FUTILE CALL, LOOK AT IGP, ZAHID! Fed govt must stop Islamic agencies from bullying non-Muslims

It was a wedding without the bride last time and it is a funeral without the corpse this time.

On June 1, a group of Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) officers stormed into a Hindu temple and took away the bride halfway through a matrimonial ceremony, completely messing up the wedding which was supposed to be filled with fun and joy. On June 9, a group of Penang Islamic Religious Department (Jaipp) officers turned up at an apartment and interrupted a Chinese funeral to claim the remains of the deceased before taking it to the mortuary, adding grief to the sorrowful atmosphere of the funeral.

The two incidents involving sensitive religious controversies occurred within eight days. The Selangor and Penang religious departments' moves were indeed difficult to understand, triggering a doubt of whether they have gone far beyond the boundaries. Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said that Jais officers apparently did not follow standard operating procedures in conducting the raid, calling it an embarrassment to the state government. And now, the Penang government is caught in the same embarrassment.

We have pointed out that the move of Jais to storm into a solemn wedding and took the bride away before making clear her religious faith might provoke religious sensibilities and deepen differences and misunderstandings. It is an undesirable, rash and irrational move. Unfortunately, Jaipp did not learn a lesson from the mistake committed by Jais and interrupted a funeral by just producing documents showing the woman had converted to Islam in 1997. Such an enforcement approach lacking in respect and sensitivity has not only caused strong resentment from the deceased's family but also triggered a new controversy.

In all fairness, the two incidents could actually be solved in a more modest and humane way through negotiations. But it s puzzling as the two religious departments have chosen a tough way, making the religious controversies which have been very sensitive to become more acute, while causing a widespread of discontent and unrest among non-Muslim communities.

One of the responsibilities of religion in the world is to bring peace and happiness to mankind. We believe that all good religions share the same obligation. We believe in religion as we hope to enhance the spiritual values of our society with the power of religion. We also hope that all religions can promote religious sentiments and advocate dispute solutions with equal dialogues, mutual respect, trust and forgiveness, so that there can be more understanding and less disputes in the society. Arrogant domination and tough approaches to deal with problems that result in unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts are not what we want.

We also believe that peaceful coexistence is the common goal pursued by all religions, while mutual respect and forgiveness are the common language. They are also the foundation of religious harmony in the country. However, the recent series of religious controversies have challenged the foundation of mutual trust and the spirit of mutual respect which have long been established. The controversies have even brought some degree of fear among believers of different religions. It is a crisis and worry that must not be ignored for a multi-racial and multi-religious country.

It is now the time. It is necessary for the government to appropriately intervene and start the mediation mechanism, so that when there are disagreements and disputes among different religious groups, timely view exchanges and dialogues can be conducted to seek ways to resolve the problems, and avoid further deterioration! -Mysinchew