NGO groups warn Malaysia risks racial, religious polarization

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) - Racial and religious disputes are threatening to unravel decades of efforts to nurture multicultural unity in Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's most politically stable nations, leading nongovernment groups warned.

More than 30 think tanks and human rights, economic and religious organizations endorsed an "Independence Statement" issued by the Center for Public Policy Studies late Thursday that called for political, financial and social reforms.

"Recently the state of unity has been fraying at the edges," the statement said. "Ethnic, linguistic and religious divides have deepened, causing genuine pain and hurt to many in our nation."

The groups urged the government to establish an independent panel to review laws and policies that might undermine harmony and investigate complaints of ethnic and religious discrimination.

The call came ahead of Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain on Aug. 31.

Ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people, with ethnic Chinese and Indians of Christian, Buddhist and Hindu faiths forming most of the remainder.

Malaysian authorities have repeatedly stressed that the government protects the religious rights of minorities. Officials in the Prime Minister's Department, which is responsible for national unity programs, could not immediately be reached to comment on the statement.

Concerns about religious rights have mounted over a recent string of court verdicts in inter-religious disputes that favored Muslims.

In one of the most prominent cases, Islamic officials forcibly separated a Hindu from his Muslim wife of 21 years and their six children. He eventually won custody of his children, but the couple could not live together legally.

"Due to several high profile court cases regarding religious freedoms, we see an increasing polarization of Malaysians that is chipping away at the national unity block that our leaders have strived so hard to build since independence," Ramon Navaratnam, a Malaysian socio-economic expert, said in the Center for Public Policy Studies' statement.

Malaysia has prided itself on decades of peace since 1969, when some 200 people were killed in riots sparked by Malay frustration over the economic clout of ethnic Chinese. The violence spurred the creation of an affirmative action program _ still in effect _ that gives Malays privileges in government jobs, contracts and education to help them close the wealth gap with the Chinese.

The nongovernment groups' statement indirectly called for such policies to be gradually curtailed, saying discrimination based on ethnicity in the public and private sector "should be discouraged and eventually eliminated."

"Programs and initiatives to redress poverty imbalances must emphasize a 'weaning off' dependency on government aid by building a generation of independent workers, small businessmen, entrepreneurs and professionals," the statement added.