Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 9 (1): 23-27, 2011

ISSN 1990-9233
IDOSI Publications, 2011

Religious Tolerance in Malaysia: An Overview

Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor
Department of Islamic History and Civilization,
Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract: Religious tolerance is one of the important aspects in multicultural society in the world including
Malaysia. At the same time, the way in dealing with religious issues also determines the kind of society that
we aim to have. This article examines this issue and to highlight how it has been resolved internally by
respecting religious aspect of human life. In Malaysia, religious issues, such as the demand to use the word
Allah by Herald Catholic Weekly in its publication has given another test on religious tolerance. Even though
the High Court judge allowed this Catholic publication to use the Word Allah, the authority has kindly
advised the publication not to use it for internal security reasons. This is to respond to the internal reaction by
Muslim as well as non-Muslim who started to show some unrest actions. This includes violence by burning
several churches, surau (Muslim prayer hall) and pig head thrown into mosques. It can be concluded that
religious tolerance must sustain through respect and mutual understanding which will bring peace and stability
to the country. This paper implies that respecting each other religion is vital for any society. Future work could
be suggested on religious educational aspects in plural society to reduce religious tension.
Key words: Religious Tolerance % Malaysia % The word Allah % Muslim % Non-Muslim
INTRODUCTION

are usually Muslims, the Chinese are normally Buddhists

or believers of Taoism or folk religions and the Indians are
Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs. The Christians faith is
practiced from the various ethnic groups [3]. There are
also other religions practiced by a small number of the
community. In a country such as Malaysia that practices
such diverse beliefs [5], but where its believers live as one
nation, contacts bound to come sooner and later and it is
not surprising where religious issues have oftentimes
become much concern to all walks of life. With the
addition that religion is closely intertwined with ethnicity,
most people become very strongly affected when
sensitive issues are touched. One such issue is religious
tolerance, a concept that Malaysians need very much
learn to understand and accept, in order to live in
harmony with one another.
Why would religious tolerance be a topic that is
much concerned about? In a country with such diverse
beliefs and principles, its very stability depend very much
on its citizen ability to get along with one another, as
unity is an essential foundation in the forming of a strong
and great nation. For many Malaysians, the issue of
religion is quite sensitive. Especially for many Malay

One of the most fascinating aspects of humans life

is its unique dimension of relationships. Throughout the
history of mankind, human have displayed all kind of
characteristics and capabilities that made us distinctive
from other creatures on this planet. One such trait is how
we behave and respond towards other human, especially
those who we perceived as different from us [1]. In such
a diverse nation as Malaysia, one can observe the many
inter-relations which have existed for a period of time [2].
One of these relations is tolerance and more specifically
religious tolerance. Due to the unique fusion of ethnicity
and religion in Malaysia, much has been discussed of its
inter-relation dimension.
Malaysia is a country in South-East Asia, with
majority of over 50% of its people practicing the faith of
Islam, a way of life that has become very synonymous
with the Malay culture, the dominant ethnic in Malaysia.
Islam is the official religion of the country; however there
are a number of religions being practiced beside it [2, 3].
What is interesting is that in Malaysia, religion and
ethnicity generally are considered together: the Malays

Corresponding Author: Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor, Department of Islamic History and Civilization,
Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel.: +60 13 9913048.

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Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 9 (1): 23-27, 2011

Muslims who were born into the faith, Islam could be

said as part of their core being and must not be taken
lightly [6]. In an era where freedom of speech and
rights are much exercised, it is all the more serious
when certain individuals or parties tried to play with
certain issues that will disrupt or threaten the
sensitivity and relationships between its citizens.
Although Malaysia in any way does not disregard any
beliefs or culture of its people, it must be understood
that the extensive period of Muslim rule and Muslim
culture in its history is an essential factor that formed the
root of Malaysia as it is known today. However, treating
religious issues as sacred and not-to-be-discussed
matter does not contribute to better understanding or
tolerance either. It is important that important issues are
clarified so that the entire parties involved world
understand and be willing to work together to prevent any
disparities in the community.
This paper proposes to look at how religious
tolerance figure in the inter-religious relationships of the
Malaysians, especially between Christians and Muslims
in regard of the issue of the use of the word Allah, the
word used by Muslims to refer to God, by the Christians.
Although religious tolerance is greatly promoted, it must
be understood that as a nation, Malaysians has to comply
with the law of the country and that any act that may
cause harm or danger to its people, such as fights or
hatred must be avoided.

