By Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau
Politicians cannot afford to play a zero-sum game between Muslims and non-Muslims
HAPPY 61st birthday, Malaysia. However, I am deeply worried while celebrating this auspicious day.
I am worried because Malaysia as an entity stands on two legs: respect for Islam and respect for multiculturalism.
So often, police reports are made and statements issued to defend Islam. However, contrary to the claim of many Malay-Muslim nationalists in Malaya, Islam is getting more entrenched and not being threatened in Malaysia.
One case in point, Islamic Development Department (Jakim) officials will be placed in every government agency, reminding us of the Chinese Communist Party which has its branches in government agencies, universities and big companies.
While Jakim has the power over what Muslims can eat and drink, a proposal is made to mandate pork-free restaurants run by non-Muslims to get halal certificates. And a non-Muslim MP, Teresa Kok, is investigated for speaking up the concerns of those affected non-Muslim restaurateurs.
Where I live in Sabah, the real issue is not Islam being disrespected. Rather, Islam and multiculturalism are deliberately framed as incompatible, and multiculturalism must take a back seat for Islam to be respected.
It is this artificially-framed zero-sum game, that episodes of culture war are staged all year long, one after another. When one episode subsides, a new one quickly emerges to fill its void.
Intriguingly, the main target of these dramas often are not even the non-Muslims, but the moderate Muslim politicians. The non-Muslims and their supposedly “unIslamic” religious, cultural and social practices are but convenient tools for Muslim nationalist hardliners to put the moderate Muslims in bad light.
For example, would the presence of Tiger Beer’s logo in a Chinese school fund-raising dinner in the small town of Sungai Pelek be an issue if the officiating guest was DAP’s Teo Nie Cheng, the deputy communications minister, instead of Aiman Athirah Sabu, who is Amanah’s Wanita chief and deputy minister of housing and local government?
Of course, the non-Muslims would become the collateral damage of intra-Muslim political contestation.
Step by step, the Muslim nationalists declare certain non-Muslim practices as unIslamic and an affront to the dignity of Islam and Muslims, demanding them to be eliminated or at least banished from the public space, by framing them as public interest in the name of Syariah-compliant universal moral values.
In the latter, non-Muslims can drink, consume non-halal foods and dress the way they like only in their respective cultural ghettos. Beyond these ghettos, everything public would have to be aligned with the Islamic standard dictated by the Muslim nationalists.
If this “privatisation” or “public-banishment” of minority cultures is not bad enough, the boundaries and standards of non-Muslim space are not even cast in stone. What was allowed yesterday may become unacceptable to Islam and Muslims today.
In August, under the watch of a Muslim nationalist Menteri Besar who is poised to become the 11th Prime Minister and supposedly a moderate technocrat, Chinese temples now cannot have female performers in their Hungry Ghost festival performances.
And if you wonder why there is a deafening silence from the federal government, the Prime Minister’s call for “mutual respect for Muslims and non-Muslims” is politically correct only for his international audience in Tokyo, but not for the domestic audience in Terengganu.
I am very blessed to be born as a Catholic Dusun in Sabah, and not an Orang Asli, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Taoist and atheist in Malaya.
I am blessed because the vast majority of Borneo Muslims – from our family members, friends, colleagues and neighbours to political leaders – don’t see the dignity and interest of Muslims and the rest of the world as a zero-sum game.
But the South China Sea cannot protect Sabah and Sarawak from bigotry or ethnocentrism coming from the Peninsula. And there are more than a million of Sabahan and Sarawakian diaspora living in Malaya. Many Borneans serve in civil service, military and police throughout the country.
More importantly, the blessing of living in harmony and respect for each other should not be a prerogative of Borneo Malaysians. I spent my younger years in Universiti Pertanian Malaysia when multi-ethnic clientele in non-Muslim-owned restaurants without halal certificates were not uncommon in West Malaysia.
I yearn not for the past, but for a future where harmony and common sense reign, that we embrace each other as brothers and sisters in humanity despite our differences in faith and outlook.
I yearn for carefree interactions between Malaysians not being reminded of their ethnic boundaries every hour and minute.
I yearn for permission and celebration of grey areas like pork-free restaurants without halal certificates that my Muslim relatives and friends can decide whether they want to patronise or not.
I yearn for a greater realisation across Malaysians, especially in Malaya, that for Malaysia to be sustainable, we need to adhere to both respect for Islam and respect for multiculturalism, and not
pit the two as somewhat incompatible where one must make way for the other.
I yearn for the day we won’t share photos like that of Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar kissing the forehead of Pope Francis and sigh quietly, “Yeah, that’s Indonesia.”
I empathise with PMX (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and other Muslim leaders who are constantly attacked for upholding both Islam and multiculturalism. I can imagine the pressure they endure.
If they succumb to the pressure to forego the balance, the Madani Government may lose the 16th general election, if enough non-Muslims and liberals find no enthusiasm to vote. And political apathy would naturally be followed by brain drain and capital flight.
For East Malaysians, an off-balanced Malaysia simply means greater appeal for separatism, or even a merger with Indonesia.
I yearn for a near future that my Malaysia Day message would be of all pride and thanks. For now, honesty, is how I must manifest my patriotism.
Long live, Malaysia! Long live multiculturalism! – scoop.com
Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau is Tuaran MP and UPKO honorary president.
