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Using Transnational Advocacy Networks to Challenge Restrictions on Religion: Christian Minorities in Malaysia and India

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Using Transnational Advocacy Networks to Challenge Restrictions on Religion: Christian Minorities in Malaysia and India Using Transnational Advocacy Networks to Challenge Restrictions on Religion: Christian Minorities in Malaysia and India A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science of the College of Arts and Sciences by Kristina M. Teater M.A. Wright State University B.A. Milligan College July 2019 Committee Chair: Laura Dudley Jenkins, Ph.D. ii Abstract State-imposed restrictions on religious freedom challenge the rights of minorities. While some minorities live in authoritarian regimes, others live in countries with religious rights institutionalized in national constitutions and international human rights treaties. Despite these guarantees, minorities face restrictions on religion through laws and regulations that restrict what religion they choose and limit how they practice their faith. Thus minorities that in theory are supposed to have religious freedom also encounter religious freedom restrictions in practice. Faced with blockages that restrict their religious rights, minorities at times turn to transnational advocacy networks (TANs). Through my analysis of Christian minorities in Malaysia and India, I discover what some of these blockages are and how minorities and their transnational partners have negotiated with the state in recent legal challenges to Christians’ rights. I focus on the agency and strategies of minorities by listening to their opinions, arguments, and reasoning, as articulated through interviews, legal documents, and an original survey. In doing so, this study differs from recent scholarship that traces the structure and organization of TANs. I find that how Christian minorities use transnational advocacy networks is dependent on the political opportunities that are available to them domestically. Political opportunities in the form of transreligious alliances and politically salient subnational identities offer Christian minorities alternate pathways to negotiate religious rights. In examining how local minorities and their transnational partners have navigated recent legal challenges in these two post-colonial settings, I also suggest that Christian minorities benefit from using nonreligious arguments in their religious rights claims-making. i Acknowledgments I completed this dissertation with the help of several people who deserve my deepest gratitude. I would like to first thank my advisor Laura Jenkins for her support throughout the writing of this dissertation. Laura was always generous with her time carefully reading through each chapter and offering me the guidance I needed as the project progressed. Her knowledge and advice were invaluable. I would also like to thank my committee members Andrew Lewis and Rebecca Sanders for their helpful comments. It was in Andy’s colloquium class that I first became interested in issues related to religious freedom. I am especially grateful for his gracious critique, encouragement, and guidance. I must also thank the many Christian minorities and NGOs in Malaysia and India who gave of their time to answer my questions or allowed me access to people who could help me further my research. I could not have undertaken this project without the support of my family. I want to thank my parents for instilling in me the importance of faith and learning. While my mother never got to see me finish this project, her encouragement at the onset remained with me till the end. My sister Karen deserves special thanks for her unwavering support and for patiently listening to reports of my progress while not so gently prodding me to see its completion. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of my husband Scott and our three children Bailey, Grace, and Lucas. Scott’s support gave me the ability to embrace this challenge, and this dissertation is as much the result of his commitment as it is mine. Above all, I would like to thank God. I began this journey asking Him to lead me. He was with me in the beginning, and He is with me now. Soli Deo Gloria. ii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………..1 Argument……………………………………………………………………………...4 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………..... 7 Methodology………………………………………………………………………....13 Organization of Research………………………………………………………….....16 Chapter 2: Constraining Freedom………………………………………………...20 Historical Transnational Connections………………………………………………..21 Religious Minorities and Transnational Advocacy…………………………………. 29 Legal Framework and Secularism in India…………………………………………..32 Legal Framework and Religious Freedom in Malaysia……………………………...33 Anti-Conversion Laws……………………………………………………………….37 Regulations Against Apostasy……………………………………………………….41 Restricting Religious NGOs (FCRA)………………………………………………..43 Protecting Majority Sensibilities…………………………………………………….46 Hindu Nationalism and Islamic Revivalism…………………………………………50 Chapter 3: Challenging State Restrictions Against Religious Conversion and Apostasy……………………………………..54 Lina Joy v. Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan& Ors……..………………...55 Evangelical Fellowship v. State of Himachal Pradesh…….………………………...60 The Role of TANs……………………………………………………………………………66 Contested Claims…………………………………………..………………………...74 Contrasting Frames: Religious Rights vs. Right to Privacy…………………………79 Chapter 4: Confronting State Regulations on Financial Transactions and the Media………………………………………………………..83 Comparing the FCRA and the PPPA………………………………………………...85 India: Compassion International……………………………………………………..88 Malaysia: Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v. Menteri Dalam Negri,,,,,,,,,…………….90 Advocacy in Support of the Catholic Church………………………………………..99 The Role of TANs…………………………………………………………………..101 Politics of the FCRA and the PPPA………………………………………………...107 Counter Claims……………………………………………………………………...111 Chapter 5: Complicating Religious Rights Claims Transreligious Networks, Cross-Cutting Identities, and the Impact of Local Politics…………………………………………………. 115 iii Dynamic Political Opportunity Structures………………………………………….116 Sarawak and Tamil Nadu…………………………………………………………...118 Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Conversion Act………………………………………...122 Azmi Mohamad v. Director if Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak……………………. 129 The Influence of Local Politics……………………………………………………..135 The Appeal of Transreligious Networks……………………………………………136 Chapter 6: Conclusion…………………………………………………………… 143 Limitations of Transnational Advocacy…………………………………………….144 Pitfalls of Religious Freedom Arguments…………………………………………..146 The Influence of Electoral Politics………………………………………………….150 The Promise of Transreligious Networks…………………………………………...152 Final Thoughts on Christian Minorities in India and Malaysia……………………..153 References…………………………………………………………………………..154 iv List of Tables Table 1 State Legislation Concerning the Control and Restriction 35 of Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions Table 2 Top 25 Recipient Associations of Foreign Funds 45 Table 2 Social Opposition and Transreligious Support 139 Table 4 Effect on Attitudes Toward Working with Other 140 Religious Minorities v List of Acronyms AIADMK All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ABIM Islamic Youth Movement in Malaysia ACS Association of Churches in Sarawak AAS Advocates Association of Sarawak AWAS All Women’s Action Society BJP Bharatiya Janata Party BN Barisan Nasional, or National Front CFM Christian Federation of Malaysia CPM Communist Party of India (Marxist) DMK Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ECLJ European Center for Law and Justice EFI Evangelical Fellowship of India FCRA Financial Contribution Regulation Act IGO Intergovernmental Organization INC Indian National Congress KMF Kuching Ministries Fellowship MCCBCHST Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism MCA Malayan Chinese Association MIC Malayan Indian Congress MCC Malaysia Christian Council NRD National Registration Department vi NCCI National Council of Churches in India NUCF National United Christian Forum OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights PAS Parti Islam Se Malaysia, or the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party PEMBELA Pertubuhan-Pertubuhan Pembela Islam PH Pakatan Harapan or Alliance of Hope PKR Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or the People’s Justice Party PPPA Printing Presses and Publications Act RM Malaysian Ringgit RS Indian Rupee RS Pakistan Rupee RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SIB Sidang Injil Borneo SIS Sisters in Islam TMMK Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam UCFHR United Christian Forum Human Rights UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UMNO United Malays National Organization UN United Nations UPR Universal Periodic Review WAO Women’s Aid Organisation WCC World Council of Churches WEA World Evangelical Association vii Introduction Chapter 1 On a rainy night in late 2018, hundreds of people gathered outside Rome's Colosseum to hear the story of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani woman imprisoned on charges of blasphemy against Islam. The Colosseum lit in bright red as a show of solidarity for Christian minorities and their religious rights served as a backdrop. Asia Bibi's story began ten years earlier in a village 40 miles southeast of Lahore after being arrested on trumped up charges of blasphemy following a village disagreement. Section 295 C of Pakistan's penal code calls for severe fines, life imprisonment, or punishment with death should a person be convicted of using words, either written or spoken, visible representation, or by imputation, innuendo, or insinuation that defiles the prophet, Mohammad. Charged with
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