Abstract
Inter-religious dialogue in Malaysia has taken place more than a century ago either in the form of ‘dialogue of life’ or in the form of intellectual discourse. ‘Dialogue of life’ normally occurs in a superficial ways of interaction such as ‘open house’ during festive seasons and daily interaction in market places, offices or schools while dialogue in the form of intellectual discourse occurs in official events such as forum, seminar and public lecture. Earliest endeavours of inter-religious dialogue were championed by non-Muslim organizations with the aim to protect their rights that was allegedly threatened with the execution of Islamization policy in 1980s. The involvement of Muslim’s organizations could only be seen until 1990s with a pioneering attempt by Center for Civilizational Dialogue (University of Malaya) in 1995 that aimed to generate greater inter-religious understanding. The implementation of inter-religious dialogue in the form of intellectual discourse however is still limited due to its nature which is apparently more appealing to the intellectuals’ community. On top of that, inter-religious dialogue also facing constant objections by some critics due to misunderstanding of the actual goals of inter-religious dialogue. Therefore, correct understanding about the concept of interreligious dialogue must be nurtured among the masses prior to commencing any inter-religious dialogue program.
Highlights
Recent survey on ethnic relations conducted by Merdeka Center in 2011 revealed a less encouraging result
Despite dialogue is allegedly to have been synonymous with Malaysian society based on past history, the journey towards a successful inter-religious dialogue program is still long as the participation from Muslims community in general and Islamic organizations in particular is still poor compared to the nonMuslim
Lack of knowledge on the outcomes of inter-religious dialogue will leave us with no clue on how far it can bring about change in a multi-religious, multi ethnic and multi-cultural society like Malaysia
Summary
Recent survey on ethnic relations conducted by Merdeka Center in 2011 revealed a less encouraging result. The percentage of those who felt that people in the country were “getting closer together” declined from 64% in 2006 to 36% in 2011 whilst only 37% Malaysian believed that ethnic relations would “improve in the ten years” compared to 43% in 2006. This result reflects the interreligious and inter-ethnic relation in Malaysia is still not up to scratch and inter-religious dialogue that allegedly has a long history in this country seems to have no significant impact on improving inter-religious and inter-ethnic relations. The following discussion will explore the role of inter-religious dialogue in the past, current practice and potential challenges that awaits
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