh's parliamentary query on interfaith couples from last week.

In response to Annuar, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil asked yesterday why the former Ketereh MP did not include the government's response to Ngeh.

In the parliamentary reply, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na'im Mokhtar told Ngeh that Muslim and non-Muslim marriages without conversion to Islam are not allowed and not recognised in the country.


Ngeh urged to be careful

Umno supreme council member Lokman Adam has also weighed in on the backlash against Ngeh.

In a video on Sunday, Lokman said while the Beruas MP had a right to ask questions, he should not be "enthusiastically" asking questions he knows the answer to.

Umno’s Lokman Adam


"He has many researchers that can give him the answer, but why did he choose to bring up this issue which is very sensitive to Muslims when we are about to face elections in six states?

"Even though it is Ngeh's right to ask questions, don't let people like Annuar dredge up old remarks (about apostasy) which are unrelated to this (marriage) issue, and become capital to further tarnish DAP's image, especially among Muslims," he added.

Lokman advised DAP to be more careful, and not give bullets to PN.

Malaysiakini has contacted Ngeh for comment.