The Constitution of Malaysia in Article Number

3, states that Islam is the religion of the Federation,
while other religions may be practices in peace and
harmony in any part of the country. This shows that
although Islam has been recognized as the official
religion of the nation, other religions are free to be
practiced by other believers. Furthermore in Article 11,
it is stated that every individual has the right to profess
and practice his religion [8]. This is to ensure that
believers of a religion need not worry about
religious discrimination, specifically non-Muslims since
they are living in a Muslim country. The law provided the
right to all individual.
In the current Malaysia context, religion has always
played a tremendous role in a majority of its people. If we
are to look at the leaders of this country, we can see a
trend of making Islam as part of their policies [9], such as
done by the prime ministers. Tun Dr. Mahathir, the Prime
Minister advocated the idea of modernist Islam in his
government and building of the nation through the
implementation of Islamic values, as well as establishing
Islamic institutions such as Islamic banking and
university. Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of an Islamic nongovernmental organization (NGO), Malaysian Islamic
Youth Movement (ABIM) became a promising figure in
the government Islamisation process [9]. He joined the
government in 1983, started with Minister of Culture,
Youth and Sports before he became Minister of Education
in 1986. Later on in 1991, he became Minister of Finance
and two years later in 1993 he was appointed Deputy
Prime Minister. His success in promoting moderate Islam
in government system continued but it was not for long.
He became a political victim in 1998 and was sacked from
all government and party posts, which he was a Deputy
President of ruling party United Malay National
Organization (UMNO) [10].
During post-Mahathir era, Islam Hadhari or
Civilizational Islam was introduced by Abdullah Badawi,
Malaysias fifth Prime Minister of that time. He believed
that the approach of Islam Hadhari is able to bring all
Malaysians together, which based on the 10 principles
that he tried to introduce [11, 12]. The concept of Islam
Hadhari gained tremendous attention, not just locally, but
also globally. It was one of the contributing factors that
brought a landslide win to the coalition party in March
2004 General Election [13], where the idea of progressive
Islam attracted the majority of the community. However,
the same idea failed to sustain in the following election,
where the ruling party experienced a loss of two-thirds of
the majority in the 2008 General Election.

Background of Islam in Malaysias Government System:

In order to look at the current religion scenario, it is
helpful to examine the historical background of Malaysia.
Before Malaysia became an independent nation, it had
been colonized by the British for more than 200 years.
When the British first came, the majority of the people
of Malaya (as it was known then) were Malay Muslims,
especially in the West Malaysia and many different ethnic
groups who were indigenous people known as non-Malay
Bumiputera in the Sabah and Sarawak. Under the British
rule, Chinese from China migrated to Malaya particularly
for the purpose of tin-mining in the later part of 19th
century. Later, the Indians were brought from South India
for the large scales commercial agriculture starting in
1820s. The Chinese and Indians settled in Malaya and
gradually began to build their own communities, including
schools and temples in various part of the country [7]. In
order to protect the rights of all the citizens in the
community, encompasses of a number of races, culture
and religion, the law now known as The Constitution of
Malaysia was constructed.

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Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 9 (1): 23-27, 2011

In a more recent development, the present Prime

Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has
introduced the idea of One Malaysia One Ummah with
emphasis on the concept of wasatiyyah, which means
moderation and tolerance [14]. The present Prime Minister
believes that a more comprehensive and integrated
concept that aligns with the requirement of Islam is
necessary in order to actualize the idea of 1Malaysia for
the for the purpose of dealing with the many issues and
problems in the society. However, so far the concept is
not being promoted as much as Islam Hadhari was back in
Abdullah Badawis days.
The steps taken by the leaders are very important in
running any states. This includes an Islamic country such
as Malaysia. A country ruled by Muslim, where almost
half of its population is non-Muslims must always be
concerned about the concept of tolerance between its
people. In this regards, many Muslim scholars look back
at the time of the Prophet Muhammad who lead a
multicultural Medina. At the time, Muhammad become the
leader of Medina and established the Constitution
(Sahifat al-Madinah), in order to ensure that the
population of the city which include Muslims and nonMuslims inhabitants will be able to live peacefully
together [15]. Hence, the ideal world of harmony would be
eventually existed.

which allowed the Herald to use the word Allah had

raised an outcry, especially from the Muslims and elicited
various responses from the many sectors of the society.
The decision was made by Judge Lau Bee Lan, following
the appeal of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam.
He requested for a court review to challenge the decision
of MOHA which prohibited the use of the word Allah in
the magazine and that the word Allah is not exclusive to
Islam only [16].
The Catholic Church listed their reasons to continue
the use of the word of Allah in the newspaper The Sun on
24th December 2007. In the article Church leaders explain
the use of Allah there were five bases given by the
church authority as to why they wanted to continue to
use of the word Allah. Although they claimed that their
reasons are valid, in actuality, these claims can easily be
refuted, both from academic and religious aspects [17].
As a result of this dispute, unfortunate incidents
have taken place, which show how dire the situation is.
One was the arsonists attacks on churches in Malaysia.
The first incident took place in Desa Melawati and later
the church in Jalan Templer, on the 10th of January 2010
[18]. A number of churches later became victims as well.
On the other side, Muslims also suffered from this issue
when their worship houses became part of the conflict.
Two mosques in Petaling Jaya and Jalan Klang Lama were
thrown pig heads into their compounds [19]. These
incidents that involved houses of worships have gained
much attention locally and globally. While the Malaysian
government urged the everyone to keep calm, two
brothers were sentenced to five years of prison after they
were found guilty for attacking one of the churches. Raja
Mohamad Faizal Raja Ibrahim, 24 and his brother Raja
Mohamad Idzham Mohd Ibrahim, 22 pleaded innocent to
the charges, claiming that they were at a restaurant when
the incident took place and the burnt on Raja Mohamad
Faizals hands were a result of a barbeque incident [20].

