S'wak to make English official language alongside BM - Malaysiakini

S'wak to make English official language alongside BM - Malaysiakini

Jakim should be abolished, says ex-DPM's son

 Posted on 10 November 2015 - 12:50pm newsdesk@thesundaily.com


 Print KUALA LUMPUR: The eldest son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) should be abolished. Tawfik Ismail said Jakim seemed to serve no other purpose than to intervene in the personal lives of Malaysians, and has over the years been intruding into the private lives of Malaysian Muslims.


 "I think Jakim should be abolished. I don't think Jakim should exist. What is the government afraid of? You have 13 muftis with 13 different fatwas and 13 different ways of approaching it (religion). "What is the purpose of Jakim? Halal certificates? That can go to the health ministries, trade ministry. What else does Jakim do? Print the Quran? We have a communications minister," he said during an interview with The Malaysian Insider in conjunction with the release of Drifting into Politics, a collection of his late father's writings during the nation's formative years, edited by Tawfik and academic Ooi Kee Beng.


Naysayers may argue that Jakim is needed to "protect" the sanctity of Islam, but Tawfik, 64, was quick to point out that the Agong, sultans, imams (Muslim scholars) and muftis already filled that void. "Jakim is an advisory body to the government, but constitutionally it really has no role. Islam is the province of the sultan of the state, it has nothing to do with the government."


"National integration in this country is the biggest challenge. How do you integrate the nation if you are going around this route of looking for faults among Muslims?" he asked. He said that during the time of Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, only a small religious department existed in the Prime Minister's Department. There was no minister of religious affairs, and no national outcry over the fact that his father, Tun Dr Ismail, owned a dog. "My dad had a Boxer, and, before that, an Alsatian," recalled Tawfik.


He said all this changed after former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over and his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, tried to infuse their definition of "Islamic values" into every aspect of Malaysian life. This was done to counter the growing influence of PAS, which had never been an issue during the early years of Independence, said Tawfik. As a result, Malaysia today is now facing "Arabisation", with society eschewing its Nusantara roots in favour of appropriating the culture of the Middle East, he said. "We seem to be delighting in coming up with creative ways of 'speaking' Arabic in this country."


Tawfik said it was for this reason that Drifting Into Politics may not sit very well with Putrajaya. "Certain things my father says here are quite interesting. "For example, he said whenever Tunku had a meeting at his house with a group of people ... occasionally one or two of them would go into the kitchen and have a drink of brandy and whisky, then come back and join in.


He admits this. "Yes, it's an open secret, but it's never been in writing by a leader," chuckled Tawfik. His father died in 1973 at the age of 57, after just three years of serving as deputy prime minister. Nov 4 was his 100th birth anniversary. With such records in existence, no matter how it tried to Islamise Malaysia, Tawfik said, the government would never be able to rewrite history nor erase its roots.


[source: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1606694