Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Hindus, Buddhists and Toaists will hold special prayers for greater religious freedom amid fears their rights in this Muslim-majority nation are increasingly under threat, an official said Monday.
The prayers will be held in temples and shrines throughout Malaysia this week as part of a campaign by non-Muslim groups to press their plight.
Malaysia is seen as a moderate Muslim-majority nation.
But race relations have been strained by a series of controversial court cases involving the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims.
A letter, released to the media Monday, will also be readout in houses of worship to outline the concerns, a council of major religious groups said.
"We issued one letter simply to get our people to pray for fairness and wisdom ... and hoping the federal constitution is respected and given due weight," council vice president V. Harcharan Singh told AFP.
Sikhs and Christians held similar prayer sessions on the weekend, said the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hindusim and Sikhism.
The council's move comes after a Malaysian court told a Hindu woman last month to go to a sharia or Islamic court to dissolve her marriage with her Muslim convert husband, and work out custody of their children.
The case has raised fears over the rights of non-Muslims, who argue that Malaysia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion and states that sharia courts only apply to Muslims.
Malaysia's civil courts operate parallel to sharia courts for Muslims in areas of personal law, including divorce and child custody.
"Sharia courts are constituted only for people professing the religion of Islam ... Non-Muslims should not be required to go to sharia courts," Singh said.
"We are saying to the government that civil laws should continue to apply to all non-Muslims," he added.
The concerns reflect similar tensions last year, sparked after an ethnic Indian mountaineering hero was buried as a Muslim despite protests from his Hindu wife.
Gerakan, a party in Malaysia's ruling coalition, called Monday for a constitutional court to deal with inter-religious issues, citing growing concern among non-Muslims.
"The government must be brave enough to tackle this problem before things get worse," a Gerakan party chief, Tan Kee Kwong, was quoted as saying in the Star daily.