Many views and opinions were exchanged over the last few weeks regarding the recent raid conducted by Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS) on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC), arguably one of the largest Christian congregations in Malaysia. Such views, mainly in the form of slanderous accusations, were from various parties, focusing on the events preceding and leading to the raid. Some went as far as commenting on the enactment of several legislations, which gave the authority for such a raid.
The legality of the raid is not so much a contentious issue. Legislations were clear as to the authority of JAIS to conduct such a raid. We have Selangor’s Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment that lists out offences involving proselytization to Muslims by a non-Muslim. This enactment also confers the power of investigation to the state authority, which can be carried out in the form of a “raid” as per the provisions in the Criminal Procedure Code. Other legislations are like Enakmen Jenayah Syariah (Selangor) 1995 which lists out punitive measures for syariah criminal offences, Enakmen Ugama Bukan Islam (Kawalan Pengembangan di Kalangan Orang Islam) 1988 which limits the proliferation of non-Islamic religions among Muslims, and procedural legislations such as the Syariah Criminal Procedure (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003. While the general ambit of Article 11 of the Federal Constitution allows citizens to profess any religion and to propagate them freely, Article 11(4) provisioned a qualification for “State law and Federal law in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan” to control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among Muslims. In light of such qualifications, the abovementioned enactments were perfectly legal within the four corners of the constitution.
So now, who is to be blamed for this seemingly unfortunate event? Conservatives like YB Hasan Ali applauded the raid, expressing unwavering support to any effort that could be perceived, or interpreted, even in the mildest sense, as “proselytization” of a Muslim, regardless of the facts and the truth. The sensitivity of these groups over their religion is means any factual justification for said event is never enough to appeal to their rationality. These groups are more than just a small marginalized minority and to blatantly shut them up would be a form of “oppression”. The urbanites and liberals reacted harshly too, jumping out almost immediately to condemn such raid, and challenging it on a moral basis. They perceived the raid as nothing more than a manifestation of the “superiority” of Islam over other religions, something that ought to have been more subtle instead of being draped behind the veil of tolerance and acceptance. Through the social media they held, and in some cases continue to hold JAIS’s neck to the slaughterhouse.
Then, Politicians were forced to pick side. At a glance, it seems that the state government is at the vicarious helm to the actions and conduct of JAIS. With the notion that JAIS’s raid is a legitimate one, the question that the PR government in Selangor has to answer, is whether they condemn or condone the said action. On the face of it, such an issue is very clear-cut. Is the state government prepared to portray their implicit stand that Islam is “superior” to other religions or otherwise? If it’s so, condone the raid, and vice versa if it is not. The prolonged and procrastinated decision “to condemn and condone” by Tan Sri Khalid is mainly from an assessment of “popularity support” rather than any “morally right justification”. How hard is it to investigate the truth in an event that lasted no longer than what an ordinary charity dinner would take, and with the alleged perpetrator being an organization under the purview of the government? The DAP adviser YB Lim Kit Siang quickly shifted the blame back to the Selangor Opposition, Barisan Nasional, who was responsible to the enactment of the state law. YB Lim also re-instated DAP’s stern opposition to the enactment of the law back in 1988. Hold it there YB, if you were so sternly against the enactment of these laws that permitted such a raid, any logical person would ask if the DAP had proposed a public bill in their capacity as the state government to amend said state laws. The fact is, the state government, comprising the three parties of PKR, PAS and DAP, cannot even agree on a coherent and concurrent view on this pressing issue. PAS leaders immediately defended the action of JAIS before they were issued with an official “gag” order. The DAP has yet to assess how much compromise will have to be made, for them to take an official stand against the raid, which was officially condoned by PAS. The formula for compromise seems to be skewed in favour of the Muslim majority PAS as these are the safe deposit votes for Pakatan Rakyat. The DAP will then have to shroud itself under the “official gag” while waiting for the “moderator” PKR to decide on a politically feasible stand.
The BN Opposition, particularly those from the MCA are holding the state government accountable, in a political attempt to bring the idea of Pakatan’s “marriage of convenience” to another level. The accusations and political attacks are focused on the “morality” of such a raid. No doubt this is one of the best ways to reap more political mileage for a party which is already disfavoured by it’s own targeted demographic. If I may remind the MCA folks who were so outspoken against the raid, haven’t they realised that they directly contributed to the manifestation of such law? In fact the only consistent party in this issue was UMNO, quietly taking a back seat (with the exception of its Youth wing, whose leader YB Khairy Jamaluddin carefully drafted a neutral request for the Selangor government to issue a clarification) to have a look at how Pakatan is going to overcome a predicted concession to the inherent disunity among it’s own constituting parties. For UMNO, the compromise among the BN member parties is always clear and consistent : UMNO gets the final say. Pakatan tries hard to portray otherwise, that no party within the coalition will have to succumb to another. Perhaps, it’s then that they realised that they were chasing a unrealistic dream and that the best solution is to keep mum over conflicts as such, hoping that the usually forgetful Malaysian forgets about such things.
Whilst many were discussing about the morality of such a solution, it’s impossible to reach a concrete outcome unless the political will of the government is strong. The government is to choose a side and make up its mind. Back then UMNO decided that it was going to go for it, hence the enactment. It served both the conservative and liberal Muslim and Non-Muslims as well, by way of discouraging a state authority like JAIS to “exercise” the authority provisioned in such legislation. The Pakatan government will have to make a stand too. They must also realise that no single decision can please everyone under the sun and it’s important that they do it quick to reflect their sincerity in handling issues of conflict instead of continuing to shift the blame.
*This piece is the personal opinion or view of the writer. The NRC11 does not endorse this view unless specified.
No comments:
Post a Comment