Hooray Malaysia Di Angkat Ke US Commission on International Religious Freedom Special Watch List 2021 !!

 Ini ada sedikit berita daripada Amerika Syarikat Sdn Bhd :

US Commission on International Religious Freedom

https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/Malaysia%20Chapter%20AR2021.pdf

In 2020, religious freedom conditions for religious minorities and the Sunni Muslim majority in Malaysia remained largely the same as in 2019.

The Malaysian government requires members of the Sunni  Muslim majority to adhere to a strict, state-approved interpretation of Islam and regulates the internal affairs of Muslims, leaving them little freedom to practice according to their conscience. 

The pairing of Malay ethnicity with Islam continues to infringe on the religious freedom rights of ethnic Malays. 

In addition, Shari’a courts have historically declared several minority Muslim groups as non-Muslim, which persistently creates a grey area for those Malays who adhere to what the government considers “deviant” forms of Islam. 

For example, an ongoing court case to determine whether Ahmadiyya Muslims can legally identify as Muslims remained unresolved after  being remitted to the High Court in August. 

In February 2020, the two-year-old pluralist Pakatan Harapan coalition collapsed and was replaced by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition. The PN coalition brought together the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a political party that has sought to incorporate corporal hudud penalties into the state-level Shari’a system. 

In a November 2020 coalition meeting, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stated that the PN coalition would fight secularism and liberalism and insisted that his government would hold fast against challenges to Shari’a. The transition of power has spurred an increase in judicial harassment from the police of human rights activists.

Malaysia’s systematic emphasis on Sunni Muslim identity continued to place particular pressures on non-Muslim communities. 

Non-Muslim communities are prohibited from proselytizing to Muslims. All religious conversions, including between non-Muslim faiths, face serious restrictions. Some converts have won the right to adopt their new religious identity openly, but only after taking the issue to the High Court. 

The Malaysian federal government deemed atheism unconstitutional, and those who are ethnically Malay and identify as nonreligious are at risk of criminal prosecution for apostasy. 

Blasphemy is criminalized at the federal level in Malaysia’s secular Penal Code, and at least five states criminalize apostasy with fines, imprisonment, and/or detention in a “rehabilitation” center.

The special task force set up in June 2019 to investigate the disappearances of five individuals, including Pastor Raymond Koh and Shi’a Muslim convert Amri Che Mat, continued to delay the release of its findings throughout 2020. 

(OSTB : Bukan saya sudah bilang, kes Pastor Koh, Amri Che Mat, Pastor Helmi dan isteri Ruth Sitepu tidak akan hilang daripada ingatan manusia. Selagi jasad mereka tidak ditemui kes ini akan menghantui negara ini. Percayalah.)

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

*   Include Malaysia on the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA);

• Fund and implement training on community-based policing between the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security and their Malaysian counterparts to promote better shared practices on interacting with faith communities and protecting houses of worship and other religious sites;

• Urge the Malaysian government to repeal the federal and state-level laws criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy, to remove the constitutional link between the ethnic Malay identity and Islam, and to release the findings of the special task force investigating forced disappearances such as the case of Pastor Koh

My comments : Apakah reaksi yang terbaik bagi kita? Peduli apa kita?  Esok kalau kita kena sekatan sanctions oleh Amerika Syarikat ke, atau depa letak sekatan-sekatan jenis lain kah, peduli apa kita? Mereka kuasa besar. Tetapi kita lagi besar. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.