Fact: Rulers never consented to Islam as the Official Religion

We attended the KL part of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia’s roadshow called Believe Instead on Saturday, 23rd of January. The turnout was great—the room was packed from wall to wall.

There was a number of revolutionary speakers, but outspoken lawyer Art Harun was the one that particularly caught our attention.

In the first part of his talk entitled The Founding of the Nation: The Truth, he set to debunk the notion that Malaysia is an Islamic state, something which we have touched on before.

Armed with historical facts and documents recently declassified by the British Parliament, Art brought up a fact not known to many people: The Council of Rulers never approved Islam as the official religion.

According to Art, the clause in Article 3 in the Malaysian Constitution—that pertains to Islam as the official religion of Malaysia—was suggested by the Parti Perikatan at that time, the coalition of UMNO, MCA and MIC.

Parti Perikatan sent a 20-page memorandum to the Reid Commission, in which the memorandum suggested that the religion of the Federation shall be Islam, although it should not imply that Federation is not a secular state (this is pretty much what is in our constitution now).

After much deliberation, the Commission reported that they would concede on that matter, but only if such provision will not affect the civil rights of non-Muslim.

It was at that time the Council of Rulers registered their disapproval. The report by the Commission read:

…It is Their Highnesses’ considered view that it is not desirable to insert such declaration such that has been suggested that the Muslim faith or Islamic faith be the established religion of the Federation.

Their Highnesses are not in favour of such declaration being inserted, and that is a matter of specific instruction. [emphasis ours]

That is the fact, and clear as day: the Malay rulers at that time themselves, do not think it wise to have Islam as an “official religion” of the country to be.

So, how did we get stuck with this provision in our constitution?

A member of the Reid Commission, a Justice by the name of Hakim Abdul Hamid from Pakistan, who himself is a Muslim, decided on a selfish act that carries repercussions up until now.

Being in agreement with Parti Perikatan, he prepared a footnote to the Commission, stating his personal suggestion that since the Parti Perikatan agreed to this provision, and there was not much objection from the non-Muslim, the provision should go ahead anyway.

And the rest is history.

Another interesting fact: the representatives from MCA and MIC did not raise any objection to that new article, despite protests by many non-Muslim organisations! That doesn’t sound so different from what’s happening now, does it?

The reason MCA and MIC did not object was because they were led to believe by UMNO that the provision of Islam as an official religion is just symbolic, and would not affect them in any practical way—their civil rights will not be affected.

Fat lot of good it did to them in the long run, eh?

More than fifty years later, despite promises by Reid Commission members and Parti Perikatan leaders, Malaysia has ceased to be a secular state.

Provision of Islam as an official religion has been abused; and propagated as proof that Malaysia was and should be an Islamic state.

Watch the video of the first part of Art’s talk:

Tagged as: constitution, Islam, Malaysia, politics, SABM, secularism, UMNO