KUBANG PASU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today brushed off claims that he instructed the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to take charge of all systems in the government.
Instead, Anwar explained that the move to expand Jakim roles in unity government policymaking was meant to diffuse confrontation between Islam and the other religions, stemming from poor and narrow understanding on true Islamic teachings.
"The minister in charge of Islamic affairs understands that I wanted Jakim to expand its roles beyond just preaching about the religion, not limited to just Islamic legislation.
"The roles of Jakim under my administration as the prime minister and the unity government has been expanded to touch on economic affairs, digitalisation programmes and reviewing education curriculum. This is so that the (true) Islamic values could be nurtured.
"However, there is a small fraction among the non-Muslims who did not understand this and have accused Anwar of showing his true Islamist colour, which he has been hiding all the while, by ordering Jakim to exert control in all (government) systems. This is a 'haprak' (useless) view," Anwar said during his speech at SMA Nahdhah Hasanah diamond jubilee celebration in Melele, Kodiang here today.
Present were Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and SMA Nadhah Hasanah principal Mohd Jamil Sadaqi Tajuddin.
Anwar said the move to expand Jakim roles in the government policymaking was meant to weed out extreme and hard-line Islamic teachings in the country.
He said the long-term objective was to defuse confrontations between Muslims and non-Muslims communities.
"I wish to inform my non-Muslim friends that I am thankful for their support. However, they must also understand that if Muslims remained shallow in knowledge, with the tendency to punish the others, and being fierce with hard-line attitude, it will not attract others (non-Muslims) to Islam.
"Hence, our future will be even more complicated because of continuous confrontation between the two sides," he said.
Anwar also explained that it was the reason he had established Karyawan Foundation, which he first mooted when he was finance minister back in the late 1990s.
He said the foundation's role was to reproduce 'kitab' (religious guidance writings) penned by prominent Islamic scholars who propagated the true Islamic teachings, which emphasised on nurturing education, compassion and empathy.
"Many Muslims said they wanted to uphold Islam, but sadly, all they have is the burning spirit alone, resulting in them insulting and demeaning others in their preaching, without pure knowledge on the religion.
"Whereas the prominent scholars through their kitabs were preaching about wisdom and compassion.
"That is why, for the sake of our children in 'pondok' institutions, schools under the Education Ministry and the Islamic Religious Affairs, we need to uplift their knowledge.
"The level of knowledge of the ummah (Muslims community) must be enhanced, not simply punishing or attacking others. It will not work.
"We need to focus on education, injecting pure understanding, so that there will be no confusions (in the multi-religious community)," he said.
Last Sunday, it was reported that Anwar had instructed Jakim to provide greater input into government policymaking.
It was reported that Anwar had urged Jakim to help draft a national development policy framework based on the Malaysia Madani concept.