Gobind Singh: Malaysia Is A Secular State – Another Fairy Tale?

The opposition parties tried hard to prove that Malaysia is a Secular State just because they want Malaysia to be a Secular State .

(Please read: Is Malaysia A Secular State?)

DAP Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said that Malaysia is proven to be a secular state by referring to Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh v Public Prosecutor.

As a lawyer he must understands that Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh v Public Prosecutor is no longer a good law because it was decided before the coming into effect of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution.

Furthermore, in Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh v Public Prosecutor, Tan Sri Salleh Abbas did not say that Malaysia is a secular nation but Tan Sri Salleh Abbas only said that secular laws were used.

By the way, does Gobind Singh Deo understand what is a Secular State?

Wikipedia wrote that:

“A secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion/nonreligion over other religions/nonreligion. Secular states do not have a state religion (established religion) or equivalent, although the absence of a state religion does not necessarily mean that a state is fully secular; however, a true secular state should steadfastly maintain national governance without influence from religious factions; i.e. Separation of church and state.”

Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution says that:

“Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation”.

In Meor Atiqul Rahman v Fatimah Sihi and others, Judge Yang Arif Dato’ Mohd Noor Abdullah explained that:

“Islam ialah ugama bagi persekutuan tapi ugama-ugama lain boleh diamalkan dalam aman dan damai. Islam adalah ugama utama di antara ugama-ugama lain yang dianuti di negara seperti Kristian, Buddha, Hindu. Islam bukan setaraf dengan ugama lain. bukan duduk berganding bahu dengan agama lain atau berdiri sama sama tegak. Ia duduk di atas, berjalan dahulu, terletak di tempat medan, dan suaranya lantang kedengaran. Islam ibarat pokok jati. Tinggi, teguh, dan terang. Jika bukan sedemikian, Islam bukanlah ugama bagi persekutuan, tetapi adalah salah satu di antara beberapa ugama yang dianuti di wilayah ini, dan setiap orang sama-sama bebas mengamalkan mana-mana ugama yang dianuti. Tiada lebih di antara satu sama lain.”

And in the case of Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan, the then Chief Justice, Yang Amat Arif Tun Ahmad Fairus said:

“Islam itu bukan sahaja suatu himpunan dogma-dogma dan ritual-ritual tetapi ianya juga suatu cara hidup yang lengkap merangkumi semua bidang aktiviti manusia, persendirian dan awam, perundangan, politik, ekonomi, sosial, budaya, moral atau kehakiman etc.”

With those statements, it proves that Malaysia is not a Secular State because Malaysia has a state religion, that is Islam; and “secular states do not have a state religion”; therefore Malaysia is not officially neutral in matters of religion (as what was said in the ruling of Meor Atiqul Rahman v Fatimah Sihi and others) and “nonreligion” is against the first Rukun Negara or National Principles of Malaysia which says, “Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan” or “Belief in God”.

How could a lawyer like MP Gobind Singh Deo forget Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution and the Rukun Negara?

And the DAP MP could only remember a small part of the case of Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh v Public Prosecutor but forgot about more important cases like Meor Atiqul Rahman v Fatimah Sihi and others and Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan.

Mr. Gobind Singh Deo, please be a good and responsible Malaysian citizen and please stop spinning stories and please respect the Federal Constitution.

Not everybody in Malaysia can be fooled by oppositions fairy tales. 

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Seminar Islam dan Isu-Isu Hak Asasi Manusia

On Wednesday, I attended the Seminar Islam dan Isu-Isu Hak Asasi Manusia which was organised by MuslimUPRo and YADIM.

The seminar was held at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia or National University of Malaysia and I was invited to the seminar by Uncle Azril Mohd Amin.

I do not agree with one of the speakers during the morning session who said that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia; when Islam is actually the religion of the Federation of Malaysia.

Atuk Mansur tried to point her mistake, but she insisted that Islam is only the official religion of Malaysia and used Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh VS Public Prosecutor to prove her case.

This case is used by the people who are against the fact that Malaysia is an Islamic country because the judge, Tun Saleh Abbas said that Malaysia uses secular rules.

Anyway, Tun Saleh Abbas did not say that Malaysia is a secular country as what they claim was proven by this case.

But Che’ Omar bin Che’ Soh VS Public Prosecutor is no longer a good law because it was decided before the coming into effect of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution.

Now we have more recent cases, to refer to, for example the cases of Meor Atiqulrahman v Fatimah Sihi and others and Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan.

In Meor Atiqul Rahman vs Fatimah Sihi and others, the judge, Justice Mohd Noor Abdullah said:

“Islam ialah ugama bagi persekutuan tapi ugama-ugama lain boleh diamalkan dalam aman dan damai. Islam adalah ugama utama di antara ugama-ugama lain yang dianuti di negara seperti Kristian, Buddha, Hindu. Islam bukan setaraf dengan ugama lain. bukan duduk berganding bahu dengan agama lain atau berdiri sama sama tegak. Ia duduk di atas, berjalan dahulu, terletak di tempat medan, dan suaranya lantang kedengaran. Islam ibarat pokok jati. Tinggi, teguh, dan terang. Jika bukan sedemikian, Islam bukanlah ugama bagi persekutuan, tetapi adalah salah satu di antara beberapa ugama yang dianuti di wilayah ini, dan setiap orang sama-sama bebas mengamalkan mana-mana ugama yang dianuti. Tiada lebih di antara satu sama lain.”

And in the case of Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan, the then Chief Justice, Yang Amat Arif Tun Ahmad Fairus said:

“Islam itu bukan sahaja suatu himpunan dogma-dogma dan ritual-ritual tetapi ianya juga suatu cara hidup yang lengkap merangkumi semua bidang aktiviti manusia, persendirian dan awam, perundangan, politik, ekonomi, sosial, budaya, moral atau kehakiman etc.”

I do not understand why a Muslim does not want to accept Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution that says, Islam is the religion of the Federation of Malaysia.

By the way, I met Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin who was with Uncle Zul Noordin at the seminar. 

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin the first Malaysian and Southeast Asian to swim across the English Channel on August 3, 2003.