Research Article
The Call for a Secular Government in Muslim Malaysia: The Rise of a Social Movement of Intelligentsia Critiquing an Islamic Malaysia and Fighting for Equal Rights for all Citizens
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.17-12-2019.2296089, author={Benjamin Pwee}, title={The Call for a Secular Government in Muslim Malaysia: The Rise of a Social Movement of Intelligentsia Critiquing an Islamic Malaysia and Fighting for Equal Rights for all Citizens}, proceedings={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Science Education in Industrial Revolution 4.0, ICONSEIR, December 17th,2019, Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={ICONSEIR}, year={2020}, month={6}, keywords={malaysia politics intelligentsia islam shariah constitutional law}, doi={10.4108/eai.17-12-2019.2296089} }- Benjamin Pwee
Year: 2020
The Call for a Secular Government in Muslim Malaysia: The Rise of a Social Movement of Intelligentsia Critiquing an Islamic Malaysia and Fighting for Equal Rights for all Citizens
ICONSEIR
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.17-12-2019.2296089
Abstract
Over the past few decades, there has been growing calls by various sectors of Malaysia’s minorities, for equal rights and treatment by the Malaysia Government as citizens under Malaysia’s Federal Constitution. These groups range from gender-based, to race-based, to religion-based. They share the same concerns about the Government and Shariah Courts extending the application and reach of Islamic laws to non-Muslims, and the unfair and unequal treatment of non-Muslims based on Islamic law and not on Constitutional law. Many of these take the form of social movements, and are social because they are defined by a shared community identity based on gender, race or religion. However, there is an increasingly visible social movement of intelligentsia that share a common appeal to Constitutional law, and not to a shared gender, race or religious identity. These include academics Dr Kam-Weng Ng, Dr Helen Ting, and Dr Maszlee Malik, and Attorney-General Tommy Thomas