See each other’s humanity first, religion later, says Perak sultan

 

Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Shah delivering his speech at the Regional Southeast Asia Human Dignity Conference. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Shah has called for greater tolerance and unity among followers of different faiths, urging them to see one another as humans first before judging them based on their religious beliefs.

Sultan Nazrin said those spouting the rhetoric of intolerance and exclusion wanted to convince people that those who were different from them were lesser than them, or 

a threatening, inhuman other

.

In a speech at the Regional Southeast Asia Human Dignity Conference hosted by Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) yesterday, the Perak ruler shared a story about the selfless sacrifice of a Buddhist monk in Myanmar amid the 2013 anti-Muslim riots.

He said the monk, known as Uzin Pein, led a monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar. When the riots broke out, he allowed hundreds of Muslims to seek refuge there.

“When hundreds of armed and angry people showed up at the monastery’s door that night, demanding for the Muslims to be turned over to them to be killed, Uzin Pein stood at the door and refused (to do so).

“He stayed there all through the night, saying, ‘I cannot do that. If you are to harm them, you need to kill me first’. And at last, the mob grew tired and went home.

“For this Buddhist monk, it did not matter that the people seeking shelter were Muslims, and that so many of his fellow Buddhists wanted them dead. To him, they were humans in grave danger; and he stood up for their right to dignity and to life.

We may not all have Uzin Pein’s incredible bravery, but we can all try to follow his example in seeing and valuing the human first, rather than the religious label,

 said the sultan.

Sultan Nazrin lamented that inclusivity and religious freedom were not a given after all these years, and went on to condemn religious persecution.

He said acts of aggression in the name of religion or ethnicity must be eradicated as they represented 

an attack on human dignity itself

.

The sultan said he was proud of Malaysia’s track record in promoting unity while celebrating its diversity, and maintained that all Malaysians must be able to share the belief that 

they have a place under the Malaysian sun

.

He also said religious leaders had the power to use their influence to extinguish hatred and conflicts, as long as they remained true to the core beliefs of their faiths — mercy, love and forgiveness.

Sultan Nazrin cited the example of the current Bishop of Kuching, Donald Jute, who, in 2010 played down an incident where unknown individuals threw bricks at the Anglican Good Shepherd Church and broke its stained-glass window.

Reverend Jute’s calm, open-hearted response in the face of hurt sets an example for us all, regardless of our faith or our role within it. May his actions remind us to always respond with dignity, even when we have not been treated with it. - FMT