Umno's Saifuddin dismissed by Zahid, praised by DAP

Three-termed Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has dismissed the proposal by his comrade Saifuddin Abdullah to organise a dialogue on interfaith religion, instead of trying to out-champion PAS.

Asked on the proposal in Penang today, Ahmad Zahid replied curtly "ask him (Saifuddin) to organise the dialogue".

“The Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) is in charge of religion and we (Home Ministry) are in charge of security," he said during a press conference at the Penang police headquarters today.

But while Ahmad Zahid has rejected Saifuddin's call, DAP has expressed support, labelling the former deputy minister a "voice of sanity" for his moderate views on Islam.

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said that Saifuddin, unlike his comrades in Umno, does not see the need to amend the federal constitution to specify Islam as constituting Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah alone.

Instead, the former Umo supreme council member had found the federal constitution sufficient as it already plainly states Islam as the religion of the federation.

Saifuddin has expressed concern that attempts to define Islam in the constitution in such a specific manner would not be inclusive, and that he did not believe in the “holier-than-thou approach” in handling this issue that he deems to be “exaggerated.”

This was said during a press conference on Monday, at which Saifuddin, who now heads the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), had also called for an interfaith dialogue.

Latest attempt ‘mockery’ of religion

Zairil (right), in a statement, said following the ‘Allah’ controversy which made Malaysia "a laughing stock" not only amongst Western nations but also in the Muslim world, the latest attempt to cast limitations on the definition of Islam is a "palpable mockery" of the religion.

"Moreover, the zeal with which the government is pursuing the persecution of Muslim minorities such as the Shiite goes against the very grain of moderation or inclusiveness," he said.

"In fact, it even contradicts the charter of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which affirms the need to foster noble Islamic values concerning moderation, tolerance, respect for diversity as well as to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

But such a  move, according to various Umno leaders including Ahmad Zahid, was necessary in order to “protect the sanctity of the teaching of Sunnah Wal Jamaah and to stop the spread of other teachings in the country.”

Meanwhile, Zairil also stated that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has "betrayed" the very movement - Global Movement for Moderates (GMM), which the latter had started.

Najib had, in 2010, spearheaded the formation of the GMM by calling upon “members and leaders of the world's major faiths to censure and reject their own extremists.”

"It is now nothing more than a false façade that belies the extremist, bigoted and narrow-minded tendencies of the Barisan Nasional Government," said Zairil, who is also DAP national assistant publicity secretary.

"However, far from practising what he preaches, Najib’s own government has consistently submitted to the demands of the very extremists he is asking the world to reject", Zairil added.