A Chinese Muslim mosque in Malaysia
Of course I am all for it. Its about time that there is one anyway. Heck, not just one, but several. The Chinese Muslim population in Malaysia is a growing community and the last figures that I know of indicate that they are close to half a million. Of course that was two years’ ago figures.
I think it is ironic that we have mosques in Malaysia which give the khutbah in Tamil, but those people in the religious departments still refuse to allow for mosques to give the khutbah in Mandarin or Hokkien or Cantonese. That is why there is an increased sense of Islamophobia in the country, we have non-Muslim Chinese (ironically, a pseudo-monotheist) spreading lies like these (*snort* you really didn’t think that I was going to buy that story, do you?). But going back to the issue, the problem faced by MACMA is a case in point:
The Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MCMA) is facing difficulties in getting approval from state governments to build mosques for their community.
MCMA vice-president Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah said it was unfair for Perak mufti Datuk Seri Harussani Idris to say that state religious departments did not prevent the Chinese community from applying to build their own mosques.
He said MCMA had been trying to build a Chinese mosque in Selangor for about a decade but claimed that the religious authorities were not even interested in hearing their proposal.
“In our last meeting with the former director of the Selangor religious department a couple of years ago, he told us there was no way he would approve a Chinese mosque.
Now you know that why, after all that talk of “Islam” this, and “Islam” that, and the so-called “Islamization project” in contemporary times by that keris-waving party, we still have not been able to impart the proper knowledge about Islam to the masses.
This recent episode highlights the lack of intellect among state religious authorities and the laziness and inertia on the part of state bureaucrats. It tarnishes the image of Islam as a religion that respects and treats humans as equals, regardless of religious or ethnic backgroud.
Comment by kampunghouse — January 31, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
Bro, there are about 50,000 Chinese Muslims in Malaysia, not half a million. There are about 6 million Chinese in Malaysia. Only 1% of them are Muslims.
Comment by kicapbango — January 31, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
you know i used to have a muslim classmate whose ancestors hail from xian in china… the lecturer had the nerve to ask her why she didn’t have an ‘abdullah’ after her chinese name considering she had ‘converted’.
the problem, menj, is too many muslim malays like to make up assumptions. my friend’s surname was ma, and it was representative of her religion. unfortunately many people refuse to acknowledge this, and choose to label most chinese muslims as converts.
Comment by minishorts — February 2, 2007 @ 5:27 pm
I think you are being unkind. The Malays want the Chinese to be Daoist, Buddhist, Christians or even Sikhs. They don’t want them to be Muslim.
That’s because if you are a Muslim, speak Malay and practice Malay customs (I wonder how many really do as Malays want to be Arabs), then you are a Malay and you get Hak Istimewa!
If they find a Chinese Muslim, they want to add to their stats to show how many Chinese they have converted. If a Chinese really wants to be a Muslim, simply apply to the local mosque for permission to “keluar Islam” for the reason ” Saya tak faham” and you will get a Chinese mosque yesterday. That is because all Muslims wake up (even the dozy one like Abdullah) if you shout “Islam in in Danger”.
Comment by Sunny — February 19, 2007 @ 12:35 pm