It is “unhealthy” to allow the views of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to become the only legitimate interpretation of Islam in Malaysia, said law lecturer Azmi Sharom.

 

Instead, he said Muslims should be exposed to views from a range of different scholars and come to their own conclusions.

 

“It is Jakim’s view or no view. Every other view, cannot. This is unhealthy.

"Did the angel Gabriel come down and bless Jakim and said, ‘You have the gift of truth and nobody else’? Maybe he did, I don’t know.

 

“But what is lacking here in the Muslim community in Malaysia is enough views coming from different scholars, different schools of thought, so that people can come to their own mind, make up their own mind, instead of being forced to one point of view from one body,” he said yesterday.

 

He said that while he respects Jakim’s views on Islam, he does not like it when Jakim stops the propagation of other views regarding Islam.

 

Azmi ( above ) said this at a forum on the freedom of expression held at University of Malaya’s law faculty, when the moderator asked how this freedom can be a polarising or harmonising force in society.

 

Also present as panellists are activist Marina Mahathir and Global Movement of Moderates Foundation CEO Saifuddin Abdullah.

 

'Let the best ideas win'

To a question, Azmi said he subscribes to 19 th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill’s contention that once all ideas have been put in the open, the best ideas will win.

 

Even if there had been zero freedom of expression in the public realm, he said racist and bigoted attitudes can still persist within the private sphere, such as within families and communities.

 

“When you look at it deep enough, you will see that ideas that divide people, ideas that incite violence, ideas that treat people without dignity or respect; I think you will see that these things are unpleasant, and it doesn’t take much to understand that, because would you want to have that kind of stuff happen to you? It is that simple.

 

“But, what is important is to have all these ideas put out there, so people can see everything that is available,” he said.

 

He added that freedom of expression can only seem polarising if the media only propagates views from one side without balance, whatever that view might be.

 

Meanwhile, Saifuddin ( left ) told the forum that Malaysia needs to redouble its efforts to promote human rights – including the freedom of expression – now that it has been elected into the UN Security Council and will be taking over the chairperson’s post of Asean next year.

 

Comparing it to the last lap of a marathon, he said earning these key diplomatic posts should not be an excuse to slack off, but to press on harder.

 

“You can’t fail because you have to do more. This is your second or last breath, and you must do more.

 

“We have to make sure that our standards of human rights practice, including the freedom of expression, is of international standard,” he said.

 

As such, when Malaysia’s UN Human Rights Council 3 rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) comes about in 2018, Saifuddin said Malaysia must to do “10 times, 100 times or 1,000 times” better than it did during its previous review last year.

 

During last year’s UPR for Malaysia, representatives from 104 countries took turns to grill Malaysia on its human rights record.

Many countries recommended Malaysia sign and ratify six core human rights conventions, and remove reservations on the three that it had already signed, and stipulate a time frame for their full implementation.

 

The call came not only from the West, but also from countries from Asia, Africa, Latin American, and even Muslim-majority countries Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.

 

Saifuddin said Malaysia should also look into issues raised in various human rights reports, such as those produced by the NGO Suaram, and the statutory body the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).