Malaysian religious leaders urged to provide evidence of South Korean ‘cult’

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.

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.

What alarmed him most, he said, was the apparent involvement of Muslim political elites.