Religious Issue in Malaysia: the Use of the Word Allah

by Non-Muslims: There have been many issues that are
religion-related in the country. However, as with other
issues in Malaysia, a religion-related issue is not just one
simple issue in a nation where many aspects are closely
knitted, including religion, race, politics and economy.
Issues such as religious freedom, religious equality,
conversion into a religion, religious pluralism and many
others have long been scrutinized and debated. Some of
these issues have been openly and actively debated, but
most of them remain unclear and continue to contribute to
the already fragile grounds of society balance. One of the
issues is the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims in
Malaysia.
The Ruling on Permission to Use the Word Allah by
Non-Muslims: In 2007, the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MOHA) instructed the Herald magazine, a Catholic
weekly magazine based in Sabah to stop the using the
word Allah in its publication along with the words
Baitullah, solat and kaabah. This had led to the
magazine filing a claim against the restrictions placed by
MOHA. In 2008, the ruling of Kuala Lumpur High Court

25

For and Against the Use of the Word Allah by

Non-Muslims: While one part of Muslims worries about
the consequences of the court ruling that allows the
Catholic Church to continue with the use of the word
Allah, others are willing to consider the situation. The
government opposition coalition party which
includes Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) [21], Parti Islam
SeMalaysia (PAS) [22] and Democratic Action Party
(DAP) [23] believe that the use of the word Allah by the
non-Muslims is a positive development and should be
openly accepted. They believe that it is actually an

Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 9 (1): 23-27, 2011

advantage to the Muslims and Islam if the non-Muslims

were to use the word where they are also indirectly giving
attribute to the word as Muslims are. However, Muslims
should remember that the same word bring different
connotations to Muslims and non-Muslims, which is why
it has become such a big concern.
The current governments stand is not to discuss this
issue openly as well as discouraging any attempt to do so
[22], as it may cause uneasiness not just among the
Muslim community but all the citizens of Malaysia as this
issue is closely tied with the relationships of the different
religions in Malaysia. Among other parts of the
community, there are also various reactions towards
the issue.
The fatwa (Islamic ruling) of the National Fatwa
Council Malaysia, which held its 82th council session on
5-7th of May 2008 had come to the conclusion that the
word Allah is a sacred word and is exclusive to Islam and
Muslims and may not be used by nor liken with religions
other than Islam. Muslims are charged to protect the word
as best as they could [24]. National Fatwa Council was
established in 1978 for the purpose of coordinating state
religious council activities and with the power to issue
rulings on any religious matter affecting Muslims.
For Muslims NGOs such as Persatuan Ulama
Malaysia (PUM), they clearly opposed the use of the
sacred word by non-Muslims. While condemning the act
of violating any house of worships of any religion, PUM
asserted that it is important for Muslims and non-Muslims
alike to be more sensitive towards religious issues to
prevent any conflict between the religions and racial
disunity [25]. Another NGO, Jemaah Islah Malaysia
(JIM) also urged the community to respond in a calm
manner towards the issue, instead of being emotional and
violent [26].

where respect and understanding of each other must be

well-grounded. Muslims are not simply trying to show
ownership of the word, or trying to win an argument but
they are protecting their religion, which is what every
religious person should be able to understand. The same
goes to Muslims who feel that there is no reason why
non-Muslims should be banned from using the word.
Although they believe they are being tolerant, but the
allowance need to be made with proper understanding of
the issue. As for those who feel strongly of the matter,
they need to respond in a rational and intellectual manner,
instead of being emotional because the arson attacks will
only encourage further similar or worst happenings
and contribute nothing to peace and harmony of the
multi-religious community of the country.
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CONCLUSION

6.

Muslims and Non-Muslims should understand that

although they are free to practice their own religions,
there are certain boundaries that should not and could not
be crossed. The use of the word Allah is something that
falls under that category, not just because the claim to the
word is not justified, but also because there are other
issues that should be considered, such as the stability of
peace and harmony between the citizens of a country.
Since there is no religious obligation in Christianity to use
the word Allah in their religion, the same word has a very
sacred meaning in Islam and must not be taken lightly.
That is in fact the very essence of religious tolerance,

7.

8.

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