By Yen Feng
Religion & Culture Reporter
zengyan@sph.com.sg

 

THE Daily Express, a Malaysian newspaper, on Tuesday reported that the country's Taoist leaders had had enough.

For years now, the Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia has watched their membership dwindle, from 1.8 million devotees to 800,000 in a recent population census.

But Mr BS Tan, who leads the association, did not believe the numbers, which were compiled by the American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. His own estimates put the figure at 3 million.

So this week, in a very public press event, he called for the religion's adherents to stand up and be counted.

The disparity, Mr Tan thinks, lies in the muddled line separating Taoism and Buddhism in Malaysia.

Most of Malaysia's ethnic Chinese population practice both religions. They pray to the Buddha, but also follow Taoist traditions such as feng shui and the worship of Chinese folk heroes.

When it came to the National Registration Department, however, many declared themselves Buddhists. Maybe they did not know the difference between the two religions, Mr Tan asked.

His frustration is shared by Taoist leaders in Singapore.

When I interviewed Mr Tan Thiam Lye, the chairman of Taoist Federation (Singapore) last year, he, too, insisted that the reported declining numbers of Taoist believers in Singapore did not tell the full story.

He wondered if the census-takers asked respondents if they knew the difference between Taoism and Buddhism.

He said Taoism suffered from a bad reputation; Singaporeans, particularly the young, associate it with mystical arts, irrationality and antiquity.

Buddhism, on the other hand, was experiencing a new wave of interest thanks to cool, celebrity spokesmen like Richard Gere, Tiger Woods and Jet Li.

Here are the numbers: From 1990 to 2000, the number of Singaporeans who identified themselves as Taoists fell from 22.4 per cent to 8.5 per cent.

Buddhists grew from 31.2 per cent to 42.5 per cent over the same period.

Are ignorance and the hip factor adequate reasons to explain the numbers? It is difficult to say. But Mr Tan Thiam Lye has had enough, too.

Last year, the federation began stepping up efforts to re-brand the religion.

Instead of superstitious mumbo jumbo, it wants people to see Taoism as a serious religion steeped in history, culture and philosophical study.

To reach the young, temples now print pamphlets and free literature in Chinese and English.

The federation's cultural centre in Bedok started talks and lectures conducted by Taoist scholars.

From next year, its free Taoist College will train the first batch of students as Singapore's next generation of priests.

That's a lot of to-do for a religion whose central tenet, wu-wei, literally means "do nothing".

But it is important and necessary.

In Singapore, one's faith is generally a personal decision, so we should all the more choose with the right facts at hand – minus the mumbo jumbo.