The police told the Bar Council association of lawyers to abort the forum on Saturday after more than 300 demonstrators rallied outside the conference hall and threatened to storm the event.

The forum was supposed to be a rare public platform to examine how Malaysian families are caught in legal conflicts if one spouse in a marriage converts to Islam. The protesters claimed it reflected unfair demands by non-Muslim minorities for religious equality.

The BC could have organized the forum with the help from Islamic societies and governmental institutions that handles conversions such as the Perkim which is a para-statal body financed by the government to look after the affairs of converts in the country. Organizing the forum on its own amid the furor from Muslims and playing down the importance of the anti-forum demostrators only shows how adamant the BC want to be.

Government leaders insisted that Malaysia was not ready for freewheeling dialogues about religion that could undermine multicultural tolerance and social peace. Opposition parties, members of a loose coalition the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is divided on the issue.

The Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) opposes such forums and warned the BC that it was going against the will of the Muslim communities in Malaysia.

The actions of the Bar Council were also widely condemned by the Umno which called on the non-Muslim lawyers not to play with the ‘religious fire’ since that could spark violent reprisals from Muslims.

The BC is one of the rare organizations that can help bridge the gap between the PAS and its nemesis the United Malays National Organization (Umno).

The PAS has recently dismissed talks about joining the Umno in a broad pro-Islamic coalition aimed at salvaging Malay political power and ensuring Malay unity in the majority Muslim dominated nation.

Offending the Muslims is not what the BC seems to be worried about since it seems to have a hidden agenda, that of ensuring a split within the PR. The Pas has toned down its claims of establishing an Islamic state in Malaysia and has decided to give all its support to Anwar Ibrahim the former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Party Keadilaan Rakyat (PKR). But the Pas feels betrayed that the PKR is not able to stop the surge in attacks against Islam coming from civil societies like the BC.

The PAS would surely expect some restraint from civil forces that are against Islam and political parties that are not in agreement with the Islamic views, this in return for the PAS’s sacrifice in letting down its own supporters and members by agreeing to join the opposition group.

The PAS would have been of the feeling that a toning down of the anti-Islamic rhetoric from non-Muslim supporters of the PR could help the opposition coalition topple the Barisan National (BN) regime, as promised by Anwar Ibrahim after the 8^th March general elections.

It is clear however that the BC’s own agenda of attacking Islam and exposing what it calls the legal ‘ills’ of conversion to Islam would give the PAS the frozen feet and would probably force it to reconsider its allegiance to the PR.

With the BC acting like a state in the state and showing off its powers to march against threats and defiance by Muslims to curb on its anti-Islamic agenda, the PR does not stand much chances of winning the Muslim majority in its attempt to form a new government.

The actions of the BC may also reflect on the Permatang Pauh by-elections where Anwar Ibrahim is to stand candidate against an Umno opponent. It is already been said that the PAS in Penang, where the by-elections will be held, will not help the PKR in its bid to bring Anwar Ibrahim back to the Parliament.

If the PAS was to campaign undercover for the Umno and against the PKR leader, the results of the by-elections will be much different from what it is expected to be. It is probable though that the PAS highest leadership will give their support to Anwar Ibrahim but this may be conditional that Islam is not attacked unnecessarily by pro-PKR civil rights movements.

The question that many asked after the Bar Council’s show of force was why organize such a forum when the race issues and religious issues in Malaysia are currently the two most elements forces in the country.

It would have been much more trivial if the BC had organized the forum with the assistance from Muslim leaders or government Muslim organizations like the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS) or the JAKIM. There are also the Mufti offices in Selangor and in other states that could have guided the BC on when and how to organize a forum on this tricky issue.

The forum was aimed at discussing the impact on non-Muslim families when a spouse converts to Islam. Problems have cropped up repeatedly in the past few years, predominantly over custody. The Muslim parent is allowed, by law, to convert the minor child to Islam without the consent of the non-Muslim parent.

It appears though that race and religious issues may become the roller coasters that could destroy an opposition coalition that has just begun to gain in maturity and were on track to derail the current government’s plans to stay in power until 2013.

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written by why, August 11, 2008

if everything also sensitive then until when also we cant solved this problem and until when also we cant live in a peaceful malaysia(even after 10000 years later). come on guys think of it for a better tomorrow.

Put the "Ketuanan" away lets be a real friendship between Malays, chinese,indian and other races.lets stop pretend be friends like the past to avoid conflicts.

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