Seminar Islam dan Isu-Isu Hak Asasi Manusia

On Wednesday, I attended the Seminar Islam dan Isu-Isu Hak Asasi Manusia which was organised by MuslimUPRo and YADIM.

The seminar was held at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia or National University of Malaysia and I was invited to the seminar by Uncle Azril Mohd Amin.

I do not agree with one of the speakers during the morning session who said that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia; when Islam is actually the religion of the Federation of Malaysia.

Atuk Mansur tried to point her mistake, but she insisted that Islam is only the official religion of Malaysia and used Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh VS Public Prosecutor to prove her case.

This case is used by the people who are against the fact that Malaysia is an Islamic country because the judge, Tun Saleh Abbas said that Malaysia uses secular rules.

Anyway, Tun Saleh Abbas did not say that Malaysia is a secular country as what they claim was proven by this case.

But Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh VS Public Prosecutor is no longer a good law because it was decided before the coming into effect of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution.

Now we have more recent cases, to refer to, for example the cases of Meor Atiqulrahman v Fatimah Sihi and others and Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan.

In Meor Atiqul Rahman vs Fatimah Sihi and others, the judge, Justice Mohd Noor Abdullah said:

“Islam ialah ugama bagi persekutuan tapi ugama-ugama lain boleh diamalkan dalam aman dan damai. Islam adalah ugama utama di antara ugama-ugama lain yang dianuti di negara seperti Kristian, Buddha, Hindu. Islam bukan setaraf dengan ugama lain. bukan duduk berganding bahu dengan agama lain atau berdiri sama sama tegak. Ia duduk di atas, berjalan dahulu, terletak di tempat medan, dan suaranya lantang kedengaran. Islam ibarat pokok jati. Tinggi, teguh, dan terang. Jika bukan sedemikian, Islam bukanlah ugama bagi persekutuan, tetapi adalah salah satu di antara beberapa ugama yang dianuti di wilayah ini, dan setiap orang sama-sama bebas mengamalkan mana-mana ugama yang dianuti. Tiada lebih di antara satu sama lain.”

And in the case of Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan, the then Chief Justice, Yang Amat Arif Tun Ahmad Fairus said:

“Islam itu bukan sahaja suatu himpunan dogma-dogma dan ritual-ritual tetapi ianya juga suatu cara hidup yang lengkap merangkumi semua bidang aktiviti manusia, persendirian dan awam, perundangan, politik, ekonomi, sosial, budaya, moral atau kehakiman etc.”

I do not understand why a Muslim does not want to accept Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution that says, Islam is the religion of the Federation of Malaysia.

By the way, I met Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin who was with Uncle Zul Noordin at the seminar. 

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin the first Malaysian and Southeast Asian to swim across the English Channel on August 3, 2003.