Chinese Muslim Mosque Issue Shows That Race, Not Religion Is The Biggest Problem In Malaysia.

Getting official permission to build churches it seems sometimes takes decades, with all sorts of obstacles to surmount and silly objections being given by the authorities. Hindu temples meanwhile get demolished at the drop of a five sen coin, when underworked local councils are bored and have nothing better to do. The same applies, albeit at a lesser frequency to Buddhist temples too.

Mosques on the other hand get super easy passage and are constructed regularly with government blessing and the taxpayers' money. The reason is two-fold. One is to pander to the Muslim voter and ensure his loyalty to the ruling party. The other is to maintain the facade that we are actually an 'Islamic' nation.

But here is a report about how difficult it really is to get approval to build a mosque! On the face of it this seems unlikely and is probably a vicious rumour. But wait. The reluctance to give permission to build these mosques has another equation to it. They are mosques meant for Chinese Muslims. So it is AOK for these chaps to convert and become saudara baru, but to have masjids of their own? No way brudder! You may be of the same religion, but brudder you are of a different race. And THAT my friends is what matters most in this fair land of ours. The land which has given a fresh and new perspective to institutionalized apartheid.

The report in today's NST follows:

The Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MCMA) is facing difficulties in getting approval from state governments to build mosques for their community.

MCMA vice-president Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah said it was unfair for Perak mufti Datuk Seri Harussani Idris to say that state religious departments did not prevent the Chinese community from applying to build their own mosques.

He said MCMA had been trying to build a Chinese mosque in Selangor for about a decade but claimed that the religious authorities were not even interested in hearing their proposal.

"In our last meeting with the former director of the Selangor religious department a couple of years ago, he told us there was no way he would approve a Chinese mosque.

"For him, Islam in Malaysia is all about the Malays and the Malay language," he said when commenting on Harussani’s remarks.

Harussani had lambasted his Perlis counterpart Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin for implying that state governments denied the rights of Chinese Muslims to have their mosques.

Mohd Ridhuan defended the Perlis mufti, saying that the MCMA’s experience in Selangor and Malacca showed that some religious authorities failed to understand the universality of Islam. The Malacca Chinese Muslim Association had its application to build a Chinese mosque rejected three years ago. Mohd Ridhuan claimed that MCMA also proposed the building of a mosque and Islamic centre for the Chinese community to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin but there was no further response.

He, however, was happy with the Selangor mufti Datuk Mohd Tamyis Abdul Majid’s assurance that the state would seriously look into applications to build a Chinese mosque in Selangor. "MCMA will definitely bring up the proposal again and we hope the Selangor state government would approve our application," Mohd Ridhuan said.

MCMA is hoping that a Chinese mosque would reflect Chinese design and architecture and also encourage non-Muslim Chinese to visit.

While Harussani claimed that state religious authorities did not prevent the Chinese from building mosques, he did not explain why there had yet to exist such a mosque in Malaysia.

Dr Mohd Asri when contacted said he hoped his Perak counterpart would be less emotional when dealing with such an issue. "No one is belittling the religious authorities. As a mufti, I believe in showing Islam in its true form, as a caring, peaceful and understanding religion," he said.

***** Moral of the story in the Malaysian context: Convert to Islam if you must but don't expect any less discrimination. A non-Malay you are and a non-Malay you always will be.
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