Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysia was caught Friday in a debate over religious freedom for Muslims and minorities alike in two separate controversies that could stain its reputation as a progressive Islamic country.
In one dispute, the government forbade a state-backed Islamic group from sending volunteer squads to thwart public cuddling, and in the other a group of Cabinet ministers asked the prime minister to rein in a powerful Islamic court whose rulings cannot be appealed by non-Muslims.
Analysts say the controversies must be put to rest quickly by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi so that all religious communities are satisfied.
"The nation wants him to act," said Chandra Muzaffar, a well known Muslim social commentator of Indian descent. "We cannot sweep these things under the carpet. These issues are complex and they seem to be the consequence of a certain mind-set prevalent within the religious bureaucracy."
The bigger predicament facing Abdullah is the rare show of force by the 10 non-Muslim ministers in his Cabinet.
Nine of them gave him a memorandum Wednesday -- the 10th minister is out of the country -- calling for a review of religion-related laws to protect the rights of minorities, especially concerning rules on religious conversions, which appear to favor Muslims.
The nine Hindu, Buddhist and Christian ministers also asked him to review a provision in the constitution that says civil courts have no jurisdiction over the Islamic Sharia Court, the New Straits Times newspaper and national news agency Bernama reported Friday.
Meanwhile, a state-backed Islamic group was forced Friday by the government to disband a newly created volunteer patrol squad tasked with preventing Muslims from committing vice, after the plan drew criticism from Muslims worried about invasion of privacy.
The 75-member volunteer group was supposed to monitor Muslim couples in public and report them if found to be holding hands, kissing in public or showing affection in an "indecent" manner.
Abdullah's government said no such group would be allowed anywhere in the country.
Chandra, the commentator, said the two controversies do not so far not seem to have seriously hurt Malaysia's moderate image, because religious communities still had their fundamental liberties intact.
Religion, race and ethnicity are extremely sensitive issues in Malaysia, where the Malay Muslims form 60 percent of the country's 26 million people. Chinese and Indians, who are mostly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, form the rest.
The government is a coalition led by Abdullah's Malay party, known by its acronym UMNO, which has the support of Indian and Chinese parties.
The minority parties rarely question UMNO. But the ministers' plea for a review of the constitution reflects mounting frustration among minorities following a number of religion-related disputes where the Muslim point of view prevailed.
The ministers' memorandum was triggered by the burial last month of a Hindu-born soldier, Maniam Moorthy, by Islamic authorities, who took custody of his body saying he had secretly converted to Islam in 2004 without telling his family.
His conversion was confirmed by the Sharia Court. Moorthy's widow could not appeal in the Sharia Court because she is not a Muslim, and the Civil High Court rejected her plea, saying it has no jurisdiction over a Sharia decision.
The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and Islamic laws are applied only on Muslims through the Sharia Court. But the ministers and civil rights groups say such legal loopholes that left Moorthy's widow without justice need to be plugged.
Separately, on Thursday, the Sharia Court fined a senator who divorced his wife through a mobile phone text message.
Delivering his sentence, Judge Zainor Rashid Hassin said when senator Kamaruddin Ambok, 52, married he went through several Islamic rituals, as mandated by law. "Now, why can't you divorce someone properly as well?" asked the judge.