MALAYSIA’S Islamic authorities are curbing freedom of speech and preventing intellectual discourse to the detriment of the Muslim community, G25 founding member Mohd Sheriff Kassim said at a forum today.

Citing the detention of Turkish author and journalist Mustafa Akyol in September, Sheriff said holding talks on Islam should not be subjected to the same rules requiring credentials and approval to preach or teach on Islam.

Using such rules on intellectual discussions were a “challenge” to the freedom of expression, he said.

“There are rules under the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) and state religious council such as Selangor that state someone who wants to teach Islam has to be approved by the department to ensure he has the credentials to teach.

“Dr Farouk (Musa) from IRF (Islamic Renaissance Forum) had said Mustafa was invited to a forum not to teach Islam, but to have an intellectual discussion on Islam. The forum was open to the public.

“If we need credentials for an open discussion on religion, that would be a dangerous challenge on the freedom of speech in Malaysia,” the former high-ranking civil servant said in his keynote address at the Malaysia Freedom Summit in Petaling Jaya.

Akyol was stopped at the airport from leaving Malaysia and summoned for questioning by Jawi which claimed he had no credentials to teach Islam. 

He was to have given a speech at a talk hosted by IRF on “The Islamic Jesus: The Commonalities Between Judaism, Christianity and Islam”.

Sheriff said Malaysia’s treatment of Akyol had deterred another scholar from the United States from attending another forum organised by IRF and G25 due to fears of being detained.

“If Muslim scholars are afraid, it would be difficult to have intellectual issues which affect the social and economic progress of the Muslim community, while other races around them are moving forward into the new age of technology because they have the freedom of thought and expression,” said Sheriff who was formerly Treasury secretary-general.

Touching on the private member’s bill by PAS president and Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act to enhance shariah punishments, Sheriff reiterated G25’s stand some states have exceeded their scope of Islamic administration by having unnecessary shariah laws.

“We believe state shariah laws which criminalise personal sins are unconstitutional.

“We also believe the biggest problems among Muslims are not their personal sins with God but with drugs addiction, HIV infection, children abandoned by unwed mothers, injustice to women, bribery and corruption in the public service and in politics and poverty among jobless families.

“These problems must be given higher priority instead of creating laws to punish Muslims for their personal behaviour or their lifestyles,” he said. – November 18, 2017.