The Surau incident

This refers to a recent incident that took place in Malaysia where a resort management had allowed Buddhist monks to use their “surau” (mosque) for worship and earned the ire of members of the Muslim community.
Muslims and Buddhists in Malaysia should not allow the Surau incident to have a negative impact on the ties between the two communities. There are at least two reasons as to why they should be vigilant about protecting what has been generally a harmonious relationship. One, given the deterioration in Malay-non-Malay ties in recent times, the Surau incident may be perceived in some quarters as further proof of a worsening communal milieu. Two, since the incident has come in the midst of a series of negative episodes involving Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia — apart from Thailand — there may be a tendency to view what happened at the Tanjung Sutera Resort in Johor on Aug.10 as part of an emerging pattern of tension and friction between the two communities in Asia.
Muslims and Buddhists in Malaysia are by and large aware of inter-religious sensitivities. The very fact that the Chief Buddhist High Priest of Malaysia, Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana apologized immediately to “our Muslim brothers and sisters” for the actions of a group of Buddhists from Singapore who had used the Surau for Buddhist meditation and chanting testifies to this.
Demolition of the Surau simply because it had been misused on a single occasion would be a radical move, at variance with the past practices of a religion, which had allowed people of other faiths into its sacred space. Besides, demolishing the Surau because it had been “defiled” sends a wrong message to our multi-religious society. Rather than taking such punitive measures, religious authorities should be embarking upon programs to educate Muslims and Buddhists about the values and principles that they share in common. For the last seventeen years, the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) has been engaged in dialogues with Buddhist groups such as the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Soka Gakkai and the Museum of World Religions on how shared universal spiritual and moral values and principles can help to shape a just and peaceful world.
In the process, we have discovered how even on issues that appear to pit Buddhists against Muslims such as the conflict in Southern Thailand or the clashes between Buddhists and Rohingyas in Myanmar, Muslim and Buddhist advocates of dialogue are able to adopt common positions based upon justice and inspired by compassion. — Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of JUST, Malaysia