IN Shah Alam, Selangor’s capital modelled after an Islamic city, some residents say they don’t understand the fuss over controversial preacher Zamihan Mat Zin who supported Muslim-only launderettes and criticised the Johor royalty over it.

“I agree with launderettes for Muslims only. I don’t want to comment on what Zamihan said about other races being unclean. But there is a need for Muslim-only launderettes. It is the same concept as having plates or cutlery specially for Muslims and non-Muslims.

“If there were such services around here, I would choose them,” said 26-year-old engineer Nurul Zahidah.

Another woman, Zarina, 50, said Zamihan was right. 

“If it were me, I would choose a Muslim-only launderette. It is the right of the owner. It’s the same with eateries, such as Chinese or Indian places that we don’t go to because they are specially for them.

“So, what is the difference with Muslim-only launderettes? To me this is about choice in business,” she said.

Such views have brought the role of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) in curbing extremism into question, more so with Zamihan, one of its preachers, now in the limelight.

Jakim is “indifferent” to views that polarised Malaysian society further, Islamic academics said.

International Islamic University (IIU) Quran and Sunnah Department head Dr Adli Musa said Jakim should have acted against Zamihan before the sultans of Johor and Selangor made their move.

“What the sultans had done to censor and stop Zamihan was right. Jakim should have done that before (they did). The department looks like it did nothing to address the issue,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Zamihan, who was seconded from Jakim to the Kajang Prison Department as a religious officer, had criticised Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar’s ban on Muslim-only launderettes in the state. He also made racist remarks against non-Muslims, saying that they were unclean and impure.

Sultan Ibrahim slammed the preacher openly in a speech at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia’s 17th convocation last Saturday and decreed that Jakim was no longer welcomed to advise Johor on Islamic matters.

“His (Zamihan) style is very arrogant, as if he is the only one who is right and he mocked other races. I think he is an empty tin can with no brains,” said Sultan Ibrahim, who declared that discriminatory practices leading to prejudice among the different races have no place in Johor.

In earlier comments after photos of the launderette in Muar went viral on social media, the sultan said Johor was “not a Taliban state”.

Selangor’s ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah also revoked Zamihan’s accreditation to preach in the state. The ceramah in which he criticised the Johor sultan was delivered in a Selangor mosque.

The Selangor religious council is also investigating him for criticising the royal institution in his ceramah.

Big budget for Jakim

Jakim is one of the best-funded federal agencies, with a budget from the Prime Minister’s Department that was around RM800 million in 2013 and 2014, RM819 million in 2015, and RM724.6 million in 2016. 

It has requested a larger budget of RM1 billion on grounds that it needed to combat “extremist ideologies” which it identified as the Islamic State, liberalism and pluralism, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyles.

The department was set up in 1997 after the Islamic Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department was upgraded and placed under a minister.

A Jakim spokesman said the huge budget is because its tasks included developing Islamic policies, issuing halal certification, media and maintaining Islamic centres like mosques and Quran academies.

“Jakim has a research division. It spends money on halal technology.

“It handles religious teachers nationwide and has the Al-Hijrah television company which explains Jakim’s policies, mosques, Darul Quran and others.

“Expenses increase when staff allowances are revised. Last year, we increased the allowance for 15,000 imam and 33,000 religious and Fardu Ain teachers nationwide,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A large part of Jakim’s funds are also spend on efforts to control “akidah” (faith) and to give explanations to combat heresy and extremism; allocations for the Federal Territories’ Islamic Department; and proselytising Islam in Sabah and Sarawak.

Jakim also runs the Malaysian Islamic Training Institute (ILIM) that trains state and federal government officers on Islam, and the Darul Quran Institute that serves as a higher education centre for Muslim missionaries and the hafiz and hafiza (those who have memorised the Quran).

All this makes Jakim’s role a huge one, yet it is powerless when it comes to implementing Islamic law in the states, said another IIU professor, Najibah Mohd Zin. It only has such power in the Federal Territory.

The Johor sultan has the power and was not wrong to cut ties with Jakim, since Islam in the states is under the jurisdiction of the respective Malay rulers.

“The sultan has the power and right to severe ties with Jakim. However, it is good to have some link (between the state and federal authorities) to keep both parties on the same page.

“Jakim is tasked by the federal government to coordinate policies. It has no power. If Jakim wants to make recommendations, like on legal matters, it is still up to the state authority to decide,” said Najibah who consults for Jakim’s shariah judiciary department.

Many Zamihans out there

With so much resources at its disposal, Adli said Jakim should be ensuring that Islam in Malaysia promotes moderation and racial harmony, since Prime Minister Najib Razak himself is promoting Malaysia as a moderate Islamic country to the world.

“The Home Ministry and the National Security Council have mechanisms to handle extremism. But we are talking about extremists against multiculturalism.

“Najib himself tries to demonstrate wassatiyah (moderation). Why are Jakim staff not doing the same? Jakim needs to monitor and take action against its own staff (when they project religious extremism),” he said.

Another Islamic researcher, Dr Maszlee Malik, said he was worried about the influence of people who think like Zamihan and his organisation, Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Aswaja), of which he is president.

He said the sultans and the Council of Rulers should be “harsher” in curbing Aswaja and the parochial culture and religious fanaticism that run alongside it.

“Frankly, I am worried about his type of interpretation of Islam and those who agree with him,” said the assistant professor at IIU’s Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science.

“Try imagining how far he and those like him will take their racial bigotry. It is not about one Zamihan, but about parochial and religious extremism,” he said. – October 19, 2017.