In his international sojourns, one of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s favourite topics is to preach inter-faith dialogue, pointing to Malaysia as a model of inter-faith co-operation.
Back home in Malaysia, however, initiatives for inter-faith dialogue had never faced greater obstacles under the Abdullah administration with an unprecedented and lengthening catalogue of incidents aggravating religious polarization instead fostering greater inter-religious understanding and goodwill.
In the past two days, Malaysia again made international news with another deplorable episode undermining Malaysia’s reputation as a model for inter-faith co-operation – the latest body-snatching incident, this time over 74-year-old Gan Eng Gor when his body was seized by the police while his family (wife and seven children) was carrying out Buddhist rites in a Chinese funeral parlor.
This followed a complaint by his eldest son, Abdul Rahman Gan, a Muslim convert. He claimed his father had changed his religion from Buddhism to Islam last July, and identified as Amir Gan Abdullah should be buried according to Islamic rites.
The rest of the family challenged this claim.