Aminuddin Yahaya, the deputy president of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA), shot down US president Barack Obama’s comment, saying that the US has a poor “track record” in terms of human rights. — Picture by Zurairi AR

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — US President Barack Obama has no right to ask for equal opportunities for non-Muslims in Malaysia when his own country has an allegedly lacklustre record in treating minority groups there, local Malay-Muslim groups said.

Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali accused US leaders including Obama of having “double-standards” when he said on Sunday Malaysia would not succeed without providing equal opportunities to its non-Muslim community.

“Actually they are so double-standard, this is normal double-standard statement from US leaders,” the leader in the Malay-Muslim right wing group told The Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

He questioned whether Muslims in the US get equal opportunities and equal treatment as other religious groups there, asking: “Does the Muslims get whatever the Christians get (in) budget to build mosques, same like others?”

In the US, the federal and state governments practise a “separation of church and state” based on the First Amendment of the country’s constitution, where no taxpayer’s money is used to build places of worship for any religion.

But federal grants to religious organisations solely for non-religious social work is allowed in the US.

In Malaysia, the government funds the construction of mosques, but has also been reported to provide ad-hoc grants for repairs and upgrading works at temples and churches.

Syed Hassan claimed that Malaysia offers its citizens better rights than the US, saying that many non-Muslims including those of Chinese and Indian ethnicity hold high positions in the Malaysian government.

“Did the Muslims get [equal chances as] other politicians in the (US) state administration? I think Malaysia is better than them, than Obama...They should look at their country first,” he said.

Aminuddin Yahaya, the deputy president of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA), similarly shot down Obama’s comment, saying that the US has a poor “track record” where it allegedly “marginalised” the native Americans and immigrants, while also attacking Arab countries.

“They have no authority to say anything as far as human rights is concerned,” the leader of the Islamist group told The Malay Mail Online today.

Aminuddin gave examples ― ranging from the economy, education, housing to places of worship - to back his view that non-Muslims in Malaysia were not being discriminated against.

Malaysia marks all the religious celebrations and Kuala Lumpur has far more places of worship for non-Muslims compared to the Muslims, he said.

“If you look at number of mosques and suraus for Muslims compared to the non-Muslims’ churches and temples, in Kuala Lumpur, the non-Muslims’ prayer places is three times more than the Muslims’ prayer places,” he said, claiming that the figure was 1,073 against 277.

When commenting on the alleged oppression of non-Muslims, Aminuddin attributed the rising interfaith tension to the non-Muslims’ interference in the Muslims’ practise of their faith.

“If you look at the history of the country, have you ever heard of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists being attacked by Muslims or being interfered with by religious authorities? Recently what happened in the country regarding ‘Allah’, hudud, marriage, they are purely Muslim issues.

“When the non-Muslims started to interfere, getting involved in our religion, that's why the issues come up in a very tense manner,” he said, referring to the disputes over the Arabic word for God, “Allah” and the strict Islamic penal code, hudud.

While acknowledging that the statements made by Muslim NGOs can be “quite harsh” at times, Aminuddin said that the groups were merely being defensive and did not intend to attack other religions.

“We never attack other religions, we are defending ourselves, there's no offensive statements,” he said, later voicing suspicion at the local Christian community’s insistence to use the word “Allah”.

Aminuddin claimed that statistics showed that Muslims and Malays occupy suburban areas and villages, while the Chinese and non-Muslims stay in “posh” areas and in the city centre.

Both Aminuddin and Syed Hassan said that many buildings and businesses were owned by non-Muslims, with the Isma leader also saying that non-Muslim businessmen have benefited from projects and opportunities offered by the government.

Citing a recent police recruitment drive, Aminuddin said the government also offers non-Muslims jobs in the civil service, adding that Malays allegedly receive only 40 per cent of government scholarships.

Both Aminuddin and Syed Hassan felt that Obama could have been misinformed about the situation of the non-Muslims here, saying that he had only listened to a small group of people.

Aminuddin said the 10 representatives from the Civil Society chosen to meet Obama on Sunday were from “liberal” groups that he viewed as “proxies of America”.

“These people who met him are not representative of the whole spectrum of the country,” he said.

Muslims make up 61.3 per cent of the Malaysian population, followed by Buddhists at 19.8 per cent, and Christians at 9.2 per cent, according to the latest census data from 2010.

The Malays, who make up the largest ethnic group in Malaysia, are also defined as Muslims according to the Federal Constitution.