Rahman explained that care must be taken with ideas that could challenge religious orthodoxy in Malaysia, especially Islam. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Liberalism is not a negative trait but it must be managed well to avoid upsetting Malaysians who are generally conservative, a federal minister has said.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said while liberal traits were easily integrated into areas such as business and economy, introducing these to Malaysian society could anger the conservative Malays and Muslims in particular.

“By definition it’s not that bad, but you must understand that this is still a conservative society.

“Majority of Malaysians are still conservative especially the Malays and the Muslims in the rural areas, so we have to take into consideration their feelings and their sensitivities,” he told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

In particular, he explained that care must be taken with ideas that could challenge religious orthodoxy in Malaysia, especially Islam.

Malaysia’s religious authorities have long derided liberalism and pluralism, with Friday sermons nationwide claiming a conspiracy by “enemies of Islam” to manipulate Muslims through ideas like secularism, socialism, feminism and positivism, in addition to the two.

Islam is also highly-regulated in Malaysia, where only one school — Sunni Islam — is officially sanctioned; competing schools and even interpretations that differ from Malaysian authorities’ are considered “deviant”.

One example is Muslim intellectual Kassim Ahmad, who is being prosecuted for insulting Islam by allegedly questioning the use of “hadith” to interpret the Quran.

“Religion is conservative and you got liberal minds interpreting religious behaviours considered to be conservative, this is where we have to manage it,” Abdul Rahman said.

Much of the resistance towards liberalism in Malaysia is underpinned by claims that the ideology will be used to erode Muslim faith and foist non-heterosexual behaviour on the country.

This can be observed by how religious authorities and groups regularly conflate liberalism with unconventional sexualities and sexual behaviours.

For example, liberalism is often dubbed a front for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

On May 14, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Islam and its followers are still being tested by the threat of liberalism, citing as example the case of Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, the Malaysian math scholar recently convicted for possession of child pornography in the UK.

Najib said liberalism and advocates of liberal ideas have been posing “tough” challenges to Muslims here and could even end up ruining the Muslim identity.

Despite how liberalism is treated and interpreted in Malaysia, Rahman insisted that Malaysia has enough room to accommodate both the left- and right-leaning, at least when it comes to fashion.

“I think Malaysia is one country in the world where you have a little bit of everything. If you want to be conservative in this country you can do it... you know, practising your religion, becoming pious, have a very strict religious observance, fine, you can do that, you can live happily ever after.

“At the same time, if you are a person who feels that you want be a little bit moderate, liberal in the way you do things, in the way you dress and things like that, you can…it’s your personal choice and this is great about Malaysia,” he asserted.