by Dr Chen Man Hin
In the first place, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should not assume that Malaysia is a Muslim country. Malaysia is a multireligious society. while Malays who form 55% of the population are Muslims, the other 45 per cent are Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, animists, atheists, etc.
Religious tolerance – there is limited religious tolerance in Malaysia. Islam is favoured by the government and is regarded as the ‘big brother’ of religion.
There is a consultative council for religions but Islam is not a member – , although invited to join. Islamic leaders prefer to stay away.
Dialogue between Islam and other religions is limited. The attitude is that Islam is superior.
The word ‘ALLAH’ is regarded as sacred and is not allowed to be invoked or used by religions other than Islam. This is religious intolerance as the word Allah is freely used in the Middle East by all religions, which has been the practice even before the advent of Islam.
The government here discourages the building of churches and temples. The applications to build all new churches are delayed for years..
There is no religious freedom as a Muslim is not allowed to change his faith, when he wishes to be converted to another religion.
In short, there is no religious tolerance in Malaysia. Under the circumstances, Najib does not have the credentials to offer his services to Presidnnt Obama to talk to Americans about religious tolerance. Before giving advice to the bigot parson in Florida who wanted to burn the Koran, he should first advise Umno extremists not to burn cow heads or desecrate churches.
Prime Minister Najib should instead encourage UMNO and other extremists to be more tolerant and to respect all religions in the country.