Forum 'Federal Constitution: Protection for All'

Anil Netto

PENANG, May 15 (IPS) - An attempt to discuss ways of protecting Malaysia's constitution in the light of recent conflicts between secular law and the Islamic Shariah system, on Sunday, was dramatically disrupted by a crowd of 200 demonstrators.

The forum, 'Federal Constitution: Protection for All', had been organised by the social reform group ‘Aliran' in collaboration with ‘Article 11',the name for a coalition of 13 civil society groups.

But events outside the forum revealed the depth of emotions stirred over the issue in Malaysia's plural society which is dominated by Muslim-Malays who form 60 percent of the 25 million population. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, descended from immigrants, who mostly follow Buddhism, Christianity or Hinduism, constitute the rest.

Several court cases, in the last five years, have highlighted the overlapping jurisdictions between the two legal systems, especially in cases of religious conversion, child custody and burial rites. In certain cases, the litigants involved appeared to be left without a remedy, even as some analysts observed that civil courts were giving ground to the Shariah courts.

For a small indoor forum, interest ran high. In the early hours of Sunday morning, police blocked off approach roads leading to the hotel in downtown George Town, capital of Penang. About 200-odd police personnel were deployed to monitor the situation inside and around the hotel.

That did not deter some 200-odd demonstrators from gathering outside the hotel while a further 250 determined forum participants made their way into the hotel.

The demonstrators belonged to a loose coalition of Muslim groups calling themselves the Anti-Interfaith Commission. Several groups had expressed opposition, last year, over an initiative to set up an Inter-faith Commission (IFC), fearing that it could undermine the dominance of Islam.

As the forum began, a small group of the demonstrators entered the venue on the third floor and heckled the speakers, demanding that the event, scheduled to run from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm, be called off.

As feelings ran high outside, police requested the organisers to shorten the event. By 10.20 am, the organisers ended the forum after police said they were worried the demonstrators might barge into the hotel. By then, only three of the five panellists had spoken and that too only briefly.

The abrupt end to the meeting brought back memories of the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor in Kuala Lumpur in 1996, when an unruly mob led by youth members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) stormed into a hotel and brought the meeting to a sudden halt.

Under the constitution, Islam is the country's official religion but other religions can be practised freely.

Some legal experts argue that Malaysia is governed by secular laws under the constitution and is therefore not an Islamic state. But creeping Islamisation policies, a controversial constitutional amendment in 1988 giving more powers to the Shariah courts, and a unilateral declaration in 2001 by former premier Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia was already an ‘‘Islamic state/country'' may have changed expectations among some Muslims.

In January, nine non-Muslim ministers handed Mahathir Mohamed's more moderate successor, Abdullah Badawi, a memorandum urging him to amend the constitution to ensure protection of minority rights. He responded by promising ‘subsidiary legislation'.

But it would seem that, since January, positions have hardened. Even before Sunday's event could get started, demonstrators were adamant that it be called off.

‘‘I am here to oppose any attempt to undermine Islamic rights,'' said one demonstrator. ‘‘This forum is encouraging untruths,'' said another. They also carried banners proclaiming ‘‘No liberalism, no IFC'', ‘‘God's laws override human rights''. Others chanted, ‘‘Long live Islam'' and ‘‘Destroy the IFC''.

But the organisers pointed out that the forum had nothing to do with the proposal to establish an Inter-Faith Commission. It was the third in a series of nationwide forums on the constitution after similar events in Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, which passed without incident.

‘‘What is worrying about the behaviour of the mob is that they were led by a person or persons not known to become incensed about a non-issue,'' said one of the forum's organisers who declined to be identified.

‘‘This just goes to show how religion and religious sentiments are being used by a few to manipulate people and sow seeds of hatred towards innocent parties.''

Organisers expressed concern that the authorities' action in pressuring the organisers to call off the event meant that the police were unprepared to defend the democratic rights of the forum's organisers and participants. ‘‘By trying to placate the mob and acceding to their demands, the authorities are encouraging them to act in a similar way in future,'' he said.

He warned that unless the authorities ‘‘draw a line in the sand and stand firm - you are going to have more and more occasions where mobs of this sort disrupt peaceful gatherings''.

Police, nonetheless appeared sympathetic to the organisers, and said they wanted to uphold public order and defuse the standoff.

One of the panelists, Shad Saleem Faruqi, a constitutional law professor, sounded disappointed. ‘‘No one is challenging the special position of Islam (under the Constitution),'' he told IPS. ‘‘But there is a clash of jurisdictions between the Shariah and civil courts'' in Malaysia.

"Article 121(1A) (of the Federal Constitution) separates the jurisdiction of civil and Shariah courts,'' he said. ‘‘But it does not provide for situations where one of the two parties is a Muslim and the other is a non-Muslim.''

He pointed out that there are no guidelines in such situations and clarification is needed just like in any other legal environment in the world where ‘‘competing streams clash with each other.''

"The consitution is a workable compromise document that is being severely undermined due to a lack of political will on the part of the politicians and a lack of courage by the judiciary to preserve and defend the constitution,’’ Faruqui said in an attempt to define the problem.

But it will take a willingness to listen, to dialogue and to reach out to one other to sort out some of these problems -- and that seemed in short supply outside the hotel on Sunday. Aliran's president P. Ramakrishnan, one of the panelists who was unable to speak, lamented to the participants before ending the forum: ''We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.''