All religions are not equal, says non-Muslim faith council chief
Rev Thomas Phillips, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCST), said all religions had their own theological stand and advised against taking Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement out of context.
The prime minister had told a gathering of Muslims here that it was un-Islamic to put their faith on an equal footing with others.
“Najib’s statement should be taken as a theological stand. He was addressing a Muslim group so he has his own right as a Muslim,” Phillips told The Malaysian Insider, adding he did not see anything wrong with the PM’s speech.
“If I were addressing a Christian group, I’d say the same thing. What’s a fact is that all religious groups are not equal,” said Phillips who is also the head of the Mar Thoma church in Malaysia.
He also does not foresee Najib’s statement holding up ongoing talks in the government’s year-old interfaith panel because “we’re not talking about theology in there.”
The Committee to Promote Harmony and Understanding Among Religious Adherents was mooted by Najib and set up in April last year following a spate of attacks against houses of worship nationwide earlier the same year.
Despite that, several political observers have noted the mercury has yet to lower in Malaysia’s interreligious and interracial relations, which are inseparable as the Federal Constitution states that Malays must also be Muslim.
Yesterday, a Malay daily highlighted Penang’s newly set-up non-Muslim affairs executive council portfolio and claimed the DAP-led state was using it as a “tool” to threaten Islam as the country’s official religion.
Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia said the portfolio could be used to put other religions on equal footing with Islam.
“To Muslim leaders and Muslims in Penang... beware the subtle and slick tactics of a certain leader to sideline Islam as the official religion and bypass the Council of Rulers,” the paper said.
Utusan Malaysia further warned that the portfolio could trigger opposition from the Muslim community in the same way as a Cabinet-sanctioned interfaith council did when it was first proposed.
But Phillips added that the interfaith panel was making some progress with the appointment of chairmen to helm four sub-committees on resolving religious disputes dealing with conversion, propagation, places of worship and burial grounds, among others.
“We’ve picked one chairman from the Muslim side and one from the non-Muslim side, and meetings in some of the sub-committees are underway,” he said, but did not elaborate.
Phillips said he was part of the sub-committee in charge of planning events with national leaders.
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