Umno's VILLIFICATION of Shia more political than religious

KUALA LUMPUR — Umno’s plan to formalise the Sunni school of Islam within its constitution and proposal to do the same with the Federal Constitution was more political gambit than religious, said two analysts.

They saw this and an increasing vilification of the opposing Shiah denomination as possibly driven by the opportunities to tar-and-feather rivals accused of being adherents of the sect deemed by authorities — also controlled by the party — to be “deviant”.

“Maybe they want to make an issue out of the Shiah, claiming some other party is allowing the Shiah practice... it is more political rather than faith,” Prof Datuk Dr Redzuan Othman, who heads the University of Malaya Centre of Democracy and Elections (Umcedel), said.

Another political analyst, Prof Dr Ahmad Tarmizi Talib from Universiti Putra Malaysia, agreed that the proposal did not appear grounded on matters of religion.

“They are afraid of Shiah, but they don’t even understand the Shiah that they are talking about,” he said when contacted.

“When I ask a few of them what they understand about Shiah, they list out one, two, three things but those things are not part of Shiah. The people giving input to the PM are also not quite knowledgeable of Shiah.”

He also warned that the move presumably aimed drawing support from the Malay community, for which Umno was contesting with rival PAS, could backfire on the federal government led by the former party.

He said by defining Sunnah wal Jamaah — the Sunni school — as the only acceptable Islamic denomination, Umno will perpetuate a culture of discrimination against matters that they may not fully understand.

“If you become more tolerant, people won’t disturb you. But the problem is that you cannot tolerate not only Shiah, but also the Christians and the Buddhists... this will only cause trouble for you,” he said.

The Barisan Nasional federal government controlled by Umno is currently embroiled in a legal tussle with the Catholic Church over the use of the Arabic word “Allah”, arguing that the term may only be used exclusively by Muslims to refer to their God.

Baffling

Redzuan also described the proposal to define Sunni Islam as the religion of the federation as “baffling”, pointing out that such matters fell under the purview of the individual states and their Rulers.

“I’m not very sure why they make an issue of this. There is nothing significant out of that proposal. This has nothing to do with the Federal Constitution; it is a practice of the state. It is a state matter,” he said when contacted by The Malay Mail Online.

UKM political analyst Prof Shamsul Adabi Mamat, however, countered that it s necessary for Umno to formally declare its guiding Islamic ideology for it to be the foundation to address the spread of different and potentially conflicting ideologies in the country.

He said many of the conflicts in the Middle East ― the birthplace of Islam ― boiled down to ideological differences between the majority Sunni Muslims and those that followed the Shiah school of jurispudence.

“This is a clear endorsement (by Umno), so that crises of faith such as Shiah, or religious issues such as deviationist teachings, can be effectively curbed.

“With this, Umno will clearly be a champion of Sunnah wal Jamaah, something that it has been doing all this while. This needs to be highlighted so that society understands (the position of the Sunni ideology) and promote unity in the future, not just for the Malays but for Muslims in general,” Shamsul said when contacted.

On Saturday when closing the 64^th Umno General Assembly, Umno President and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced plans to amend the party’s constitution to adopt the provision in the Federal Constitution that places Islam as the religion of the federation.

At the same time, the amendment will include the term “Sunnah wal Jamaah” ― which is the dominant Islamic denomination in Malaysia ― to specifically define the religious doctrine that is endorsed by Umno.

But Umno vice-president and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also used the assembly as the venue to instruct Minister in charge of Islamic affairs Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom to act against “the number two in PAS” over alleged Shiah links.

While it was widely believed Zahid was referring to PAS deputy president Mohammad Sabu, this was not confirmed until yesterday, when the Home Ministry presented the “proof” that led the minister to arrive at the conclusion.

This ministry listed 10 items such as Mohammad Sabu’s admiration for late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an allegation by one Dr Abdul Aziz Hanafi that the PAS man had once recited a Shiah prayer.

The PAS deputy president popularly known as Mat Sabu yesterday categorised the allegations as “lies” and said he will consult his lawyers over the possible defamation. - Malay Mail