KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — There is no discrepancy between Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s warning to Malay-Muslims to watch out for the propagation of liberal beliefs in the name of human rights and the prime minister’s promotion of moderation in the fight against extremism, Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers said.

Sabah BN secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said he believed Najib was cautioning against demands for “unbridled” and “unrestricted” human rights, agreeing with the Umno president’s viewpoint that such unrestrained demands would be “detrimental” to Islam.

“If you ask for and demand unbridled human rights based on Western values, that is not acceptable,” the Kota Belud MP from Umno told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Citing same-sex marriages and homosexuality as examples, he said such extreme demands are “not compatible” with the spirit of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution.

“The Constitution says Islam is the religion of the federation. It goes against Islam and I believe other religion,” he explained, pointing out that the Constitution itself does not protect rights without placing restrictions on them.

“If everybody just look at the Constitution and are guided by the Constitution, we should be alright,” the minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government added.

Abdul Rahman said the practice of human rights here should be based on “Eastern values” and take into account local sensitivities and wider interests such as “community interests and national interests”.

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said that Najib’s reformist credentials remained intact as he was “still walking the middle path” with his remarks.

He noted that Najib had on Tuesday dismissed demands to allow Muslims to leave their religion or engage in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activities. The BN chairman had also said Muslims will not be denied their rights to be governed by the Shariah courts.

“Islam forbids the above practices and more and more Muslims are challenging these values that’s in the Koranic scriptures,” said the chairman of MCA’s Religious Harmony Bureau.

“PM as a reformist cannot go against the grain or core values of Islam thus as a moderate he cautioned liberalism, etc that may be extreme and in conflict with Islam. In other words, he is still walking the middle path. Moderation from both ends,” he told The Malay Mail Online.

Umno lawmaker Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Najib was “just voicing out the concern” of many Muslims who wanted to see the authorities play a greater role in enforcing religion.

“I think he’s trying to strike a balance, an equilibrium where secularism and liberalism don’t overwhelm religious practices,” said the Pulai MP who is also the parliamentary bipartisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman.

Nur Jazlan, who backed Najib’s stand, said society would not be able to function well if it turns totally liberal.

“Society is becoming more liberal so there is pressure for the government to enforce religion, which I think is wrong because religion is personal,” he said.

While authorities may be able to force humans to do religious rituals, conformation to these set of rules does not necessarily translate into strong faith, he said.

“The way to strengthen and protect Islam in this country is to ensure Muslims have a very strong belief in religion, not to force them to have a belief,” he said, saying that those holding strongly to their beliefs would not be easily swayed by liberalism and LGBT.

Sisters In Islam (SIS), a moderate Muslim non-governmental organisation, told The Malay Mail Online that Najib appeared to be contradicting Malaysia’s role in the United Nations Human Rights Council and undermining his own efforts under the Global Movement of Moderates.

In criticising Najib’s remarks, the group accused him of “reinforcing” and promoting “inflammatory rhetoric” instead of rejecting it.

“It seems somewhat mischievous and disingenuous to say that as an Islamic country, Malaysia emphasised the welfare of every individual regardless of race, language or religion — and in the same breath not recognise freedom of religion among Muslims, and single out the minority LGBT community as deviationist.

“Where is the justice and fairness in persecuting an already vulnerable minority group, and how does that exemplify moderation? How is such divisiveness going to promote unity among the rakyat?” SIS asked.

On Tuesday, national news agency Bernama reported Najib as saying that Islam was now threatened by “human rightism, liberalism, secularism and humanism”.

He said the understanding of extreme human rights could be moderated by the law, the Federal Constitution and cultural values of Malaysia.

Late last month, the president of Malay-Muslim group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, said “liberalism, liberty, equity and human rights” are “godless and faithless” ideologies from the West that had no place in Islam.