Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - A TOP religious official dismissed a request from Malaysia's Chinese community to build its own mosques fearing segregation of the country's Muslims, a report said yesterday.
Abdul Hamid Othman, the religious adviser to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, called on the government to disregard such requests as there were sufficient mosques in the country for all Muslims, the New Straits Times daily reported.
"If this is allowed by the authorities, I am afraid it will lead to disunity and segregate Muslims in the country," he said.
Hamid said the request by Chinese Muslims for their own mosques was unthinkable and carried wide political connotations.
"Now they want their own mosques, the next time around they will be asking for leaders to represent their ethnic groups," he said.
Danial Hakim Boey, a Chinese-Muslim who has been trying to build a Chinese mosque here, said the issue of building a mosque with Chinese architecture had been misinterpreted by the authorities.
"We just want a Chinese-designed mosque. There is no reason to have only Chinese going to the mosque, that is too partisan," Boey said.
"Islam is, after all, for everybody, so we can have any design and it should reflect the universality of the religion," he said.
Boey, a practising Muslim for 13 years, chairs the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Community in central Selangor state, where a majority of the country's 60,000 Chinese Muslims reside.
Boey pointed out that Indian Muslims in Malaysia had their own mosque buildings which reflected their culture.
"At the end of the day, we all pray in Arabic. We are not trying to change anything," he said.
Boey said there was an underlying notion that Islam in Malaysia belonged to the Malays, who are defined as Muslims in the constitution.
"Islam is not a religion reserved for Arabs or just Malays, it is for everybody," he said.
"Confusion arises when some Muslims who lack understanding of Islam give a wrong interpretation," he added.
Boey's perception echoes that of an outspoken young Muslim cleric in Malaysia, who has said the Chinese should be allowed to build their own mosques and to preach in their own language.
"Malays assume they are the only pure Muslims, although Chinese Muslims may have stronger faith," Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying in February this year.