Christian churches in Malaysia have been under attack as extremist Islamic groups reacted to the U.S.-led military attacks on Afghanistan.

The latest of a series of arson attempts on Christian churches took place on October 27, when extremists set ablaze the Christ Community Centre Church in Subang Jaya.

A fortnight before this, extremists attempted to torch the Catholic Church of Christ the King in Sungai Petani, a city about 190 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur in the northern state of Kedah, the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In a separate attack, Molotov cocktails were thrown at St Philip's Catholic Centre on October 14 in Segamat in the southern state of Johore. Fortunately, most of the Molotov cocktails failed to explode and only the door was damaged.

The Marthoma Christian Community Centre, also in Sungai Petani, was set ablaze by suspected Muslim extremists in July. Damage to the Center was estimated at '55,000 and police believe members of the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (Kumpulan Militan Malaysia), were responsible for the fire.

The KMM, whose members were reportedly trained in Afghanistan, have been accused of a series of crimes, including the bombing of a church and a Hindu temple.

The Christian community is concerned that these types of attacks could become more frequent if Islamic fundamentalism is allowed to grow unchecked.

Many militant Islamic groups are linking up with separatists in the south of the country. It is believed that militant Islam in Malaysia is influenced by extremist groups in surrounding nations such as Indonesia's Laskar Jihad.

Fears of growing Islamic extremism are shared by neighbouring countries like Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using religion to ignite hatred, the growing Islamic militants could potentially destabilise the whole region.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has previously warned of a network of extremists in the region that is bent on establishing a union of Islamic governments in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.


Malaysia is a multi-ethnic federation consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous tribes. Around 58 percent of the population of 22 million are Muslim and Christians comprise about eight percent.

Islam is the state religion with all Malays legally considered Muslim. The Federal government follows a policy of religious tolerance, but in practice, other faiths are increasingly discriminated against at state level following the rise of Islamism in Malaysia. Legal restrictions exist prohibiting propagation of other faiths among the Muslim community whereas Muslim missionaries receive state support to spread Islam.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism has highlighted the discrimination non-Muslim faiths face, such as difficulties in obtaining permission to build places of worship, restrictions on sharing their faiths and unequal access to media outlets.

At the same time Islamists continue to lobby the government to adopt stricter punishments for apostasy and to implement Sharia Law throughout the country.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: "We utterly condemn these attacks on the Christian community and call on the Government to give much better protection to minority faiths including Christians.

"Christians in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are increasingly under threat from militant Islamic extremists and we call on all their governments to protect not only the lives of their subjects of a minority faith, but also their freedom to worship."