Malay move to tax non-Muslims draws fire

[Ulhas Joglekar]

7 December 1999 :
Malay move to tax non-Muslims draws fire
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's non-Muslim minorities have slammed a move by a
fundamentalist Islamist party, which rules northeastern Terengganu state, to
impose a special tax on non-Muslims, news reports said Monday.
Ethnic Chinese and Indian politicians condemned the move by the
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) as ``unconstitutional'' in the
multi-religious country, where the rights of non-Muslims were guaranteed.
PAS, which captured oil-rich Terengganu state in last week's general
election from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front coalition
government, defended the special tax on non-Muslims as fair as Muslims were
already paying tithes as well as income tax.
Terengganu's newly elected chief minister Abdul Hadi Awang created an uproar
among Malaysia's minority races when he announced that non-Muslims in
Terengganu would soon have to pay ``kharaj'' or land tax.
``Under the federal constitution, additional taxation cannot be imposed
arbitrarily. It is most unfair for them to institute such taxes on
non-Muslims who are not governed by Sharia laws,'' a National Front
politician S. Vijayaratnam was quoted as saying by The New Straits Times
daily.
Vijayaratnam said the laws had been used in the early days of Islam to
encourage non-Muslims to convert to avoid paying taxes. ``The federal
government must intervene in this matter and any move to enforce Sharia laws
on non-Muslims will only lead to problems, insecurity and create a dangerous
situation,'' he added.
After taking office, Abdul Hadi, who is viewed as one of PAS's more extreme
leaders, banned alcohol, gambling, entertainment outlets, switched the
weekend to Thursday and Friday, and said he would soon introduce ``hudud''
or Islamic criminal law that allows stoning and limb amputation.
Chua Jui Meng, vice president of the Malaysian Chinese association, which is
the country's biggest Chinese political party, said the tax plan proved its
warnings to the community to be wary of PAS. ``You give them a chance to
grab power, and we see some changes to the community's way of life,'' he
said.
Terengganu would be the first Malaysian state to impose the tax, which
ranges from five to ten per cent, on non-Muslims, as even Kelantan state,
which PAS has governed since 1990, has no such rules on non-Muslims.
The proposal by Hadi was also blasted by the opposition ethnic Chinese-based
Democratic Action Party (DAP) which had teamed up with PAS during the
November 29 general election to try and oust the barisan.
A DAP lawyer has threatened to sue PAS if the law was imposed, while party
chairman Lim Kit Siang said the DAP would not ``hesitate'' to state its
opposition to any measures which eroded the rights of other religions.
PAS president Fadzil Noor, however, said the tax on non-Muslims would
correct ``imbalances'' as Muslims in the country were now compelled to pay
tithes of about ten per cent, apart from income tax.
``So, it is fair. Moslems pay two kinds of taxes and their non-Muslim
friends also pay two kinds of taxes,'' he said.
Ethnic Chinese and Indians, who are mostly Buddhist, Christian or Hindu,
form about 40 per cent of Malaysia's 22 million people. Most of Malaysia's
minorities backed Mahathir in the polls which they see as more moderate in
its policies. (DPA)

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