DAR AL ISLAM - MALAYSIA: WE ARE AN ISLAMIC STATE & WE PROTECT OUR DHIMMIS (AS LONG AS THEY PAY THEIR JIZYA ON TIME & DON'T GET UPPITY)

Malyasia concern about government and freedom of belief
By Ecumenical News International

Malaysian Christians have expressed fresh worries that the government may be infringing their religious freedom, after the country's deputy prime minister described Malaysia as "an Islamic state" - writes Michele Green from Singapore.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia issued a statement on 19 July 2007 urging Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak to retract comments he made two days earlier when speaking to reporters. Then, the deputy prime minister had said, "Islam is the official religion and Malaysia is an Islamic State, an Islamic State that respects the rights of non-Muslims, and we protect them."

Razak's remarks follow a series of court cases in Malaysia that dealt with religious matters and that heightened fears among Malaysia's religious minorities that the south-east Asian country might be losing its character as a secular state with a Muslim majority, and instead is becoming an Islamic state.

"The Christian Federation of Malaysia appeals to the deputy prime minister to retract his aforesaid remarks, and to the government to refrain from the use of the term 'Islamic State' in the description of Malaysia, and instead to vigorously advocate the description of Malaysia as a secular constitutional democracy," said Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, head of the Christian Federation of Malaysia.

The federation said the description of Malaysia as "an Islamic state" contradicted the country's constitution, which, "guarantees the right of all religious communities to co-exist and relate with each other on an equal basis as citizens of a one and united country".

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