'Umno gov't not always acting in Islam's interests'

INTERVIEW While the Malaysian government led by Umno seems to be acting in the best interests of Islam as could be seen with the case of The Herald, other past cases prove otherwise.

This scenario was pointed out by constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari in an interview with Malaysiakini, who described all that changed in 2008 since BN and Umno lost its two-thirds majority.

“The Umno government is acting like a born-again Muslim in appealing the High Court decision on The Herald, whereas it could not care less about the right of Muslims to practice their religion,” he said.

Abdul Aziz, a former law lecturer who is now attached to University Selangor, said the Meor Atiqulrahman Ishak and two others case against the Education Ministry, where he described that the boys were humiliated and expelled from SK Serting, Negri Sembilan in 1997 for wearing the serban.

Like the home minister’s action against The Herald, these pupils were expelled on the grounds that the district education department said they did not follow regulations “demi kepentingan dan kesejahteraan warga sekolah dan masyarakat sekitar” (in the interest and well-being of the school and community).

The boys’ father, Syed Ahmad Johari Syed Mohd, challenged the district education department’s order by way of judicial review at the Seremban High Court and won, with the court declaring the regulation as unconstitutional.

Abdul Aziz said strangely, the government in 2000 then appealed the decision and as a result the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court decision.

“This decision was affirmed by the Federal Court at the expense of the students’ education just because they wear the serban,” he said.

Former Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad, who was leading the three-member panel, ruled that the serban is not an integral part of Islam.

Not only minority but majority rights at stake

Abdul Aziz said  people should see that curbs on religious freedom in Malaysia do not only endanger the minority, but also the majority itself is not entirely safe.

Pointing to the Shiite Muslims and the adverse publicity they faced, Abdul Aziz said the problem is sometimes the issue has not been discussed properly.

This, he added, was made worse with certain mufti or former mufti coming up with certain fatwa (edict) favouring certain interpretations like labelling Muslims who question the Court of Appeal can belabelled as an infidel or an apostate.

“The issue like the Shiites is being dealt with in sermons during Friday prayers. (With the decision involving The Herald case) not only the minority but even the majority, including Shiite Muslims and Wahhabi, are under threat in Malaysia,” he said.

Abdul Aziz said it seems the courts in the country seems to favour the mainstream, when the ruling public order come under threat.

He said Shiism is seen as a threat to the Sunnis.

Renders guarantees under constitution meaningless

“However, who is to determine public order and the premise of the country’s security. The court, like in most cases, went on like the government where the interpretation is done at face value. It is as if the government says it cannot be done as it is prejudicial to security. The court is unwilling to go beyond that,” he said.

“This renders the guarantees under the constitution as meaningless. This is because if you have got this provision (prejudicial to public order) to neutralise everything, there is no point of having it in the first place,” he said.

The Shiite community here has also lodged a complaint with the United Nations over alleged persecution here.

Abdul Aziz said the courts here do not see the potential in the prospect of protecting human rights, as with the Meor Atiqulrahman case.

When it was pointed out that the government has come-up with the10-point solution on April 11, 2011 to resolve the ‘Allah’ row, but the appellate court decision seems to be in total disregard of it, the former law professor quizzed what promises has the government kept?

“In the first place, I do not think the (home minister’s decision to ban) should happen. When the government lost, they appealed. If there is any honour for this government in holding to its promise (with the 10-point solution) this would not have happened.

Umno acting right-wing

“In the first place they should not appeal and create barriers for The Herald as it brings out many  other problems,” he said.

In the first part of the interview, Abdul Aziz had said that Islam in Malaysia is not under siege and that the judgment, instead of solving problems, has created a new one.

Prior to 2008, Abdul Aziz said the government did not care for such cases or matters affecting Islam.

“However, right now it seems Umno is acting very right wing like the Republicans. This shows that Umno/BN does not have a political philosophy,” he said, adding that at present manipulations have been done with selected freedom given.

To resolve the problem, Abdul Aziz said the key is to give wide opportunities for people to speak up, as in the end those victorious are those who have the knowledge, wisdom and who are well-informed and not the extremists like Perkasa.

He believes in the wisdom of the people but unfortunately the present government does not trust us as they think we are not rational enough.

“The Malays have opened up after seeing the United Arab Emirates editorial. Many did not see this previously. I am inclined to say Malays now are open-minded,” he said.