No Abuse, Discrimination Of Muslims In China - Islamic Association

By Hasnah Jusid BEIJING, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- There is no abuse or discrimination of Muslims in China including the Uighurs in Xinjiang province as reported by western media, said Vice President of the China Islamic Association (CIA), Abdul Amin Jin Rubin. He said the Chinese government’s religious policy gives freedom to its people in the matter of religious beliefs and is even protected by the Chinese constitution. "Personally, I think the reports by the western media have been distorted or exaggerated to a certain extent, I don’t think there is any abuse or discrimination against the Uighurs in Xinjiang. "… of course (in the event of) all the acts of violence, breaking of the law, the illegal activities have to be cracked down. That is also a way to protect the legal rights of all the citizens, there are also some actions of preventing violence and terrorist activities but those actions are not directed against any religious or ethnic group," he told visiting foreign journalists to the CIA headquarters here, through a translator. Eleven journalists, five from Malaysia and six from Indonesia are here for the ASEAN Elites China Tour 2019 under the invitation of China International Publishing Group (CIPG) to see for themselves the vocational training education centre in Xinjiang province and know more about China’s ethnic and religious policies. Malaysia and Indonesia are the two biggest Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia and members of the ASEAN bloc. During the 10-day trip, they will also be visiting places of Interest and importance such as the Dongsi Mosque, China International Publishing Group (CIPG), ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), Olympic Park, Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, Palace Museum (Forbidden City), Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. Of late, there are reports that the Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in China’s far east have allegedly been discriminated and detained, which has caused some concerns in the world community. Abdul Amin said the Muslims in China are enjoying the freedom of religious belief and until now, there are a total of 35,000 mosque and about 45,000 'Imam' in the whole country. China, the world’s most populous country, has 1.4 billion people. According to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office of China in April 2018, the country has over 20 millions Muslim. "In Beijing as well as in other destinations where Muslims live, not only in the Ramadan season, but also on a daily basis mosques are open to religious believers, the believers can visit the mosque at their choosen time, they are free to make worship in the mosque anytime," he said. Abdul Amin said that the Chinese Muslims enjoyed having the freedom to halal food and at the same time the Chinese government has preferential policies and support for the business of halal food restaurants. The special preferential policies also can be seen by the effort of the Chinese government in the aspects of burial customs, where the Muslims in China can be buried when they are dead instead of being cremated. “You know in China, the general policy is cremation. But according to the Muslim classic regulation, Muslims are usually buried. So the Chinese government has some special preferential policies for the Muslims in China to be buried when they are dead. "For example in Beijing, there is a Muslim population of 200,000, a few years ago the cemetery for Muslims was running out, so the local government spent quite a huge amount of money to allocate more land to build their cemetery," he said. CIA, established in 1953, represents Chinese Islamic bodies in China, and provides services and management to mosques in the whole of China and is also responsible to carry out research on Islamic cultures. -- BERNAMA