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Stopping Santa

Stopping Santa

Author:
Publication: The Wall Street Journal
Date: June 30, 2006

The Christmas shopping season may be months away, but Islamic clerics have already struck an early blow against the festivities in Malaysia this year.

A recent edict from the National Fatwa Council warned Malaysia's Muslim majority not "to join in the celebration of the festivals of other religions." That means no Santa hats, Christmas trees or other kinds of fun when December rolls around. Or, for that matter, no more Lion Dances at Chinese New Year -- another target of the clerics' wrath.

If all this sounds more like Saudi Arabia or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than multicultural Malaysia, you're not far off the mark. Malaysia is a secular state where, although Islam is the official religion, the country's Buddhists, Christians and others have generally been free to practice their own religions. Holidays are a shared occasion. Malaysians have even created their own festival known as Kongsi Raya, which marks both Chinese New Year and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Kongsi Raya is a primary target of the hard-line clerics, who are outraged at the heresy of so many of the country's 15 million Muslims sharing an Islamic holiday with nonbelievers. Although the National Fatwa Council is the highest body of Muslim clerics in Malaysia, its edicts don't automatically have the force of law, even in the Islamic courts that exist alongside the regular justice system. That means there's probably little danger of anyone being jailed for celebrating Christmas.

But supporters of the country's multicultural heritage have plenty else to worry about. The opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) has called for the death penalty for those who renounce their Muslim faith. And Hindus protested in Kuala Lumpur last week over the demolition of their temples, which they blame on a growing "Islamization" of Malaysia." The government says the temples were built illegally on public land.

Now the Muslim hard-liners have overreached themselves, judging from the popular backlash against the Christmas edict.

"What they are preaching is a hate ideology that even their master ideologues in Saudi Arabia are now trying to reverse," the New Straits Times editorialized. Malaysian bloggers sarcastically asked whether trying to ban the World Cup would be next on the list. To its credit, the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi firmly rejected the clerics' edict.

With this kind of popular backlash, Malaysia seems in little danger of moving further down the Saudi path anytime soon. Come December 24, Santa should feel free to visit Kuala Lumpur.


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