Islamic leaders of Malaysia question rights of non-Muslims

About 60% of population in Malaysia is Muslim and its constitution declares Islam as official religion. It also prohibits propagation of other religions to Muslims; Muslims converting to another is religion is effectively banned while non-Muslims can convert to Islam.

Besides these, other privileges or special rights also were given to Muslims over non-Muslims (here) constitutionally.

The Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) clarifies that, firstly, Islam rejects religious pluralism which claims that all religions are equally true and equally good (here).

Recently, Malaysian govt. confiscated Bibles printed in Malay because they were using the word Allah (which is in usage by Malaysian Christians for centuries), which ultimately lead to protests from Christians, who constitute about10% of population.

With this back ground, some Muslim politicians in Malaysia warned Christians not to make unreasonable demands: Don’t test patience of Malays, Perkasa warns Christians .  (10th April, 2011)

Another report: Perkasa ready to crusade against ungrateful Christians (15th May, 2011)

Ultimately we have this:  Islamic leaders question non-Muslim rights ( 23rd May, 2011)
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...................... Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) deputy president, Dr Mohd Rumaizuddin Ghazali, also stressed that Malaysia must never become a secular state.

“This is why many non-Muslim politicians want to declare the country as a secular state because then the government will not have fund religious programmes.

“They are scared that if we accept Malaysia as an Islamic state then there are many implications which means that only Muslims have the right to lead the country,” he said.

Mohd Rumaizuddin added that the Malays are beginning to be trampled on and non-Muslims are starting to take advantage of the community.

“Because of politics, we are still not free after more than 50 years of independence,” he said.

Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia president Abdul Hakim Othman added the country’s constitution must be replaced as it has been stained by the colonial British.

“A Caliphate state is based on divine revelation. It is not a democratic or a theocratic state. It is only an Islamic state when the constitution is based on the Quran and prophetic traditions,” he said.

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Even in the face of institutionalized discrimination towards non-Muslims, only Muslims can boast about tolerance. Or, they intend to make dhimmi covenant fully applied.