Fostering harmony: Penangite Cheam Cheng Sooi (third right) explaining the history of Sri Maha Mariamman Temple during the Harmony Walk in George Town in March last year. – KT GOH/The Star

WE promote Malaysia as a multiracial, multi-religious and multicultural country to the world and insist we are the perfect country in Asia to visit because we truly represent the continent.

Besides our beaches and forests, tourists must visit the National and Putra Mosques, and the Batu Caves Sri Murugan Hindu temple, too, if they’re in Kuala Lumpur.

If they’re in Penang, they mustn’t miss the Kek Lok Si pagoda and St George’s Anglican church.

As a born-and-bred Penangite, I’m truly fortunate to be able to just walk across Masjid Keling to take a shortcut to Carnarvon Street and enjoy my nasi kandar near the mosque with the faithful who’ve just performed their prayers.

The Church of Assumption, meanwhile, is right next door to my school, St Xavier’s Institution, and we walked past the Goddess of Mercy temple and the Hindu temple daily back then.

If there were festivals where the Chinese opera or puppet show was staged, my friends, including Muslims, would be curious and just stop to look.

The Star’s office on Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling is directly opposite the temple.

At Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia where I studied, the Islamic civilisation paper was compulsory and not passing meant not graduating.

I remember some family members and friends were horrified that I was required to study Islam.

But I was pleased that I was given the chance to know more about the religion from renowned lecturers like the late Dr Fadzil Noor and Dr Harun Din.

After all, I had signed up for Islamic History for my Higher School Certificate exam in Form Six and did well.

Fast forward to 2023, and it has never crossed my mind that there would come a time in Malaysia when our people would be unsure of how they should conduct themselves at the places of worship of other religions.

We seem uncertain if we’d be welcomed and what we should do to prevent perceptions of disrespect. I blame this on the politicians.

All religions preach love, respect, forgiveness, and tolerance, but it has been hijacked by certain politicians who’ve turned it into political tools to win votes.

Unwarranted threats and fears have risen, giving way to unnecessary suspicion and mistrust, which is so unfortunate.

Most of us barely bat an eyelid about visiting a mosque, temple, or church when we’re overseas, yet we feel intimidated at home, which is a terrible shame.

Keeping it real, many of us have never set foot in a house of worship of a religion other than our own.

Last week, the Selangor state executive councillor of religious affairs Zawawi Ahmad Mughani announced that organisers of religious events must follow guidelines set by the Islamic Religious Department of Selangor.

He said that according to the guidelines, programmes involving Muslims in non-Muslim worship houses are prohibited.

His announcement was probably a reaction to the controversy resulting from a programme for youth, under the Youth and Sports Ministry, to visit houses of worship.

Minister Hannah Yeoh has said no Muslim youths had been registered in a programme called Projek Article 11, organised by Impact Malaysia, which had so far visited the Federal Territory Mosque and Gurdwara Sahib Shah Alam this month.

“Jom Ziarah is not a project that is organised to make all religions equal and is not intended to illustrate that all religions have the same standings, as to what has been portrayed by certain quarters,” Yeoh told Parliament last week.

Yeoh’s intentions are good but perhaps the timing is bad since politicians are drumming up race and religion issues ahead of the state elections in June.

Proclaiming themselves defenders of Malay rights and Islam, their spiel has become louder.

Yeoh’s interfaith initiative isn’t new. In Singapore, there is a non-governmental organisation, Onepeople.sg, a ground-up national body that promotes racial and religious harmony, which takes students to visit places of worship and encourages them to ask questions.

I have organised Harmony Walks in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. In Brickfields, KL, I led a group of 40 people of various faiths and races to visit Hindu and Taoist temples and a church.

Joining me were activist and writer Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, radio personality Halim Othman and representatives from the National Council of Women’s Organisations.

A similar walk was held in Penang where a group visited the Kapitan Keling Mosque, and these excursions, organised by the Star Media Group, were supported by the Global Movement of Moderates and the National Unity and Integration Department under the Prime Minister’s Department.

Basically, the walks were endorsed by the Federal Government. Perhaps Yeoh would want to incorporate the support of other ministries and even align her plans with other stakeholders, especially the Minister of Religious Affairs Senator Datuk Mohd Na’im Mokhtar. It’s not too late.

