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On August 11, the Religious Liberty Commission of NECF Malaysia held a one-day Consultation on the above topic. The event was supposed to be low-key but received overwhelming response. The Consultation took an entire day from 8.30 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.
Lee Min Choon, Chairman of the Commission was Moderator for the morning session. In his opening remarks, he voiced the concern that Malaysia is on a slippery slope when it comes to religious liberty. He urged that we always aim for the maximum liberty as set down in the international instruments and not be “nice guys” just because we are Christians or live in Malaysia. He encouraged all Christians to participate in this joint struggle.
Lim Heng Seng, the first speaker, also a lawyer, gave an overview of the pertinent issues. He agreed with Min Choon that we are on a slippery slope. He regretted that issues which would be easily resolved in earlier days by simple reference to the Federal Constitution had become so controversial in the present.
Dr. Ng Kam Weng from Kairos Research Centre presented a paper which explored the philosophical grounding of the issue. He underlined that we must shift the terms of politics from one based on race and religion to one based on human rights and equal citizenship in a modern pluralistic democracy.
Tommy Thomas in “Significance & Relevance of International Instruments on Religious Liberty for Malaysia” said we must not depend entirely on law and lawyers! He divulged that real judges are rarely interested in international instruments. This is made worse by the fact that the US and the UK who were key players in the drafting the instruments had turned out to be such bad examples. An alternative to legal recourse is to show our power through the ballot box. He advised that we make this clear to the politicians come the next General Elections.
Datuk Dr. Cyrus Das in “Constitutional Supremacy and the Lina Joy Decision” said this was his first time addressing the issue in public since the judgement. (He was Lina’s counsel.) He said that it is unthinkable that a person can be denied such basic rights as choice of religion, marriage partner etc. which are necessary to a normal life. Regrettably, the majority of Muslim judges tend to take an entirely different approach and line of argument. Lina Joy’s case effectively means that a mere unwritten departmental policy (of the National Registration Department) can have greater power than Article 11 of the Federal Constitution!
In the afternoon and evening, six other speakers made their point. The final speaker, Daniel Ho, Senior Pastor of Damansara Utama Methodist Church closed the event with the Church’s response. His key points were: 1) We cannot take our religious freedom or Article 11 for granted. 2) We must know our fundamental rights or liberties as Christians and as the Church, 3) We must be willing and prepared to stand up for our religious liberty, 4) To do this, we need to know the role and relationship between Christian citizenship and the State, 5) It would be helpful to know what Christians and the Church did historically and in the recent past on this issue, and ultimately 6) We need to know where to draw the line – are we motivated by fear of man or faith in God? Many were touched and felt that it was a fitting close to the discussion. |
