Former Court of Appeal judge should respect rights of other religions By Vijay Shanmugam APRIL 24, 2014 I refer to the statement from the former Court of Appeal Judge, Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah, which he made on April 15, that sculptures of deities should not be built in the open, but should be placed within an enclosed building instead (referring to the Batu Caves Lord Murugan and Penang Kuan Yin statues). Though Islam is the religion of the Federation, Article 11 of the Federal Constitution provides that every person has the right to profess and practice his own religion. Every person has the right to propagate his religion, but state law and, in respect of the Federal Territory, federal law, may control or restrict the propagation of any religion, doctrine or belief among persons professing the Muslim religion. There is, however, freedom to carry on missionary work among non-Muslims. The former judge ought to know the significance of Article 11 in the Federal Constitution with regards to the seditious statement given by him to the press. This clearly restricts the religious freedom of non-Muslims born in Malaysia like me who were rightly offended by the statement given by this former judge. Is this the 1Malaysia concept propagated by our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak? Article 11s interpretation by large should be meant for racial harmony in Malaysia. At the time of the drafting of the Federal Constitution during the Independent Malaya formative days in London by our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, our forefathers saw the necessity for it when Malaya was at the crossroads of ethnic polarity which threatened the very existence of the alliance at that time. Further to this is what was recommended in the Reid Commission Report prior to the final drafting of our Federal Constitution: And we recommend (Article 11) that freedom of religion should be guaranteed to every person including the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion subject to the requirement of public order, health and morality, and that, subject also to these requirements, each religious group should have the right to manage its own affairs, to maintain religious or charitable institutions including schools, and to hold property for these purposes (Article 12). Therefore, I think as a senior retired judge, giving comments like this was uncalled for as it hampers the effort of racial integration in our country – in challenging times where we can witness religious bigots running amok and spewing ethnic-related hatred among us almost in every nook and corner of our country. It is in good faith that Mohd Noor should apologise for his statement and retract it. In law, interpretation and understanding are extremely wide. It depends on the individual. Thus, I have interpreted Article 11 as such to put my view forward to counter the remarks by the former Court of Appeal Judge regarding his myopic view on how the sizes of statues will diminish the faith of the Muslims in Malaysia and become a threat to their beliefs. – April 24, 2014 * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 11:31:06 +0000
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