PUTRAJAYA has itself to blame if atheism is on the rise in Malaysia, an opposition lawmaker said today.

Khalid Samad (Amanah-Shah Alam) said the government’s “corrupt actions” and use of religion as a tool to justify its wrongdoing were reasons why people lost their faith.

“People leave religion when they see that it is being used as a tool by a government that is corrupt.

“People see that religion is no longer relevant nor does it bring good to the people, and because of this, the young are disputing religion,” he said at a press conference in Parliament today.

Earlier in the Dewan Rakyat, Khalid and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki got into a spat over atheism when Khalid had asked the latter in a supplementary question if atheism could be curbed by addressing corruption such as scandals involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

Asyraf had been answering a question by Siti Mariah Mahmud (Amanah-Kota Raja) who had asked about Putrajaya’s efforts to curb atheist thinking among Malaysians.

“In the context of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution, freedom of religion does not mean the freedom not to believe. It is unconstitutional,” the deputy minister said.

He said not having a religion was also against the Rukunegara which upheld “Belief in God” as one of its tenets.

Asyraf said the government could take legal action against those spreading atheism as it was an affront to Islam.

He said the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have reported to Facebook the existence of such groups spreading atheism, but the company would not block the groups as it was against its policy. – November 23, 2017.