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Appendix - “Towards a Shared Malaysian Destiny”
- Patrick Pillai
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- Book:
- Yearning to Belong
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 19 May 2017
- Print publication:
- 14 October 2014, pp 211-222
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Summary
This is a slightly revised version of an unpublished paper first presented at a course on Malaysian constitutional law organized by the Attorney–General's Chambers on 30 October 2014. It contains fifteen concrete proposals to improve ethnic harmony in Malayia. The author, a leading Malaysian authority on constitutional law, is Professor Emeritus at UiTM Malaysia. In 1991 he drafted the Maldives constitution. He has also been adviser to Fiji, Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan on their constitutional documents.
INTRODUCTION
Despite the obsession with race and religion in public discourse, Malaysia has made many strides towards nationhood since 1957:
• The identification of race with social and economic function has been weakened.
• The vibrant economy has united our disparate racial groups.
• Sabah and Sarawak have given to pluralism a territorial dimension.
• Malaysia has successfully used the economy to create and maintain social harmony. By encouraging entrepreneurship and allowing the minority communities to provide leadership in the economic arena, twin objectives have been achieved: the economy has developed fabulously. Every community has acquired a stake in the country.
NOT ALL IS WELL, HOWEVER
Sadly, since the nineties racial and religious polarization has reached alarming levels. We have become a “nation of strangers”. In many corners of the world walls of separation are being dismantled. Sadly, in our society these walls are being fortified. Recently the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body of the U.S. Government, placed us on Tier 2 of a Watch List over concerns about limitations in Malaysia on freedom of religion. To this bleak picture two qualifications must be added.
One, some of the racial and religious discord that exists in our society is a natural process of democratic freedoms. As a transforming society opens up, pent up feelings are expressed, often in ways that are deeply hurtful to others.
Second, many of the conflicts between the Muslims and non–Muslims of this country are actually not about Islam versus non–Islamic religions but about a resurgent Eastern society seeking an alternative to the hegemony of “Western” values.
13 - The Malaysian Constitution, the Islamic State, and Hudud Laws
- from PART THREE - MODERNIZATION, GLOBALIZATION AND THE ‘ISLAMIC STATE’ DEBATE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
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- By Shad Saleem Faruqi, Legal Adviser to Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
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- Book:
- Islam in Southeast Asia
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 03 November 2017
- Print publication:
- 21 March 2005, pp 256-277
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Malaysia has a record of racial, cultural and religious tolerance that should be the envy of all plural societies. Mosques, temples, churches and gurdwaras dot the landscape. Citizens celebrate each others’ religious festivals. Unlike in some other democracies where religious/communal riots erupt with painful regularity and where holy places of minority religions are often razed to the ground, in Malaysia there is much inter-religious friendship and tolerance. Cultural and religious pluralism are not only tolerated, they are celebrated. Religious extremism and attempts to disrupt religious harmony are severely dealt with. Unlike in England where blasphemy is an offence only against the Church of England, the Malaysian Penal Code in sections 295–298A punishes offences against all religions.
Legislation has been introduced to provide for Muslim and non-Muslim religious institutions. Among the laws existing are: Islamic Banking Act 1983, Islamic Development Bank Act 1975, Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984, Syariah Court Evidence (Federal Territories) Act 1997, Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, Syariah Criminal Procedure (Federal Territories) Act 1997 and 122 State Enactments and Ordinances on Islamic matters in the thirteen states of the Federation. In relation to non-Muslim religious affairs the prominent laws are: Daughters of Charity of the Canossian Institute (Incorporation) Ordinance 1957; Synod of the Diocese of West Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1971 (Act 36); Muslim and Hindu Endowments Ordinance (Cap. 175); Cheng Hoong Teng Temple (Incorporation) Act 1949 (Act 519); Pure Life Society (Suddha Samajam) (Incorporation) Ordinance 1957; Superior of the Institute of the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy (Incorporation) Act 1972 and Superior of the Institute of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (Incorporation) Ordinance 1957.
Financial allocations and tax exemptions are granted to all religions. Foreign priests and missionaries are allowed permits to enter and work in the country. Christian and Hindu festivals are marked by national holidays. Missionary hospitals, schools, bookshops and hostels abound. Christian missionary teachers are often retained till age sixty-five, a privilege not enjoyed by other religious teachers. Hotel rooms throughout the nation carry the King James Version of the Bible. At the same time the direction of the Muslim qiblat (direction of prayer towards the Ka'ba) is required to be indicated in every hotel room. Liquor shops are allowed.