Islam and Democracy in Malaysia

Islam and Democracy in Malaysia

Introduction

History has made Malaysia a multiethnic and multireligious, with about 25% of the population of Chinese origin and 10% of Indian origin. However, Islam, religion of the indigenous Malay, occupies a special place. It contained approximately 60% of the population. According to Article 3 of the Constitution, "Islam is the religion of the Federation but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation". Any religious group is under the Constitution, free to organize and manage his affairs, but Article 12 provides that the Federation or a State may establish or attend Islamic institutions. In August 2007, former Prime Minister Mahathir, still influential, noted that Malaysia is indeed an Islamic state and is internationally regarded as such. He had already made such statements in 2000. Such remarks are also a way to appease the demands of certain Islamist elements, which require precise status of more assertive Islamic countries.

Other religions are Buddhism (20%), Christianity (9%) and Hinduism (6%), although these figures should be treated with shades, since many "Buddhists" Chinese are likely to incorporate practices of other traditions.

An acute problem that arises in recent years in the public debate in Malaysia is the attitude to adopt towards people who abandon Islam to convert to another religion. In principle, such a decision must be accepted by a court ruling in Shari'a. The view that apostasy is not permissible in Islam remains widespread - although, as already reported Religioscope , other voices began to be heard to reinterpret these rules - these courts are unlikely to give a positive opinion. A highly publicized case was that of Lina Joy, a Muslim convert to Christianity, who failed to obtain a secular court that his religious affiliation be changed on his identity card. Conflicts have also arisen in the case of funerals of people who, according to the Muslim authorities, had converted, though their families say this was not the case or had rejected Islam thereafter.

However, there have been cases where the non-Muslim has obtained satisfaction: for example that of an elderly woman, born a Muslim, but had practiced Buddhist rites since her marriage to a Chinese when he died in January 2006, the celebration of Buddhist funeral was permitted by the court, according to the wishes of the family.

Discussion

When the Malaysian government sponsored the publication of a set of definitive guidelines for the observation of Islamic principle and practice in outer space, it was clearly hoping that this small booklet would make a not so subtle, if not stentorian, statement about Malaysia's newly claimed position of influence in the Islamic world. The Guidelines were devised and developed not by the Malaysian National Space Agency (Agensi Angkasa Negara), as might be expected, but rather by Malaysia's Department of Islamic Development (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, or JAKIM). Presumably, this was meant first and foremost as a religious statement, at least as far as the intent is concerned, but ...