Malaysia’s home minister has urged senior clerics to lodge formal complaints over claims that a mysterious South Korean Christian “cult movement” has been attempting to spread its teachings among Malaysian Muslims.
The controversy surfaced after religious leaders in Perlis – a conservative northern state where Muslims form the overwhelming majority – reported that a South Korean group had been proselytising there under the banner of a peace initiative.
Malaysia is a multi-faith nation but Islam is the state religion, holding a protected position through a dual legal system in which the Shariah court governs Muslims on personal and family matters.
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Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the state’s most senior Islamic scholar, wrote in a Facebook post on December 3 that concerns had sharpened after the Perlis State Fatwa Committee received a briefing “on a cult movement that uses the name of Jesus while making claims that are highly unusual and deviant”.
He said that mainstream Christian denominations “do not recognise them” and that the movement originates from Korea.
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Malaysian scientists recruit bed bugs into crime scene investigations
Malaysian scientists recruit bed bugs into crime scene investigations
What alarmed him most, he said, was the apparent involvement of Muslim political elites.