APRIL 24 — Malaysia is a country that practises the supremacy of the Constitution. According to article 4(1) of the Federal Constitution (FC), the laws within the Constitution are the most supreme or highest law of the land and anything that goes against it will be void.
In short, all the laws listed in the Federal Constitution are considered the only alpha in Malaysia, and it dominates other lower laws be it at federal or state level.
Now, within the Constitution, we have fundamental liberties that govern the paramount rights of citizens in Malaysia. Among these liberties, we have freedom of religion, where the Federal Constitution as the highest law of the land guarantees that its citizens will be given the right to profess, practise and propagate their respective religion (article 11(1)).
However, for the purpose of propagating, there are limitations where propagation of other religion towards Muslims may be controlled or restricted by respective states and federal territories (article 11 (4)).
Recently, we received the shocking news in Taman Medan where there was an assembly as a sign of protest towards a church that displayed a cross outside its building. The rally claimed that the cross was challenging their Islamic faith and it may influence Muslim children. Mind you, this rally was conducted during the Sunday sermon and after much fuss, the church agreed to bring down the cross. It is in response to the claim of the protesters that I write this article for the purpose of clarification based on the law.
My questions are, how can a cross challenge your spiritual faith? Does it have power to make you forget your religion and convert to Christianity? Does it create hatred towards your own religion? Are Muslims that weak to the extent their faith is easily shaken at the sight of a cross statically hung outside the wall of churches? Do you have any concrete proof to show that the cross actually challenges your Islamic faith? Why after so many years living together as a multi-racial and multi-religious society, only today you have brought up this matter? How come the problem arises only now and not back then?
This incident is wrong in so many ways. First of all, their action of pressing the church to bring down the cross during the Sunday sermon is just plain rude as you are disrespecting their religious practice. Secondly, by disturbing their religious practice the rally violated article 11(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religious practice in Malaysia.
Thirdly, the only way to limit the freedom of religion in this country is if the activities of the religion cause public disorder, public health disturbance or immorality. This is stated in article 11(5) of the FC. Now, according to a BBC Article in 2011 entitled “The Cross”, it was stated that the cross is the universal Christian symbol that is acknowledged by all as an identifier of their faith. The cross also means sufferance, salvation, triumph and defeat.
Finally, in the 4th century after Emperor Constantine was converted as a Christian, the cross was promoted as the symbol of the son of god.
My question is how can a sacred religious symbol cause public disorder or public health disturbance or even the morality problem? The only disturbance I see is the rally itself.
Prior to this event, there was no news or report claiming the portrayal of the cross causing public disorder or immorality or health issue anywhere in Malaysia. So, why the sudden protest? I cannot digest their claim from both a legal and rational point of view.
This incident, in my opinion, caused nothing but negative reputation. It may portray the Muslims as proud, disrespectful, weak and selfish. We are proud and rude enough to interrupt a religious activity, selfish for not trying to understand and share space with other religions to practise their religion, and finally it will misrepresent how weak Muslims are towards our own faith, which is clearly untrue. However, I was happy to know that many parties condemned this action, including Muslims themselves, and it was good to know that the authorities took over this case and solve it properly according to law.
Folks, we need to remember that we are living in society with different backgrounds and religions. On top of that, we have laws governing every angle of our body. Remember 1 Malaysia? Yes, we need to practise that and understanding is one of the keys to it.
I know peaceful assembly is in trend currently but that doesn’t mean you can assemble for every single thing you feel dissatisfied about. Please do a bit of research, look at the laws and consider your position before you act. We have many protective laws that carry heavy punishment if we take one wrong step. Remember Sedition Act? Peaceful Assembly Act? These laws will eat you up if you aren’t careful enough.
Finally, remember, we are living in a country where our highest law of the land stated other religions aside from Islam are recognised and allowed to be practised in peace and harmony as in article 3(1). Moreover, to protect that acknowledgement, we have freedom of religion that allows movement of the religious institutions and individuals in practising, professing, and subject to limitations, in propagating. Who are we to say no to the highest law of the land? Until the law changes, please respect it and respect each other.
* Nadia Falisha binti Azlan Shah Aziz is a second-year law student in University Malaya.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
