Cenbet co-president Gan Ping Sieu says the government must provide some answers on this issue as it has caused much embarrassment to the country on the international stage.
“Akyol’s ordeal, which he recounted in the New York Times, has also raised questions about whether Jawi has overstepped its boundaries,” Gan said in a statement, referring to the Federal Territory religious department.
“This includes whether Jawi is empowered to question foreigners, police lectures and even asking the immigration department to stop people from leaving the country.”
Gan pointed out how such actions instigated by Jawi had contradicted that of Prophet Muhammad, based on the teachings in Islam.
“This is a stark contrast from the sense of inclusiveness shown by Prophet Muhammad during His time as well as the period when the Islamic civilisation was at its heights.
“If we continue down this road of extremism, we will one day reach a point of no return, as exemplified like some countries,” he said, adding that it also raises doubts as to Malaysia’s commitment to being a moderate, progressive country.
“If anything, we seem to be sliding down the path of orthodox radicalism.”
Last Monday, Akyol had gone to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to board a flight to Rome via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight at 11.35pm. However, he was detained by immigration officers.
Akyol had been in Malaysia on a lecture tour organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).
IRF director Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa was reported to have said that Akyol was summoned by Jawi for questioning over a charge of “teaching Islam without credentials”, following which the religious authorities pressured the organisers of a forum featuring him to call the event off.
Akyol was not able to meet up with Jawi and decided to leave the country as he had no further engagements.
According to Jawi, Akyol was arrested based on a “complaint from the public” over a speech he made at a roundtable discussion titled “Does freedom of conscience open the floodgate to apostasy?” at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
In his NYT column, Akyol said he was treated well throughout his arrest and interrogation, but added that the incident was proof that there was “a major problem” in Islam today, with “a passion to impose religion, rather than merely proposing it, a mindset that most Christians left behind at the time of the Spanish Inquisition”.
Recalling the session with Jawi, when he was taken to the shariah court to address the charges made against him, Akyol had said a female officer “proudly” told him that “all of this was being done to protect religion”.
According to Cenbet, Akyol’s treatment by the authorities is only part of a series of warnings about how radicalism has crept deep into the fabric of our society, including in the bureaucracy.
“The recent furore over issues like the “Better Beer Festival 2017”, the ‘Muslims-only’ launderettes in Muar and Perlis, the segregation of cups in a school in Hulu Langat and the crackdown on a planned atheist gathering, are signs that point to the deepening radicalisation in our midst.
“As a group that promotes moderation, we are deeply concerned,” Gan said.
He then called for politicians from both sides of the divide to stop harping on communal and religious sentiments solely for political gains.
“Doing so will only spark a political one upmanship that will lead to a downward spiral of the ties that bind this country since independence.
“Much damage has been inflicted. Now is the time everyone must put the country first.”