IF its book calling for a rational dialogue on Islam in a constitutional democracy could be banned, would G25 itself be banned next, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang asked today.

The Gelang Patah MP described the move as “so extraordinary and unbelievable” and asked Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to confirm if the latter had authorised the ban himself and why.

“Will G25 be next to be banned, signifying a major setback for the cause of a moderate Malaysia, and the triumph of extremist and intolerant forces in the country?

“What is the use of the prime minister launching the international initiative Global Movement of Moderates, when, for the past seven years, it has not shown the attributes of being ‘global’, ‘a movement’ or ‘moderate’, and the Cabinet allows such forces to jettison the constitutional principles of moderation, like arbitrarily banning the G25 book,” he said in a statement.

The book by the group comprising prominent former Malay-Muslim civil servants, titled “Breaking the Silence: Voices of Moderation – Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”, has been banned after the government deemed it to be “prejudicial to public order”.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers e-Federal Gazette said the ban was made law today after Zahid authorised the ban on June 14.

G25 said it would appeal against the ban.

The book comprises mainly academic articles by leading academics, prominent lawyers and progressive Islamic scholars.

Among the 22 writers are are constitutional scholar Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, Just World director Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Universiti Malaya law professor Azmi Sharom and former Sisters in Islam executive director Ratna Osman.

“Have these contributors, particularly the Malay-Muslim stalwarts of society, become the new enemies of Malaysia, whether individually or collectively, trying to destroy the very fabric of multiracial and multireligious Malaysia?” said Lim.

He also pointed out that the foreword in the book was written by former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who endorsed G25’s call on Prime Minister Najib Razak to “exercise his leadership and to demonstrate the political will to establish an inclusive consultative committee to find solutions to the intractable problems that had been allowed to fester for far too long”.

“Abdullah shared G25’s hope that the book would encourage an informed and rational dialogue on the ways Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in multiracial and multireligious Malaysia, yet within the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution and the spirit of Rukun Negara.

“Has Abdullah’s foreword in the book become a banned foreword?” he said, adding that the book was launched by senior Umno leader and Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the Islam in a Constitutional Democracy forum in December 2015.

Lim said Tengku Razaleigh, at the forum, had warned of “a religious bureaucracy”, which was used as a mask for those with vested interests to use Islamic laws for power, threatening the constitutional provision where sultans were the ultimate decision-makers in the administration of Islam.

“Is the ban on G25’s book an example of the latest strike by the ‘religious bureaucracy’, violating fundamental Malaysian constitutional principles?”

He urged the Cabinet, at its meeting today, to speak up for a moderate Malaysia, suspend the book ban and set up a high-level committee to hold public hearings on whether the book should be banned.

“I am sure all the contributors to the G25 book, as well as eminent Malaysians, want to give their views to the Cabinet committee on the book, whether to ban it or not, for the very soul of Malaysia is at stake.” – July 28, 2017.