Local media in Malaysia recently reported that Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) Youth executive council member, Muhammad Muzammil Ismail as urging the country’s Muslim youth to play a more active role in overcoming Islamophobia.
Speaking to Malaysia’s national news agency, Bernama, ahead of the Youth Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019, Muhammad Muzammil said that, in this endeavour, the country’s Muslim youth would do well to use social media platforms wisely.
“They should be more active in communicating with others, embrace diversity and most importantly do not try to be invisible when faced with issues, but try to solve them with hikmah (wisdom),” he was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Muhammad Muzammil was emphasising the importance of young Muslims to portray a positive image of Islam in the face of growing Islamophobia. He had said that intercultural learning between young people around the world would help in conveying the true teachings of Islam as a religion of peace.
Islamophobia is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force. While those who are not as well-versed on the topic might imagine that Islamophobia suddenly reared its ugly head following the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, United States (US), the truth is that Islamophobia has been around for a long time.
Even in Muslim-majority countries like Malaysia, Islamophobia surprisingly exists.
Islamophobia: a political by-product
In March, it was reported that a Facebook account holder was sentenced to a jail term of 10 years and 10 months for posting content deemed insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. The holder of Facebook account 'Ayea Yea' was one of four individuals who were slapped with multiple charges in Kuching, the capital of the state of Sarawak in East Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur, the nation’s capital yesterday for similar reasons, according to Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police, Mohamad Fuzi Harun.
‘Ayea Yea’ was sentenced by the Kuching Sessions Court after pleading guilty to 10 charges under Section 298A of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.
A month later, Lukman Sheriff Alias, a member of the Malaysian Lawyers Circle, wrote an article on Malaysian news portal Malaysiakini urging Malaysians to stand firm against Islamophobia.
“Amidst the insult of Prophet Muhammad SAW (Peace be Upon Him) court cases, another series of grave instances of Islamophobia arose. As a reaction to a move of uniting Muslim political interests under a common political platform, one prominent leader initially declared the collaboration as an act of war against all who are not Malay Muslims while another invoked a Taliban (religious regime) comparison,” he wrote.
Lukman was referring to Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng who had cautioned in March that the cooperation of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) would leave the country’s non-Malays caught in the political crosshairs.
Also in March, another DAP leader, Nga Kor Ming, who is also the Malaysian Parliament’s Deputy Speaker, was quoted as saying that the country would turn into a "Taliban state" if an UMNO-PAS alliance were to come into power.
“Both of them appallingly used extreme race and religious scaremongering to invoke religious and/or racial hatred and trepidation. A number of media even refused to carry such stories and one in particular later on unethically amended the original reporting to alleviate criticism on the perpetrator,” Lukman wrote on the two leaders.
It is important to note here that there are many examples of Malaysian Muslim politicians stoking hatred as well. There are numerous incidents that can be easily found of politicians – especially from UMNO – making statements against the country’s minorities, especially the Chinese.
In November, Perak Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Ahmad Faizal Azumu was videotaped saying that he was in a “desperate battle” against the DAP in defence of the Malays and to champion Islam. He also thanked his UMNO friends for standing with him in this battle.
Regardless, the actions of a careless few is no excuse for Islamophobia.
According to the Asia Foundation, Malaysian youth make up about 43 percent of the total population. While it is important that they play their part in combatting Islamophobia, it must be acknowledged that Islamophobia in Malaysia seems to be largely the product of politicking by irresponsible politicians. As such, on the one hand, politicians must cease stoking the fires of hatred, and on the other, Malaysians must rise above such politicking and punish politicians who resort to such dangerous gutter tactics.
The Youth Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 began yesterday and will end today. It is a prelude to the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 which begins today and will end on 21 December. The Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 is to be chaired by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
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