No doubt, Yeoh could feel demoralised, but the road to promote interfaith programmes is never smooth.

Let’s not forget that while politicians and officials can issue their opinions and statements, the decision ultimately lies in the hands of the Rulers as head of Islam. They have the final say.

The statement by the Selangor executive councillor of religious affairs Zawawi Ahmad Mughani, a PKR assemblyman, seems to lack clarity as he has not properly addressed if Muslims can attend weddings, wakes and funerals held in churches, for example.

Most of us understand that our Muslim friends will never be asked to participate in religious activities at these functions. Likewise, I also politely decline to use joss sticks at wakes and funerals as a Christian.

Last year, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah were also present at the service at the royal church Westminster Abbey in London.

In February, Johor state mufti Yahya Ahmad announced that Muslims were barred from observing Thaipusam processions under a new fatwa issued by the Johor Islamic Religious Council.

But the directive died a natural death after Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar attended a luncheon in conjunction with Thaipusam at the Arulmigu Sri Balasubramaniar temple.

His Majesty, the Sultan of Johor, also officiated the 2023 Chingay parade in Johor Baru.

There are many good reasons why the Rulers have banned politics from mosques and suraus, and that’s because these politicians have wreaked sufficient havoc.

Haven’t they done enough damage in Parliament with their antics and toxic statements?

One PAS MP described the Blackpink concert as a threat but forgot that Saudi Arabia had allowed the group to perform in January while in Jakarta, the South Korean outfit performed to 70,000 fans at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo attended a Deep Purple concert at Surakarta recently. I wonder if any of our MPs would find this politically incorrect here in Malaysia.

Even in Abu Dhabi, there is the Abrahamic Family House, an inter-faith complex, with a mosque, church and synagogue built next to each other.

Bersatu MP Wan Razali Wan Nor was given a roasting by Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul when the former claimed there was an LBGT+ community march, seemingly confused by a women’s march.

These politicians can say what they want but their opinions count for nothing. Our Rulers are the heads of Islam in the respective states while the Sultan of Selangor is the chairman of the National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI), which is the authoritative body.

It’s important for our children to be exposed to diverse perspectives and to instil in them the need to respect other people’s religions, and not to fear them.

Why should we be afraid of the religions practiced by fellow Malaysians, and for how long are we going to keep thinking that there are incessant attempts to convert each other, especially to Muslims, when the various laws are clear about it?

No one is going to get converted by entering a mosque, temple, or church. Trust Malaysians, but not some politicians.

So many Muslims have attended Christian missionary schools and the older ones, like Sarawak’s Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, has openly stated that he studied and sat for the Bible exam as a student. None of them who studied at missionary schools became Christians, as far as I know.

I’m looking forward to hosting my annual buka puasa gathering with my Muslim friends soon, which has been a longstanding affair.

See you soon brothers Hussamuddin Yaacub, Johan Jaaffar, Anas Zubedy and Harith Iskander.

IT’S strange that it has taken more than two years for most Malaysians to be aware of the indie movie Mentega Terbang, which has suddenly been besieged by controversy.

The movie has earned the wrath of many Muslims, with at least six police reports already made.

It was only when the picture was screened on Viu, a regional video streaming platform, that it drew critical attention.

It was then taken down on Feb 26, but the entire film has been uploaded on YouTube.

A check yesterday, however, revealed that it has disappeared from YouTube. I won’t be surprised if it re-appears again.

It received over 24,000 views within a day while the official trailer garnered 181,000 views. The traction has likely exceeded the producer’s expectations.

The film was screened at the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in 2021 and the Aceh Film Festival in 2022, as well as at closed door screenings in Malaysia.

So, why the furore now? No one is sure.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil is right to raise doubts and question the delayed reaction after two years.

Arguably, it looks like a hot political potato that’s been thrown like a grenade onto the new government to test its commitment to Malays and Islam, with state elections merely months away.

The race and religion narrative has predictably received a new lease on life by opponents of the unity government, who want to portray themselves as the flagbearers of Malay rights and Islam.

Those results aside, the movie has indeed earned a lot of ire on social media among Muslims.

Still, it’s uncertain how many of these critics have watched the entire movie.

There are a few local movies that address the subjects of religion, human mortality, and life after death.

