Malaysia scraps guidelines for Muslims at events of other faiths after backlash
Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and non-Muslim religious groups have criticised the ‘unnecessary’ rules
Malaysia’s government has dropped a controversial proposal to limit the engagement of Muslims in non-Islamic religious events, after a wave of criticism from Selangor’s sultan and others of official interference encroaching in daily public life.
Issues of race and religion have come into sharp focus in recent years, driven by a Malay-nationalist political movement looking to lock in the Malay-Muslim vote.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration faced a barrage of criticism last week after it proposed guidelines for government oversight on interactions between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The guidelines would have given the government a direct say on how Muslims can interact with non-Muslims, especially over events held in non-Muslim places of worship such as weddings and funerals.
The government said the measures would foster unity and prevent misunderstandings from an Islamic perspective. But they sparked immediate pushback.
The sharpest rebuke came on Saturday from Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, who said the guidelines had triggered unnecessary polemic that threatened to shake the country’s racial and religious harmony.
