Are The Interfaith Guidelines Though Scrapped A Harbinger Of More Malaysian Apartheid To Come

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THE Madani government’s new proposed religious guidelines have caused much stress and division among the rakyat.
Even though these guidelines were eventually scrapped by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani cabinet, some religious and government leaders still claim that these rules will help Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslims live peacefully.
However, there is already solid evidence that these guidelines further divide Malaysians instead of uniting them.
These divisive, oppressive rules can also be compared to apartheid – the system of separation and unfair treatment used in South Africa in the past. There are good reasons why these proposed guidelines are similar to apartheid:
What is apartheid?
Apartheid which simply means “separation” was a cruel system imposed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. It divided people by race, giving white people more rights and opportunities while treating black and other non-white people as second-class citizens.
Recall that the non-whites were forced to live separately and had fewer civil liberties.
In Malaysia, some policies have also been criticised as apartheid-like. For example, certain laws accord outdated, special privileges to Malays and Muslims in education (eg UiTM as an all-Malay” university), business dealings and housing while minorities like Chinese, Indians and other non-Muslims face severe disadvantages.
These proposed interfaith guidelines – although already scrapped – seem to continue this pattern of division. Below are examples of their similarities to apartheid:

Approval needed for non-Muslim eventsAccording to the proposed guidelines, non-Muslims must get permission from Islamic authorities before inviting Muslims to events like funerals or weddings. This gives one group power over another, similar to how apartheid laws gave white South Africans control over black and other non-white South Africans.
Restrictions on religious symbolsNon-Muslim events cannot display their religious symbols or do anything that might offend Islam. For example, a church might not be allowed to show a cross at an event with Muslims present. This limits how non-Muslims can express their beliefs, just like apartheid restricted cultural practices.
Banning of events during Muslim prayer timesNon-Muslim events cannot take place during Muslim prayer times. This forces non-Muslims to follow Islamic practices even if they have different beliefs or schedules.
Muslim politicians discouraged from attending non-Muslim eventsAs a final example, Muslim politicians are told not to attend non-Muslim events even when they represent a multi-faith electorate in their constituencies. This separates communities and stops leaders from working together with everyone – similar to apartheid’s social separation.

More apartheid-like policies in the pipeline?
Before they were cancelled, were the proposed interfaith guidelines a “warning shot” to signal more apartheid to come?
Policies and rules like these make it harder for Malaysians of different religions to live peacefully together while destroying Malaysia’s “Truly Asia” image internationally.
Malaysia stands to lose its melting pot of Asian civilisation stature or a multi-cultural society identity whereby people of all faiths live side by side.
As evident by the massive public backlash by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the now abandoned guidelines only served to create more division and mistrust between communities.
Proposals like these treat non-Muslims unfairly by giving more power to one group over others.
This is similar to the apartheid practice in South Africa where laws created inequality by separating entire groups of people based on identity. In Malaysia, religion is increasingly becoming the basis for unequal treatment of its minorities.
Corruption Watch is a reader of Focus Malaysia.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.

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