KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): A spate of incidents which have raised the temperature of inter-communal relations have prompted civil society groups and the media to come together in a campaign to soothe the national mood as the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday begins.

Earlier this week, over a dozen of groups and coalitions made a joint call to all Malaysians “to fight ethno-religious hate speech and provocations with grace every day”.

“Let’s make seeking and giving forgiveness an all-year-long practice, not limited to the Aidilfitri festival and the month of Syawal, but from the first day of Muharam to the last day of Zulhijjah - from Jan 1 to Dec 31 - 365 days a year,” the groups said in a joint statement posted on the Malaysiakini news site.

In a media release to mark the launch of the campaign, democratic reform advocacy group Projek Sama said it is “proud to be working alongside our civil society and media partners to make 'maaf zahir batin' a practice 365 days a year, for ourselves to be better persons and for our society to be more resilient against agitations made to pursue political, business and personal gains”.

The campaign is tagged #mzb365, which stands for “maaf zahir batin hari hari” (seeking and giving forgiveness every day), Bernama said in its report on the initiative.

Besides Projek Sama, groups signing on to the drive include business representative forum the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Muslim organisations including the Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), the G25 group of Islamic moderates, the Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs, among others, the Ideas policy institute as well as faith-based and community organisations.

Uneasiness over inter-religious relations was heightened last month following protests over the sale of several pairs of socks carrying the word “Allah” at an outlet of the KK Super Mart convenience store chain.

Its management posted an apology over the issue, and KK Mart group founder Datuk Seri Chai Kee Kan met the King and apologised for the controversy. In a statement afterwards, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, called for closure of the matter. 

Nevertheless, calls for a nationwide boycott of KK Mart continued. The episode took a tense turn when three KK Mart stores in Perak, Pahang and Sarawak respectively were firebombed late last month.

Following that, Sultan Ibrahim on Tuesday met several government leaders, including Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, who has been vocal in leading the protest against KK Mart. During the audience, the King advised the leaders to work to bridge religious, racial and cultural differences instead of adding to the division.

Projek Sama, in its media statement, called for an institutional mechanism to be set up to tackle such crises.

“We need a multipartisan, cross-ministry mechanism to manage, defuse and prevent ethno-religious tensions,” it said.

“To prevent and stop future crises, Prime Minister [Datuk Seri] Anwar Ibrahim should form a Federal Council on Inter-Communal Relations chaired by himself, with the parliamentary opposition leader, Sarawak premier, and Sabah chief minister as the vice chairs, and both the minister of national unity and the minister of religious affairs as joint executive directors to run its war room to constantly monitor the public mood and to offer timely interventions,” Projek Sama said.

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