Catholic Bishop Emeritus Paul Tan Chee Ing hailed the urging by Permaisuri Raja Zarith Sofia of Johor for Muslims to show equal respect to non-Muslims as the most “radically inclusive statement ever to come from a major civic leader on the country’s most fraught subject - inter-religious relations”.

“It’s like life-giving water to a parched desert traveller,” opined the former head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese.

“In these times of scriptural literalism and exclusivism, the Permaisuri’s statement reminding Muslims of the rule of reciprocity is balm for battered inter-religious spirits in Malaysia,” said the Jesuit-trained prelate...