The Star

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd, which is part of the Bank Islam group, has apologised for any confusion that has arisen from the misinterpretation of its recent e-mail.

An internal mail was sent to its staff by the insurance company’s management, prohibiting Muslim employees from extending Deepavali greetings to Hindus.

The e-mail was sent on Oct 3 by Mohd Fauzi Mustaffa of Takaful Malaysia’s syariah department.

A spokesman for Takaful Malaysia reiterated that Mohd Fauzi’s e-mail was meant for “internal circulation and as an advice or an opinion for our staff only.”

In Sungai Petani, Bernama reports that Datuk Zainuddin Maidin rapped the Takaful Malaysia officer for issuing an e-mail banning the company’s staff from wishing Hindus Happy Deepavali.

The Information Minister said that as a progressive company in a free economy, such matters should not have cropped up , especially in a multiracial society.

Speaking to reporters after presenting Deepavali contributions to 200 people in his Merbok parliamentary constituency, he said, an educated man should not have expressed such an opinion.

He was commenting on an e-mail issued by Fauzi to the staff early this month forbidding them to send greetings for festivals like Deepavali, Durga Pooja and Laksmi Pooja, saying that it could be deemed blasphemous.

Fauzi’s action had drawn criticisms from several parties including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Abdullah Mohamed Zin and Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia director-general Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al Attas.

“In a multiracial society, we exchange greetings. This is also done by various religions in the world,” Zainuddin said.

He said narrow-minded people had no place in a multiracial and multi-religious society.

Zainuddin said conveying greetings would not make a person less Islamic.