WHEN the initial Selangor guidelines came out dictating that religious buildings must be 50m from houses, my reaction was truly nonplussed. I would’ve thought it was a brilliant rule to make people walk.

I was hesitant, though, because I honestly thought Malaysians don’t like to walk at all.

Just go for Friday prayers, Sunday mass, or even Friday temple services, and you will notice that everyone will insist on parking as close as possible to the religious building regardless of whether or not it becomes an inconvenience to others.

At some point, some probably wished it was a drive-thru service so they wouldn’t even need to leave the car - or walk.

But then came the problem – this was only a rule limited to non-Muslim houses of worship and Muslim houses.

If we were to talk from an equality angle, in which all houses of worship must have a so-called 50 metre zone of seclusion – or perhaps even a 50m “Green Belt” around them, it wouldn’t be much of an issue.

But no, it only applied to non-Muslim houses of worship, which had to be at least 50 metres from Muslim houses.

The justification over this was that since Malaysia is officially an “Islamic” country, therefore Islam must take top priority and be absolute. This is a falacy, and anybody who knows the history of Malaysia will agree with me.

When did we get stuck in an era where every side in politics – Muslims and non-Muslims alike – must kowtow to religious doctrine?

Who started it? Well, according to one piece in the BBC published in 2011, this started in the 1980s and 1990s, when Islamic credentials joined the political fray, and Malaysians wanted “holier than thou” candidates and government.

We also get a glimpse of the answer in the first three paragraphs of an article published on the Malaysian Bar website in 2005.

Written by Tommy Thomas, it says that during the opening speech of Gerakan Party’s 30th national delegates conference, the prime minister at the time said the following:

“Umno wishes to state loudly that Malaysia is an Islamic country.  This is based on the opinion of ulamaks who had clarified what constituted as Islamic country.  If Malaysia is not an Islamic country because it does not implement the hudud, then there are no Islamic countries in the world.”

Guess who said it? Dr Mahathir.

Thus, from a position of power from the prime minister and all the way down to the local councils, we end up with leaders upon leaders, upon leaders, wanting to make these words ring true through actions, laws and local council regulations.

The issue of development for religious institutions is systemic to the way people think, particularly those in power.

Perhaps the 50m ruling is for the good intentions of avoiding flare ups, or perhaps it could be something more sinister in creating monotonous, mono-religious, monocultural societies, in a supposed multicultural society.

If this happens, society begins to sequester itself, divided by religion, by culture, by education and furthermore within each race, by class.

Years will lead to decades, and bubbles of collective thought and prejudice forms up in each sequestered community.

And that is where we are now.

What was seen in the Selangor guidelines were not an error per se. It was instead the noticing of a regulation that helped get us into the condition we are in today as a nation.

The bigger question that should be asked is this – does such a guideline exist in every state?

Because if there are guidelines in every state which sets a so-called non-Muslim house of worship Green Belt, it should be abolished in the spirit of national unity, regardless of faith.

That would be our opportunity to right a great wrong on the way towards national unity through real harmony, and not merely veiled tolerance of one another. – April 28, 2017.

* Hafidz loves to ruffle feathers and believes in the EA Games tag line of challenging everything. Most times, he represents the Devil’s Advocate on multiple issues.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.