Malaysia top court hears landmark religious dispute

By Dr.Radhe Shyam Kumar
Wednesday,May 19,2010

Malaysia's highest court began proceedings on Monday on a landmark inter-religious child custody dispute, outcome of which could further raise political tension in this mainly Muslim country.

A Hindu woman, Shamala Sathiyaseelan, won temporary custody of her two children in 2004 following her husband's conversion to Islam. She is seeking full custody and a declaration that it is illegal under Malaysia's constitution for a parent to convert a minor to Islam without the other's consent.

Malaysia's dual-track legal system where Muslims fall under Islamic family laws while non-Muslims come under civil laws has led to overlaps and unresolved religious disputes that have fuelled minority unhappiness and raised political tensions.

"This is a fundamental constitutional question being brought up for the first time, and a lot of other cases will abide by the ruling on this case," Shamala's lawyer, Cyrus Das, told reporters.

MINORITY GRIEVANCE

Unhappiness with the government over religious and ethnic issues by minorities who make up 40 percent of the country's 28 million population was among the factors that led to the ruling coalition's historic poll losses in 2008.

Since taking office in April last year, Najib has reached out to minorities by introducing a "1Malaysia" policy to foster greater inclusiveness and set up an inter-religious committee to foster dialogue.

The cabinet in April last year issued a directive banning the unilateral religious conversion of minors by one parent but its implementation is still uncertain.

But the by-election comes at a time when major church there has a pending court case against the government over its right to use the word "Allah."

"There is a huge crack in the nation due to the overlaps (in jurisdiction between Islamic and civil courts) and the rolling back of rights," said Ivy Josiah, executive director of rights group Women's Aid Organisation (WAO).

"If unresolved, people will have no choice but to go to the ballot box," said Josiah, whose WAO is one of five rights groups granted observer status by the federal court on the Shamala case.

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Academy To Train Hindu Priests in Malaysia

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Thusday,April 15,2010

IPOH, MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s first academy to train Hindu priests will conduct a five-year course developed in consultation with similar institutions in India, Human Resource Minister S. Subramaniam said. He opened the academy Sunday, stating that for now the country’s Tamil Hindu community will continue to get priests from India since the training, grading and certifying of priests will take time.

The Hindu community’s wish to have a training facility for local priests has been fulfilled with the setting up of the academy in Jelapang Tambahan. With the opening of the academy, the availability of qualified priests will be assured for over 3,000 Hindu temples in the country.

Subramaniam said although there were locals who were trained as priests, the training was not done formally by recognized institutions and was not accredited at the national level. He said a major problem facing the community was the qualifications of local priests conducting important and complicated ceremonies in the temples.

Hindus Face Cunning Conversion Tactics , Mauritius

Source: lemauricien.com
Thusday,April 15,2010

MAURITIUS: What was to be a big concert in Triolet to mark Mauritius’ Independence celebration anniversary was, surprisingly, just a mere tactic to lure Hindus to Christianity, reports the Hindu Common Front. The Light Ministries of Mauritius, a Christian Federation representing the several Protestant and Pentecost Churches of the island, invited Johnny Lever — a famous Bollywood star — as chief guest to entertain the audience at Triolet, a well known locality mostly populated by Hindus.

What annoyed many Hindus attending the concert was that other than seeing Johnny Lever performing as a comedian, which he is usually in Bollywwod films, the latter was mainly involved in Christian prayers on the stage. The Voice of Hindu deplored that Johnny Lever was there to purposely convert the crowd and many Hindus were disappointed by his performance. This led to a serious a incident where the concert had to be immediately stopped due to angry reactions from Hindus of the locality.

According to Hindu Common Front spokesman, Anil Unnoop, some missionaries are using all kinds of possible means to convert Hindus, especially taking advantage of those who are sick and bedridden in hospitals. He said “It is unacceptable that missionaries lure Hindus who are in distress, when they are most vulnerable, to tactfully influence them to change their religion.”

For the Hindu Common Front, it is just forced conversion and they have made their grievances clear in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic.

But Light Ministries representative, Kevil Permal, said that Mauritian are free to choose the religion of their choice and that their christian mission is to impart the teachings of the Bible to all. However, though the Hindu Common Front condemns the incident at Triolet, the Front wants to see that despite religious freedom most respected in a multi-racial country like Mauritius, a new law be enacted to curb forced conversion and penalize those who tactfully go about to convert people who are in distress. “Yes to religious freedom, but No to forced conversion”, concludes the Common Hindu Front.