Author: Baradan Kuppusamy
Publication: Asia Times
Date: January 4, 2006
URL: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HA04Ae01.html
Islam tops Malaysia's long list of "sensitive
subjects" that are forbidden from being raised in public. However, it
was as if nothing else could be discussed over the past two weeks.
Two dissimilar events coming one after the
other in late December have put religion on notice. One was passage of an
Islamic family law, opposed by feminists and moderate Muslims. The other was
the forced burial, according to Muslim rites, of a Hindu soldier by Islamic
authorities who insisted he had converted to Islam.
Both issues have questioned the role of an
increasingly puritanical Islam in a multi-ethnic society that prides itself
on tolerance and an easygoing, modern way of life.
Under Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's more
liberal and less authoritarian administration, long-suppressed frustrations
are rising to the surface and there are growing calls for fairness and justice.
On one side, the debate is between Islamic
fundamentalists who dominate the burgeoning Islamic Affairs Department that
administers Sharia (Islamic) law and mostly Western-educated Muslim feminists
who say the department, in its overzealous interpretation of the Koran, has
gone overboard in making new laws that discriminate against women and children.
Since the 1980s, they say, women's position
vis-a-vis Muslim men has gradually eroded. The latest is a new Islamic family
law that makes divorce and polygamy easy and allows husbands to lay claim
to a wife's property, even to the extent of freezing bank accounts of former
spouses and their children.
"Nowhere is there, in the Islamic world,
a law that discriminates so thoroughly against women," said Zainah Anwar,
executive director of Sisters in Islam, a feminist movement that is spearheading
a national campaign to repeal the new law.
The campaign has won widespread support within
the government, in academia and among the general public.
Likewise the forced burial of M Moorthy, a
Hindu soldier claimed by the Islamic authorities to have converted to Islam,
has sparked a storm among non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike. They are
demanding that the government amend the constitution to make civil law supreme
over Sharia law especially in matters where non-Muslims are involved.
Islam, once a taboo subject, is now openly
debated by mainstream media, on television and over the Internet.
Newspapers that are linked to government and
normally would not have touched the subject now freely publish strongly worded
letters and commentaries by their own writers and outside experts, many of
whom are Muslims. Letters from the public are published.
Internet chat rooms are racier and less inhibited
in their comments. A coalition of human-rights non-governmental organizations,
including Muslim feminist groups, has also launched a month-long candlelight
vigil outside the High Court to protest a Muslim judge's ruling last month
that the civil court has no jurisdiction over Islamic matters.
Relying on an ex parte Sharia court order,
Islamic religious authorities last week gave Moorthy a Muslim burial over
the protests of his Hindu family. Anger boiled over when Judge Raus Sharif
washed his hands of the case, saying the civil court had no jurisdiction.
"They have been telling lies. Nothing
but lies," said Kaliammal Sinnasamy, Moorthy's wife. "I was shocked
when they told me that they would take the body when he died."
The court refused to intervene or hear evidence
from the family that Moorthy could not have converted, saying it had no jurisdiction
over matters under the purview of the Sharia court. Three days later, the
same court gave similar arguments while rejecting an application by two formerly
Muslim women for a declaration that they had left Islam.
"We cannot allow a small group [of Muslim
administrators] who are extreme in their views to dominate the nation's social
and religious life," said Wong Kim Kong, a spokesman for the Malaysian
Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS).
"If no action is taken by the government then it might sow disharmony."
The council launched a campaign to amend the
constitution to allow civil-law supremacy over Sharia in cases involving non-Muslims,
ie conversion, child custody, disposal of property and other family or personal
matters.
The main opposition Democratic Action Party
has called for a major review of Article 121(1A), which states that the civil
courts have no jurisdiction in respect of "any matter" within the
jurisdiction of the Sharia courts.
The clause was inserted into the constitution
by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1988 after he had jailed more
than 100 parliamentarians and democracy activists and closed down three newspapers,
including the influential mass-circulated Star daily.
Mahathir's government had given a truncated
parliament a day's notice of the constitutional change, which was carried
with overwhelming support by government backbenchers.
In the case of the Islamic family law, a little
more time was given but arms were twisted to ensure its passage in parliament
last month, only to face an avalanche of protest from civil-society groups
and Muslim feminists.
The law affects only Muslims, who make up
about 60% of the population of 26 million people. Restrictions against Malaysian
Muslim men taking four wives under Islamic law have been eased and they no
longer have to prove financial capacity or the ability to treat all wives
fairly.
Women's groups are planning petitions, letter-writing
campaigns and other strategies to put pressure on the government not to gazette
the bill into law.
Judging from the numerous letters in mainstream
newspapers and in Internet chat rooms, most Malaysians are outraged and feel
that injustice has been done to minorities and moderate Muslims alike.
"This entire episode has painted a negative
image of Islam not just to Malaysians of other faiths, but to the rest of
the world," said Ezam Mohamad, a senior leader of the National Justice
Party.
"More must be done to enhance mutual
trust and harmony among the different communities, and the manner in which
the present authorities are doing it represents a step backwards in interracial
and interreligious relations."
Abdullah's brand of tolerant Islam, or Islam
Hadhari, is taking a beating as people question the wide gulf between his
moderate leanings and the fanaticism of the Islamic authorities, which gained
strength under Mahathir's 22-year rule.
Abdullah, who is equally respected by Muslims
and non-Muslims, has the difficult and unenviable task of reining in the runaway
horses or see his popularity rating plunge.
If he fails to contain excesses, his grand
vision of all the races living together happily under a caring and tolerant
multiculturalism stands to be stillborn.
Experts say success for Abdullah lies in tackling
and resolving the racial and discriminatory policies that form the bedrock
of Malaysia's so-called "happy" society.
"Unless the deep-seated issues of racism
and religious freedom are openly discussed and resolved, Malaysians would
continue to live in fear and suspicious of one another," said S Arulchelvam,
secretary general of the Socialist Party of Malaysia. "Malaysian unity
is a farce unless these issues are met head-on and adequately resolved.
"All discriminatory policies based on
race and religion must be outlawed. It is impossible to build unity based
merely on slogans and propaganda."
(Inter Press Service)
