MCA: We are a secular nation

by Eileen Ng, New Straits Times, Thu 19th Jul 2007 8:58 AM MYT
via The Malaysian Bar
 

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is a secular state, insists the MCA.

It said the position was clear as evidenced by numerous historical documents, including the Reid Report, the Cobbold Commission and a 1988 Supreme Court decision.

After reviewing the documents used in the process of drafting the Federal Constitution, the party's secretary-general, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, said Malaysia was a secular state based on the consensus and social contract agreed upon by the nation's forefathers.

"The documents showed that a secular state is the foundation of the formation of Malaya and this consensus was made by our forefathers," he said yesterday.

He said this in response to the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Monday that Malaysia is an Islamic nation that protects the rights of non-Muslims.

Citing an example, Ong said according to the Alliance's memorandum to the Reid Commission dated Sept 27, 1956, it was stated on Page 19 that "The religion of Malaya shall be Islam. The observance of this principle shall not impose any disability on non-Muslim nationals professing and practising their own religion, and shall not imply the state is not a secular state."

Ong said former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj had said during a meeting on April 17, 1957, that "the whole constitution was framed on the basis that the federation would be a secular state".

Ong said notes prepared by the Colonial Office dated May 23, 1957, at the London Conference Talks mentioned that "the members of the Alliance delegation stressed that they had no intention of creating a Muslim theocracy and that Malaya would be a secular state".

Additionally, Ong stated that when former MCA president, who was Finance Minister, Tun Tan Siew Sin spoke in parliament on July 10, 1957, in support of the Constitutional Bill, he said that although Islam would be the official religion, "this does not in any way derogate from the principle, which has always been accepted, that Malaya will be a secular state and that there will be a complete freedom to practise any other religion".

Ong added that all these documents showed a true picture of Malaysia, which is a secular nation.

MCA central committee member and Kota Melaka MP Wong Nai Chee said Najib's interpretation was "not in accordance with the spirit and intent of the Federal Constitution".

He said that the issue of Malaya as a secular state was vigorously debated again during the 1962 Cobbold Commission before the entry of Sabah and Sarawak, forming Malaysia.

"Again, the secular nature of Malaysia was reiterated as having been stated in the Reid Commission. The secular nature of our Federal Constitution has been the basis for our nation building since 1957 and reinforced in 1963."

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism president, Datuk A. Vaithilingam, urged the government and all Malaysians to respect the social contract agreed to in 1957.

The council also strongly objected to attempts by the government to change the status quo.

The Bar Council said that in the context of the country's history and the constitution itself that proclaimed its supremacy, there was no doubt whatsoever that Malaysia was a secular state.

"It is noteworthy that the prime minister in his speech delivered at the conference yesterday and in his propagating Islam Hadhari has never referred to Malaysia as an Islamic state," the council's president Ambiga Sreenevasan said.

"It is time that the proposition that Malaysia is not secular (which is a rewriting of the constitution), be put to rest once and for all and that there is due recognition and reaffirmation of the clear legal and constitutional position that Malaysia is, and has always been, a secular state."

 

Malaysia not secular State, says Najib

Bernama, Tue 17 Jul 2007
 

KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Tuesday Malaysia is not a secular state but an Islamic nation with its own interpretation.

He said the country had never been affiliated to secularism but was always driven by the fundamentals of Islam as it is clearly stated in the constitution that Islam is the official religion.

"Islam is the official religion and we are an Islamic state. But as an Islamic state, it does not mean that we don't respect the non-Muslims. The Muslims and the non-Muslims have their own rights (in this country)," he told reporters after officiating the "International Conference on the Role of Islamic States in a Globalised World" on behalf of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at a hotel here.

The conference is organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim). Ikim chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid and director-general Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas were present.

Najib was asked whether Malaysia was seemingly moving towards being a secular state.

"I have to correct you. We have never been secular because being secular by Western definition means separation of the Islamic principles in the way we govern a country.

"We have never been affiliated to that position. We have always been driven by our adherence to the fundamentals of Islam. So, your premise is wrong," he said.

Najib said Malaysia does not want to be stereotyped with the Western definitions of a secular and a non-secular state.

The two-day conference beginning today aims to discuss specifically the strategic modus operandi of revitalising the Muslim ummah in the global context, particularly through a system of education, to harness quality human capital.

Earlier, Najib launched a book entitled "The Ijazah of Abdullah Fahim" authored by Mesut Idris and Syed Ali and published by MPH Group Publishing. It is available at major bookstores at RM59.90 per copy.

 

'Bloodshed' in Parliament

Yoges Palaniappan, Malaysiakini, 10 Jul 2007 4:46 PM MYT
 

There was a mass slaughter on the Parliament grounds today and several MPs saw red, both literally and figuratively, over the incident.

Those responsible, the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC), claimed that it was done with good intentions but some of their peers begged to differ.

Under tents set up at the motorcycle parking zone, six cows and 10 goats were slaughtered for a dinner function tonight.

The dinner, scheduled to take place at the Parliament's banquet hall, is to celebrate Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's marriage to Jeanne Abdullah last month.

In the Dewan Rakyat, opposition MPs aired their disapproval over the 'bloodshed' and accused their BN counterparts of ignoring the sensitivity of other religions.

"This is the first time such an incident has happened in Parliament. Furthermore, cows are sacred to Hindus," lamented M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat).

However, Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib reasoned that "it (slaughtering) is a common practice and not unusual during dinners."

Following this, Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) said she was shocked when she saw the animals being brought into the Parliament grounds in a truck.

"If it a common practice, will it be acceptable for other MPs to slaughter 'other' animals here?" she asked.

Kulasegaran then urged the House speaker not to allow such an incident to recur and Ramli promised to look into it.

BBC chief grilled

Meanwhile, BBC chairperson Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar (BN-Larut) explained that the dinner was organised with good intentions and BBC never meant to hurt anyone.

"This is first time that a PM has married. In fact this is history and we are celebrating the wedding," he said, adding that the meat would also be given as alms to nearby mosques.

"We did it with noble intentions," he said, adding that prior approval was obtained from Parliament officials to carry out the slaughter.

"We are parliamentarians. Where else can we organise the dinner if not in Parliament? Is it wrong? This is a simple issue, I hope the media will not make it a big issue," he said.

Raja Ahmad, who appeared calm in the beginning became visibly agitated when journalists pounded him with questions as to why the slaughtering could not have been done elsewhere.

The BBC chairperson then shot back at the journalists, chiding them for not fixing an appointment with his secretary before meeting him and for not getting his permission to enter his office.

Slaughter happens everywhere

Ahmad then tried to justify the incident by saying that slaughtering of cows and goats happened everywhere, including government offices.

This lead a journalist to respond: "I believe it is not so. Once they slaughtered cattle on a school ground in Selangor but parents wrote in to object and it was not repeated ever since."

Ahmad just shook his head and refused to comment on this.

In a related development, BBC member K Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) gave his assurance that such incidents would not happen again.

"I was not at the meeting when the dinner was planned, and I got to know about it only a few days ago. Although we cannot undo what has already been done, we can abstain from doing it in future," he said.

More than 1,000 people, including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, cabinet ministers and MPs from both BN and the opposition, are expected to attend the dinner tonight.

Parliament ended its current session today and will resume on August 22.

 

First They Came...

"First they came..." is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

 

[Original German version]

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.

 

[Translated to English]

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.