HAPPY 61st birthday, Malaysia. However, I am deeply worried while celebrating this auspicious day.

I am worried because Malaysia as an entity stands on two legs: respect for Islam and respect for multi-culturalism.

So often are police reports lodged and statements issued to defend Islam. However, contrary to the claim of many Malay-Muslim nationalists in Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia), Islam is getting more entrenched and not being threatened in Malaysia.

The placement of JAKIM officials in every government agency is itself a stark reminder of the Chinese Communist Party (PKM) which has its branches in government agencies, universities and big companies.

While JAKIM has the power over what Muslims can eat and drink, a proposal is made to mandate pork-free restaurants run by non-Muslims to get halal certificates. And a non-Muslim MP, Teresa Kok, is being investigated for speaking up the concerns of those affected non-Muslim restaurateurs.

From where I live in Sabah, the real issue is not Islam being disrespected. Rather, Islam and multi-culturalism are deliberately framed as incompatible with multi-culturalism having to take a back seat for Islam to be respected.

It is this artificially-framed zero-sum game that episodes of culture war are staged all year long - one after another. When one episode subsides, a new episode quickly emerges to fill its void.

Rightist Muslims stirring hatred

Intriguingly, the main target of these culture war dramas often are not even the non-Muslims but the moderate Muslim politicians. The non-Muslims and their supposedly ‘un-Islamic’ religious, cultural and social practices are but convenient tools for the Muslim nationalist hardliners to put the moderate Muslims in bad light.

For example, would the presence of a Tiger Beer logo in a Chinese school fund-raising dinner in the small town of Sungai Pelek be an issue if the officiating guest was Teo Nie Cheng (Deputy Communications Minister and a non-Muslim DAP lawmaker) instead of Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu (Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister and Amanah’s Wanita chief)?

Of course, the non-Muslims would become the collateral damage of intra-Muslim political contestation.

Step by step, the Muslim nationalists declare certain non-Muslim practices as un-Islamic and affront to the dignity of Islam and Muslims while demanding them to be eliminated - often cunningly framed as public interest in the name of Syariah-compliant universal moral values - or at least banished from public space.

In the latter, non-Muslims can drink, consume non-halal foods and dress the way they like only in their respective cultural ghettos. Beyond these ghettos, everything public would have to be aligned with the Islamic standard dictated by the Muslim nationalists.

If this ‘privatisation’ or ‘public-banishment’ of minority cultures is not bad enough, the boundaries and standards of non-Muslim space are not even cast in stone. What were allowed yesterday may become unacceptable to Islam and Muslims today.

In August, under the watch of a Muslim nationalist Menteri Besar who “is poised to become the 11th Prime Minister (PM)” and deemed a moderate technocrat, Chinese temples were barred from having female performers in their Hungry Ghost-festival performances.

PMX singing two tunes?

And if you wonder why there is a deafening silence from the Federal government, our PM’s call for “mutual respect for Muslims and non-Muslims” is politically correct only for his international audience in Tokyo but not for the domestic audience in Terengganu.

I am very blessed to be born as a Catholic Dusun in Sabah and not an Orang Asli, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Taoist and atheist in Peninsular Malaysia.

I am blessed because vast majority of Borneo Muslims - from our family members, friends. Colleagues, neighbours to political leaders - don’t see the dignity and interest of Muslims and the rest of the world in a zero-sum game.

But the South China Sea cannot protect Sabah and Sarawak from bigotry or ethnocentrism coming from West Malaysia. And there are more than a million Sabahan and Sarawakian diaspora living in Malaya. Many Borneoans serve in civil service, military and police throughout the country.

More importantly, the blessing of living in harmony and respect for each other should not be a prerogative of Borneo Malaysians. I spent my younger years in UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia) when multi-ethnic clientele in non-Muslim-owned restaurants without halal certificates were not uncommon in West Malaysia.

I yearn for not the past, but for a future where harmony and commonsense reign that we embrace each other as brothers and sisters in humanity despite our differences in faith and outlooks.

Overcoming slippery path

I yearn for carefree interactions between Malaysians not being reminded of their ethnic boundaries in every hour and minute. I yearn for permission and celebration of grey areas like pork-free restaurants without halal certificates that my Muslim relatives and friends can decide whether they want to patronise.

I yearn for a greater realisation across Malaysians - especially in Peninsular Malaysia - that for Malaysia to be sustainable, we need to adhere to both respect for Islam and respect for multi-culturalism and not pitting the two as somewhat incompatible and one must make way for the other.

I yearn for the day we would no longer share photos like that of Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar kissing the forehead of Pope Francis and sigh quietly, “yeah, that’s Indonesia”.

I empathise with PMX and other Muslim leaders who are constantly attacked for upholding both Islam and multiculturalism. I can imagine the pressure they endure.

If they succumb to the pressure to forego the balance, the Madani Government may lose the 16th General Election (GE16) if enough of non-Muslims and liberals find no enthusiasm to vote. And political apathy would naturally be followed by brain drain and capital flight.

For East Malaysians, an off-balanced Malaysia simply means greater appeal for separatism or even a merger with Indonesia.

I yearn for a near future that my Malaysia Day message would be of all pride and thanks. For now, honesty is how I must manifest my patriotism.

Long live, Malaysia! Long live multi-culturalism! - Sept 16, 2024

Datuk Seri Madius Tangau is the Tuaran MP and UPKO (United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation) honorary president.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

https://focusmalaysia.my/ushering-in-61st-malaysia-day-with-utmost-concern-two-way-respect-between-islam-multi-culturalism-hard-to-come-by/