A group of  22 young Muslim activists have come out to support the 25 ‘Eminent Malays’ and said that open dialogues are key to protecting the Islamic faith from criticism.

 

The group of Muslim activists includes DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud ( below ), Sisters in Islam (SIS) programme manager Suri Kempe and Dr Irma Ismail from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s medical faculty, among others.

 

“We would like to stress that open dialogues are the way to go in avoiding the religion being subjected to criticisms in the current situation, where religious interpretation is being forced onto the people through federal or state laws without considering the views of others.”

 

The group in a statement yesterday added that the application of Islam forcefully would affect everyone in Malaysia.

 

“No one would benefit if Islam is seen as a forceful religion that does not care about other races and religion.

 

“It should be understood that the implementation of Islam forcefully without a negotiation process would leave a great impact on all Malaysians including Muslims and non-Muslims,” the group said.

 

Instead, the group added that Islam should be viewed as a religion that promotes ‘deliberative democracy’ which is a democracy that is based on discourse, debates and dialogues.

 

Don’t keep silent

 

The group also urged more Malay moderates to come out and express their opinions on the matter.

 

“We humbly ask moderate Muslims and democrats in the country to voice out and invite them to a more dialogue sessions to protect the dignity of the religion (Islam) from being tarnished by those who want to impose religious laws forcefully.

 

“The failure to speak out will only open room for those to interpret the religion narrowly and bring disgrace to all Muslims.”

 

The group of 25 prominent Malays which included former top civil servants, judges, ambassadors and scholars, in a joint statement on Dec 7 urged moderate Malays to speak up and not let extremist voices to represent the Malays.

 

The list included former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands Noor Farida Ariffin, former Health Ministry director-general Dr Ismail Merican, and former Bank Negara assistant governor Latifah Merican Chong, among others.