| A Small Step In The Journey To A United Multi-cultural Society |
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Eugene Yap, executive secretary for research with NECF Malaysia, gives his opinion on the 5th NCOI forum on religion, law and shared values. Related Article: Academic Suggests Novel Plan For Unity In Schools More than 300 people attended the the 5th National Congress on Integrity, at the UCSI University on Sept 16 recently. It generated discussion on how national integration could be achieved with integrity from the perspectives of the constitution, education, religion and politics. The main speakers were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, lawyer Datuk Azzat Kamaludin and politicians Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and Hannah Yeoh. The three-track forums were Education as a Framework for National Unity and Political Culture and Leadership for National Unity and National Unity Through Religion, Law and Shared Values. GoodTimes carries two articles on some specific points raised at the congress.
By Eugene Yap For the past few years, Malaysians from all walks of life have been attempting to find new and appropriate platforms to come together to discover shared values to build our nation, Malaysia. This was the aim at the 5th NCOI during which the subject of national integration with integrity was examined. During the forum, three parallel tracks on three key issues for consideration were held for discussion. This article will discuss thoughts triggered by some points raised in the forum on National Unity through Religion, Law and Shared Values. The speakers were Dr Dzulkifly Ahmad, director of PAS Research Centre and Member of Parliament for Kuala Selangor and sociologist, Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria. The session proved to be an interactive one, though one gets the distinct impression that what Dr Dzulkifli was trying to propound was an exposition on how Islam could contribute towards a just society and therefore national unity. Understandably, with such an exposition, there is cause for concern. And the concern was reflected during question time when the issue of the Islamic state and hudud law took centrestage. Notwithstanding, we detect a more substantial issue underlining the debate: the role and contribution of religion in the attainment of national integration. For some, the ongoing polemics suggest it is better to leave such noble ideals out of the way. After all, one may argue, looking at church history, there are plenty of unwanted examples of religion shedding its ugly side leading to the doctrine of separation between church and state. Similarly, for Malaysians, such lessons must compel us to follow suit. But before we entertain further thoughts on the matter, let us examine in total honesty if our prevailing mindset carries the often unquestionable assumption that religion is to be relegated and confined to our private life only. Such unquestionable assumptions demand careful relooking, for religion is too great a factor in human life and experience to be swept out of sight. Religion should not be regarded as either a “department” or a “species”. It is not just the practice of individual and corporate worship, prayer, the reading and treasuring of the sacred scriptures -- although that is important -- but also includes the very commitments which overrides all other life commitments and provides the necessary framework by which all our experiences in life is grasped and measured. It is in this sense that religion determines our core values and the basic patterns through which a person understands and organizes his/her entire life. Seen in this light, one may argue that religion does, indeed, offer insights into nation-building by bringing about national unity and a just and moral society. This is not to say that religion is a programme for political stability or social order but that religion in its wider connotation may play her part in the service of a moral basis and tradition for the striving of the common good of society. In practical terms, religion’s distinctive contribution towards the good of the nation lies in the creation of a public morality and the offering of practical, ethical resources that positively promote social harmony and national unity based on mutual respect and equality. How can this be done, except by “mirroring” the moralities of your religion by being a responsible member of your community and bringing to bear that life-message of essential characteristics and core values onto the wider society? Yet, being a multi-cultural society, we can only build a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society if we view nation-building as a process, acknowledging that changing scenarios and circumstances may require changes in policies and approaches so that they are compatible with ongoing realities. Such an approach demands persuasion and the only valid religious means of persuasion are rational debates and the challenge for each religious participant to exemplify good and just values. The test of any new formulation of policies and approaches should be its ability to unite all citizens of different persuasions, values and social beliefs. Hence, no one religion -- no matter how absolute -- can insist on another that it has the just and moral solutions that are effective and should be accepted by all citizens. Indeed, a truly comprehensive solution can only be the product of shared dialogue that results in shared values if they are to be comprehensive and mutually acceptable by everyone. The 5th NCOI has afforded many citizens in this country the valued platform to air their views and to a certain extent brings about a rational discourse to chart our national destiny onto new frontiers. It may, therefore, be regarded as a small step in a journey of a thousand miles by civil society in this direction. But as Charles Villa-Vivencio, a celebrated South African theologian opined, rather than excluding religion from the public area of political debate, the secular state should encourage religious people and organisations to enter the debate with fervour and commitment to promote their particular view -- but with the proviso that they play by the same democratic rules as anyone else. In a heterogeneous society, therefore, public actions are to be defined, defended and promoted on the basis of reason and political process rather than by revelation. This prompts the question whether our government will open up space for rational discourse or even regulate debates on the need to achieve unity and national integration within the ongoing tension on issues of ethnic relations. Given our history, community sentiments and prevailing outlook of taboo and “hands off” to race relations, will citizens and religious communities of Malaysia always be constrained by a myopic mindset that perpetuate fear and suspicion amongst the races and ethnic groups? At an interview with Bloomberg in New York, while attending the 65th United Nations General Assembly last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak called on US President Barack Obama to galvanise moderates, and include non-governmental organisations and social movements among them so that more people would see the importance of taking a moderate stance. The same must certainly hold true for all religious communities in Malaysia and for our Prime Minister as well. If Malaysia is ever to discover her glorious destiny and behold her valued identity, the course for open space and dialogue to this end is not a choice but a given.
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