Kuala Lumpur, 12 February 2025 | INITIATE.MY expresses deep concern over the proposed guidelines announced by Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), in a parliamentary response on 4 February 2025. These restrictions, which regulate Muslims’ participation in non-Muslim religious events and impose conditions on event organisers, pose a serious threat to national unity and counter-extremism efforts.
The proposed restrictions include:
- Prohibiting speeches or songs that promote or propagate other religions
- Banning events during Muslim prayer times
- Forbidding events near mosques, prayer rooms, Muslim cemeteries, or land owned by Muslim religious or community organisations
- Prohibiting the display of non-Islamic religious symbols or attributes
- Requiring organisers to seek permission from relevant authorities when inviting Muslim leaders or individuals and consult Islamic religious authorities before organising any celebrations
These restrictions are not new. Malaysia has one of the highest levels of legal restrictions on religious freedom globally, among others driven by rapid and hegemonic bureaucratisation of religion. INITIATE.MY has documented over 135 Sharia legal provisions and gazetted fatwas that criminalise cross-cultural and critical thinking engagements. Additionally, segregated education and economic systems based on race and socioeconomic status have structurally hindered meaningful interfaith interactions and dialogue in daily life.
INITIATE.MY has both experienced firsthand and observed how extremist groups, individuals affiliated with certain political parties, NGO networks, and vigilantes—whether acting alone or in groups—have worked to disrupt interfaith dialogues and humanitarian efforts.
Notable cases where extremists have successfully disrupted or attempted to disrupt interfaith initiatives include:
- 2024 – The Global Unity Network (UNITY)-Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIPk) visit to a Hindu temple
- 2023 – IMPACT Malaysia’s Jom Ziarah programme
- 2021 – IIUM students’ initiative to clean a Hindu temple after a flood
- 2017 – KMU Malaysia’s interreligious and intercultural dialogue for youths (IIDY)
These extremist actors engage in various tactics of intimidation and disruption, including:
- Spreading takfir and fear-mongering narratives targeting non-Muslim communities, Muslim activists and human rights defenders, both online and offline, under the guise of defending religious sanctity
- Harassing interfaith event organisers and participants through cyberbullying, doxing, and disinformation campaigns
- Among more extreme actors, they vandalise places of worship and religious symbols.
This climate of fear, repression and trauma discourages interfaith engagement. Additional federal-level restrictions will only worsen the problem and contradict the government’s commitments to national unity and counter-extremism.
Instead of imposing further restrictions, the government should strengthen interfaith efforts by taking the following actions:
- Revoke the proposed guidelines and review similar restrictions at both federal and state levels, as affirmed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s rejection of their necessity and his emphasis on the resilience of Muslim faith.
- Institutionalise and support interfaith and intrafaith initiatives that encourage meaningful engagement on complex and sensitive issues. These efforts must go beyond superficial tolerance campaigns and facilitate honest discussions on structural inequalities, religious diversity, and socio-political grievances.
- Empower the Jawatankuasa Keharmonian Antara Penganut Agama (HARMONI) under the Ministry of National Unity to serve as a key consultative body on interfaith and intrafaith issues affecting faith communities in Malaysia. Strengthen its role in ensuring inclusive interfaith policymaking and effective conflict resolution.
- Protect interfaith and intrafaith initiatives, particularly those led by civil society and community organisations. Ensure they can operate freely without state or non-state reprisals.
- Cooperate with social media companies to effectively protect at-risk communities including activists and human rights defenders, against dangerous actors who exploit their platforms to spread misinformation and disinformation against interfaith and interfaith efforts.
- Uphold policy commitments and allocate national resources effectively to support community-driven national unity and counter-extremism efforts, including:
- MADANI Framework, which promotes inclusivity, mutual respect, and social harmony.
- Malaysian Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (MyPCVE) 2024-2028, which emphasises dialogue and mutual understanding in prevention and deradicalisation efforts.
- National Unity Action Plan 2021-2030, which highlights interfaith dialogue as a key strategy for fostering national unity and social cohesion.
- Lead by example as ASEAN Chair in 2025, advancing both domestic and regional inclusivity and peacebuilding efforts.
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