Catholic Bishops Reject Mahathir’s ‘Islamic State’ Speech

KUALA LUMPUR, August 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Malaysia's Catholic bishops have issued a rare press statement to express alarm and concern about Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state, news agencies reported.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, in a statement signed by the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Anthony Soter Fernandez and obtained Tuesday, August 6, by Agence France-Presse (AFP), said it was also worried by moves towards imposing Islamic Shariah law in an opposition-led state.

The bishops “view with alarm and grave concern” Mahathir's statement, the passing of the Shariah law bill in Terengganu and “the increasing trend of politicizing Islam in the political arena,” the statement said.

The archbishop said it was enshrined in the Malaysian constitution that while Islam was the official religion, Malaysia was a secular state and freedom of religion was guaranteed.

“We call upon all Malaysians, Muslims and members of other faiths to resist all attempts to change the secular nature of our constitution,” the statement said.

Muslims make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 23 million population and Christians represent nine percent. Another 19 percent are Buddhist and six percent are Hindus.

Archbishop Fernandez said assurances by Mahathir that the constitution would not be amended did not offer a sufficient guarantee that Malaysia would not degenerate into what he described as “the intolerant Islamic model.”

He urged the government to establish inter-religious councils to promote harmony among all faiths and to respect religious freedom.

The status of religion has become central to Malaysian politics in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States, said AFP.

The government has detained without trial 62 Muslim activists, winning praise from the United States for its cooperation in the so-called “war on terrorism,” AFP added.

Mahathir has recently visited the White House, European capitals and the Vatican.

But at the same time he has insisted that Malaysia is an “Islamic state,” a move AFP described as a simple semantic juggling designed to steal the platform of the main opposition, the hardline Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

The Chinese-dominated opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) has already launched a campaign against Mahathir's remark, which was first made last September but has recently been accorded regular emphasis.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang and a dozen supporters have been arrested for distributing leaflets on the issue. Lim, who has said Mahathir's declaration could turn non-Muslims into second class citizens, is on bail facing charges of sedition.

PAS, on the other hand, is putting Mahathir's declaration to the test by trying to impose strict Islamic Sharia law in the Terrenganu state it controls.

The chief minister of the only other PAS-ruled state, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, has scoffed at Mahathir's declaration, saying it made Malaysia an “instant Islamic state just like instant noodles.”

In return, Mahathir has accused PAS of wanting to introduce an oppressive Islamic state along the lines of that run by the Taliban in Afghanistan before their overthrow last year.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Malaysia’s religions include Islam, Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism as well as Shamanism, practiced in East Malaysia.