They promote thinking and discussion relating to religion, which seems rare since producers would rather invest in projects that have appeal and promise financial returns.

Religion, regardless of faith, is supposed to bring believers and non-believers together, but it can also be divisive.

So, the safest way is to stay out, especially if a filmmaker aspires to have mass appeal.

In an interview by an Indonesia film critic, Mentega Terbang producer Khairi Anwar described it as a passion project involving friends from multiracial backgrounds from the local theatre scene.

It had a small budget with a handful of actors and minimal shooting, done mostly during weekends because the crew had full-time jobs. Filming was completed in six weeks with rehearsals done in the evenings.

I’m not sure if they expected a backlash. The dialogue, mostly in Malay and English, is representative of an urban Malay family living in Kuala Lumpur.

Both mum and dad are open-minded and liberal – a word now criminalised by conservatives – and they encourage their daughter, Aisyah, an inquisitive 15-year-old, to ask questions and make independent decisions.

However, the proverbial red line is crossed when Aisyah, played by Syumaila Salihin, tries eating char siew pau (pork bun) and in another scene, dad gives Aisyah the freedom to choose another faith.

It earns an immediate rebuke from her, with dad, played by Firdaus Karim, saying he had picked Islam as his faith and would continue to embrace it. The movie ends with Aisyah’s reaffirmation of her faith.

There’s a part where a nosy but well-meaning neighbour, Uncle Kasim, advises Aisyah not to accept any drinks from a Christian, Aunty Esther, because “it may contain holy water.”

Of course, it was meant to be sardonic because Christians certainly don’t use holy water. In fact, that’s purely a Catholic practice when entering a church. And since Covid-19, it has been dispensed with entirely.

Aisyah’s father has a tattoo in the shape of a butterfly on his body, which is forbidden in Islam and Christianity, too.

Both religions are against it since it involves changing the natural creation of God and inflicting unnecessary pain in the process.

The essence of the movie is about Aisyah, who fears losing her cancer-stricken mum, and hopes for her to go to heaven.

In between, the insecure girl tries to learn more about other faiths, including the belief of reincarnation.

While this is a work of fiction, it’s understandable that many Muslims are uncomfortable with this discourse about Islam, with the impression that the tenets of Islam are challenged.

To these critics, there seems to be an underlying theme questioning the faith.

There are calls to ban the movie, but with the way the Internet works, it will simply pop up on many other video sharing platforms.

It’s impossible for the government to order a ban unless we have our own alternative video sharing platforms like China’s Weibao.

Film producers have also begun to pitch their work to Netflix and Amazon Prime, for example, to reach a wider audience, if not a global one, and bypass our censors with their many restrictions.

Malaysian subscribers of these platforms would know that many of these movies would never reach our cinemas or Astro, like the Israeli television series Fauda, for example, if our censors’ criteria are to be strictly followed.

YouTube and Google have made many things possible.

For example, a Bahasa Indonesian movie made in 2018 about a forbidden romantic relationship between a Roman Catholic nun and a pastor, is available online in its entirety.

Even the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible, which has always been contentious, can be downloaded and printed.

In the case of Mentega Terbang, the authorities have admitted that they can’t act against its content but merely its production procedures.

Still, if the intention of the team behind the movie was to explore interfaith discussion, it could have been done in a much better way.

The narrative hasn’t helped and may have set back good efforts for interfaith understanding and acceptance. If the intentions were good, then the execution didn’t match, unfortunately.

But there are still merits. There is good acting, especially from Syumaila, a PJ girl who speaks impeccable English, while the conversations, as spoken by Malaysians, sound authentic.

The minus point is that producers may now be wary of taking hard, thought-provoking subjects that challenge mindsets and test conventions in local movies beyond Malay gangsters and giggly ghosts, which unfortunately, are the regular fare.

It is most unfortunate that for many of us, we are wary of entering houses of worship of the other faiths beside ours. We are unsure but we do not have those uncertainties when we are overseas.

So in one scene, where Aisyah is in Brickfields, KL, and she seems captivated by the church and temples there, surely there should be no taboo over this unless we are overly sensitive.

But regardless of whether we like or detest Mentega Terbang, a few of my friends have just learned that it’s not “flying butter” but a literal translation of “butterfly,” which is a symbol of change and rebirth.