In Malaysia, the religious landscape is delicately balanced. Around 60% of Malaysians are Muslims with the other 40% being divided among Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians (9%), Taoists, Confucianists and several other minority faiths.
In spite of a constitutional statement providing freedom of religion, Islam in Malaysia — as the religion of the indigenous Malay population — is protected in theory and in practice. Minority faiths are banned by law from attempting to convert Muslims; in contrast, laws and government institutions actively facilitate the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Such Muslim outreach is driven by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM), an arm of the Federal Government.
If a Muslim converts...
In such a context, claims of Muslims converting to Christianity are likely to attract a vigorous response from Muslim authorities. I interviewed Dr Ng Kam Weng, Director of the Kairos Research Centre in Petaling Jaya and leading Christian scholar and researcher into inter-religious relations in Malaysia.
He described the sensitivity of the issue of Muslim conversion to Christianity: ‘Several years ago the Islamic Mufti or legal authority in the state of Perak claimed that hundreds of thousands of Muslims had converted to Christianity. That almost caused a riot, only prevented by the professionalism of the police.’
Such figures appear to have been the product of the rumour mill among Muslim activists. The matter bubbles to the surface from time to time, triggering a spate of concerned articles in the Muslim media. Dr Ng says the question of Muslim conversion to Christianity is surrounded by uncertainty, and figures of large numbers of converts are highly unlikely.
In response to a question whether Muslims have converted through direct Christian proselytization efforts, Dr Ng replied that he was ‘not aware of any church organizing a programme to proselytize Muslims, much less directly converting them into the church. The churches are so intimidated by the laws that prohibit proselytization; leaders are very cautious because they are vulnerable.’
Alternative routes to Christ
Nevertheless, stories of individual converts do emerge from time to time, such as the case of Lina Joy that preoccupied alternative media sources in recent years. Dr Ng explained: ‘From the way the government is reacting so irrationally, some things may be happening that church leaders don’t know about. If there are Muslims who become Christians, it’s not because of the church leaders.’
He clarified: ‘It’s more likely that in the globalized internet world we don’t know how Muslims on their own gain access to information. And thereby, with the loosening of traditional authority and relationships — it’s a matter of reasonable conjecture that there could be pockets of such Muslim converts [to Christianity] around’.
Converts to Islam
In stark contrast to the extreme sensitivity about any suggestion of conversion away from Islam, the Malaysian Government facilitates and celebrates conversions to Islam.
The government news agency, Bernama, reported on December 1 that JAKIM would undertake the launch next year of e-muallaf, an official database of converts to Islam.
The JAKIM Deputy Director of Human Development, Datuk Razali Shahabudin, in opening the recent two-day National-Level Muslim Converts Convention in Kota Baharu, cited the figure of 105,079 converts to Islam up to 2012.
Datuk Razali explained the purpose of the database as follows: ‘After this, no one can deceive the Islamic Development Department and the database will also ensure that the converts will not be overlooked in the Islamic missionary programme’.
Further in his speech, Datuk Razali articulated openly the concerns among Muslims of conversion in the opposite direction: ‘I hope Muslim converts will hold strong to Islamic teachings and not be influenced by the persuasion of people of other faiths who promise and give them aid in cash and kind, but with an ulterior motive for them to leave Islam’.
Uneven playing field
I sought comment on this announcement from Dr Ng Kam Weng. He pointed out the uneven playing field that characterises the religious stage in Malaysia. ‘Now we hear from the horse’s mouth that they have converted over 100,000 people to Islam! And this is only the official database. To my Muslim friends who say that Christians are surreptitiously confusing Muslims, I want to ask ‘who is converting whom?’’
