The National Consultative Council on Religious Harmony (NCCRH) proposed by Yayasan 1Malaysia is not the same as the Inter-Faith Commission alluded to by Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyuddin Yassin. (New Sunday Times, 31 January 2010).

The NCCRH hopes to bring together civil society groups and the State in a common endeavour to protect and promote inter-religious harmony. This is why we have suggested that the Prime Minister should chair the NCCRH. He will be in the driver’s seat.  The NCCRH should focus on making decisions through a consultative process that will involve all stakeholders.

Groups and individuals who are critical of the NCCRH nonetheless recognize the importance of dialogue among the various religious communities. If dialogue is acceptable, why is structuring that dialogue a problem for that is what the NCCRH is all about? It is essentially an attempt to establish a formal mechanism at the highest level of Malaysian society that will enable representatives of different religions and other groups and individuals to talk to one another behind closed doors in order to sort out some of the challenges of a religious nature that face the nation.

If such a mechanism existed, the Allah controversy may not have gone to Court. Since the government and the Catholic Church would be represented in the proposed NCCRH, they could have resolved the issue through discussion. A number of other contentious inter-religious issues that have long plagued the nation could also have been settled through a formal dialogue mechanism that carries the weight of authority.

Such a mechanism has become imperative for two reasons. One, urban Malaysia has become much more multi-religious in the last 30 years, and this has resulted in a degree of interaction among people of different religious persuasions. Inevitably, situations of conflict arise involving matters of faith that have to be resolved on the basis of lucid principles rather than through ad-hoc, random responses. Two, since the eighties religious consciousness has become much more pronounced among all religious communities. This consciousness often expresses itself through the assertion of forms, symbols, rituals and other such identity markers that separate one religion from the other. In a multi-religious society, the assertion of identity has to be mediated through an authoritative channel of communication and consultation that emphasises compromise and consensus. Otherwise, identity motivated religious emotions may get out of hand and threaten the peace and harmony that prevails at the moment. Hence the need for the NCCRH.

There are elements within the religious bureaucracy, supported by individuals in politics, the media and academia who fear that if a body like the NCCRH is created, Islam will be placed on the same level as the other religions and this will affect its status in the country. At the very outset, Yayasan 1Malaysia had emphasized that the NCCRH will function within the framework of the Federal Constitution that recognizes Islam as the religion of the Federation with all its other constitutional safeguards. Besides, the Executive will be at the helm of the NCCRH.

Baseless fears should not be allowed to hamper the creation of a mechanism for inter-religious dialogue that is vital for the survival of our nation today.