Malaysia used to be one of the world’s more moderate Islamic nations, a nation that despite being in some parts majority Muslim, still guaranteed religious freedom for non Muslims. Unfortunately there are signs that this relatively happy situation for non Muslims may be changing and changing for the worst.
There is growing concern from Christians and other non Muslims in the areas of Malaysia which are non Muslim that they and their areas are going to be targetted for Islamic evangelism in State schools. This concern follows a statement made by the Malaysian education minister Maszlee Malik that religious teachers who have gone to non Muslim areas, should not return to majority non-Muslim areas but should stay in the non-Muslim areas and carry out dawa or Islamic evangelism.
This statement has brought about a response from Christian groups in Malaysia according to a report in a Malaysia publication called The Star (h/t ROP).
The Star said:
The Federal Government must stop using civil servants or teachers to carry out any form of Islamisation in Sarawak and Sabah, says the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS).
The ACS said it was “deeply concerned” about Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s recent statement in Parliament appealing to religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah who were teaching in Sabah and Sarawak not to return to Peninsular Malaysia.
He urged them to make Sabah and Sarawak their Islamic propagation field (“medan dakwah”). “The statement by the Education Minister is not in the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and appears to be sanctioning Islamic religious teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to promote Islamisation and propagation to local students in non-religious schools in Sabah and Sarawak,” ACS said in a statement. “If West Malaysian teachers were to make Sabah and Sarawak their medan dakwah, it could make the atmosphere in and outside schools intimidating, and the local students and parents may feel uneasy and no proper learning can take place.
“While the practice of sending teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to serve in Sabah and Sarawak may alleviate teacher shortage in the interim, teachers who are public servants should not be used as a tool to promote Islamisation in Sabah and Sarawak,” it added.
The Christians and other non-Muslims in these areas of Malaysia are probably correct to be worried about what might happen if the delicate religious balance of these regions are disturbed by aggressive Islamic evangelism. It may well make people feel uneasy about what may be going on in their children’s schools and this may feed conflict. Whilst I accept that there may well be shortages of decent teachers in certain areas, treating Christian areas as targets for Islamic evangelism may not be the way to properly deal with problems of teacher shortage. Christians are targets of Islamic pressure and sometimes Islamic violence in many parts of the Islamic world and it would be sad to see this sort of pressure aimed at Christians in Malaysia as well. I hope that this matter can be resolved to the benefit of Malaysian Christians but I also fear what may happen to these Christians if the areas in which Christians are living are subjected to what may turn out to be heavy government-backed Islamic dawa.
