Interfaith efforts wrecked by misunderstanding, says Pak Lah

(The Malay Mail) – Plans for an Interfaith Commission of Malaysia (ICM) were derailed by resistance from those who conflated it with support for pluralism, former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says in his upcoming book.

In 2005, civil society, professional and political groups had banded together to advocate the ICM as conciliatory and advisory body among the country’s various creeds.

But detractors quickly attacked it as an attempt to usurp Islam as the religion of the federation, claiming it that it would lead to a proliferation of Muslim apostasy.

“People do not really understand what interfaith dialogue is, especially the muftis,” Abdullah (picture), popularly called Pak Lah, wrote in his book “Awakenings: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia”.

The move was one of many reversals that earned the Abdullah administration the “flip-flop” label.

Initially supportive, Pak Lah shelved the plans for the commission following outcry from Muslim groups, especially from within Umno.

“It’s not been easy to get interfaith dialogue going. It’s not that I did not meet people (of other faiths). I did but there is still a lack of understanding what interfaith means.

“Just like plurality, there is misunderstanding when talking about pluralism,” said the chairman of the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, the federal government’s main religious think-tank.

Also, despite the idyllic image of multicultural Malaysia presented to the rest of the world, race issues were among those that weighed the most on Abdullah.

“… our issues are compounded by managing race relations, managing expectations of the majority and minority groups,” according to an excerpt from the 620-page book which will be out in major bookstores next week.

The 73-year-old said he tried the approach of moderation through Islam Hadhari, which has principles intended to create a common platform for all Malaysians, based on the principles of tolerance, justice and equity.

“Like I said, it was not easy to get the buy-in even from my own colleagues in Barisan Nasional, but after much explanation and efforts, they agreed.

“Further, there were then, as there are now, elements within and outside Umno that failed to understand it and even went as far as accusing me of starting a new religion.

“And this included (Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) who has a habit of ridiculing things he does not understand,” he said.

But the Abdullah administration is also responsible for one of the country’s most controversial religious quagmires. In 2007, then Home Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar issued a ban against the local Catholic Church using the word “Allah”.

This led to the Church challenging the ban in court and subsequently winning a landmark ruling in 2009 upholding its right to use the Arabic word.

The decision shocked Muslims who considered the word to only refer to the Islamic God. It also led to Malaysia’s worst religious strife, with houses of worship throughout the country coming under attack.

To this day, the matter remains unresolved.

Abdullah was prime minister from 2003 until 2009 after having served as Dr Mahathir’s deputy beginning in 1999.

Although handpicked by Dr Mahathir to be his successor, Abdullah later came under relentless attack from the nation’s longest-serving prime minister and ultimately was forced to relinquish his presidency of Umno and position as prime minister to Datuk Seri Najib Razak in April 2009, after BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008.