By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Feb 7: The Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) chairman Rev Datuk Danald Jute called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to prioritise fostering greater trust and understanding among Malaysians, instead of on divisive and discriminatory guidelines.
In a post on Facebook, Danald criticised the proposed guidelines by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar on Muslim participation in non-Muslim events, describing it as “preposterous” and “unnecessary as it is clearly going to be divisive and discriminatory”.
He said, “How could non-Muslims be expected or required to obtain approval from the authorities and seek the views of Islamic authorities just because some Muslims are going to attend their festive events or funerals?
“The proposed guidelines further stipulate that the premises used for such events must not display non-Muslim religious symbols.
“This is rather absurd! (sic) It is an infringement of non-Muslim rights to practice and organise their faith.”
Instead, he urged the Prime Minister to steer the focus of Madani government towards building greater trust, understanding and acceptance as these could lead to the inclusivity in diversity for a better and more united Malaysia.
He also urged the authority to trust in and respect the maturity of the Muslim community as well as to have confidence that non-Muslims will honour and respect Muslim practices.
Meanwhile, Anwar had just announced that the proposed non-Muslim event guidelines have been scrapped.
According to news reports by New Straits Times, Anwar said there is no need to issue new guidelines for Muslim participation in non-Muslim celebrations and ceremonies.
He also said that he would present the Cabinet’s decision on the matter to the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, who is the chairman of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI). – DayakDaily
