Mosque Deepens Malaysia Race Debate

The row over Malaysia`s race-based policies was revived once again as the Chinese minority decried Sunday, February 18, the government`s hindering of mosque building that reflects their cultural heritage.

"The authorities have to do away with the stereotypes," Mohamad Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, vice president of the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MCMA), told Reuters, criticizing the difficulties Chinese Muslims face to build a mosque for their community.

"We have to show the universality of Islam by allowing Chinese mosques," added Mohamad, lamenting that the minority have been trying to have their own mosque for ten years.

The minority was hopeful that the mosque would reflect Chinese design and culture, yet still it would not be exclusive for Chinese.

"We would like to portray mosques that are based on Chinese architectures," Mohamad said.

"It`s to show that we are still Chinese but the mosques will be opened to all Muslims."

In Malaysia, mosques are usually built with a Moorish-styled domes and minarets.

Mosque imams are required to deliver Friday sermons in the official Malay language.

The mosques are further funded by the government.

Ethnic Chinese, whose ancestors came centuries ago as traders or mine workers shipped in by colonial rulers, make up 25 percent of the population.

Muslim Malays comprise about 60 percent of Malaysia`s 26 million people.

Not Exclusive

Mohamad said Malaysian authorities must understand that Islam is not exclusive to a certain race.

"They (the Malays) want us to become Malay," Ridhuan said.

He added that the popular notion in Malaysia is that becoming a Muslim means "masuk Melayu" (becoming a Malay), adopting the Malay culture at the expense of his or her Chinese identity.

Mohamad, married to a Malay, recalls his personal experience that sums up his community`s hardships.

"Three or four years after conversion, my father passed away. They didn`t allow me to go back (to China)," he said.

"They say if I go back, I will revert to become a Chinese but I defied them," he added.

Some Malay-descents also blasted their community`s long-cherished identity taboos, maintaining that the true understanding of Islam would prove that the religion is not owned by a certain race.

"Malays assume they are the only pure Muslims, although Chinese Muslims may have stronger faith," Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin, Malaysia`s newest and youngest mufti, wrote in Jakarta`s daily New Straits Times.

Asri maintained that the idea that Islam in Malaysia must be Malay in all forms is wrong.

The Chinese minority has repeatedly decried being economically and culturally marginalized by the government.

Malaysia has reportedly lost some of its best and brightest as non-Malays, kept out of universities by racial quotas, moved to Singapore and other countries.

Pressure is growing for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi`s ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party to address the future of the race-based policy.

Political leaders of the ethnic Malay majority have warned the nation`s Chinese and Indian minorities to stop questioning Malay privileges or risk hurting race relations, a touchy issue in a country that has suffered race riots in the past.

Reuters via IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

Taken from Turkish Weekly

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