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The Malaysian Insider

Malaysia a religious-f ascist state, not a moderate one, says ex-minister
December 16, 2013 Malaysia's image as a so-called moderate nation has been dismissed by a f ormer minister, who said it was closer to being a religious-f ascist state. Datuk Z aid Ibrahim (pic) said the ongoing religious persecution of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and others bef ore him portends a grave f uture f or religious f reedom in Malaysia. Z aid said it was up to Malaysians either to allow this trend to continue or to def end religious f reedom. We are not only denied political f reedom (with the media and the electoral process under government control), but also liberty in matters of personal belief . We are already witnessing a new wave of attacks against Shias, which are more of ten associated with the Middle East and Pakistan. T he Sunni-Shia warf are has turned the Muslim world upside down with senseless killings and now it has arrived on our shores, thanks to our home minister, he said, ref erring to charges against Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu, who is accused of being a Shia by the Home Ministry. Z aid also cited the example of Kamariah Ali and her husband, f ollowers of the Ayah Pin sect, who were prosecuted f or f ollowing a version of Islam which was not acceptable to the state. Years ago, when Kamariah Ali and her husband pleaded bef ore the judges to allow them to be the kind of Muslims that they understood God meant them to be, they were denied. T he judges ruled that the state had the right to def ine Islam and that only its version was acceptable. T hey went on to say the state had the right to punish those who deviated f rom its version of Islam. He said Kamariah Ali was jailed and when her husband died, the state denied him a proper burial. T he state obviously did not consider him to be a Muslim who deserved a proper burial, yet it believed it had the power to punish him f or being a 'deviant' Muslim. T he state had its cake and ate it, too: one day it declared a person a bad Muslim who needed to be punished, and the next day, it declared that this person was not a Muslim. And the judges agreed! Z aid said f ew cried f oul over this development. Z aid said what happened to Mat Sabu and others like him would never have come to pass if judges in the country had been brave enough to base their decisions on the law.

When I f irst said Mat Sabu should not bother to def end himself when he was accused of being a Shia, my Muslim f riends f elt he needed to, regardless of the quality of evidence his accusers could provide. T hey f elt that being a Shia was bad f or his image. If (Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Z ahid (Hamidi) and Jakim (Department of Islamic Development) think Shias are not Muslims, then why not petition the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) and the United Nations to bar Iranians f rom doing the haj. Take to the global stage if you truly want to be a Sunni warrior. Do not bully local Muslims like Mat Sabu, Z aid said. Its up to Muslims in this country to decide f or themselves what kind of Muslims they want to be. I believe they have that right under the Constitution. I am a Muslim and thats all there is to it. T he state may def ine Islam as the Sunnah Wal Jumaah variety, but that def inition cannot supersede Article 8 in the Constitution on religious f reedom. T he state can advise on what variety is 'pure' but it cannot punish Muslims if they pref er a dif f erent variety. Punishment is Gods work, not of f icials, and thats central to a country that has a secular Constitution governing matters of f aith. And Malaysia is secular. Z aid warned that the country could eventually explode like Lebanon and Syria if the prime minister was only interested in high-speed rail link to Singapore and trade agreements. We have had many disturbing incidents such as Memali, the Al-Maunah movement and other 'deviant groups'. So how do we manage this potentially dif f icult and dangerous conf lict? Z aid said the prime minister claimed to be a moderate and if that was the case, he should speak out a lot more about the subject in Malaysia. He should also have ministers who are moderate and capable of engaging with dif f icult subjects. December 16, 2013.