American library books Β» Other Β» Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) πŸ“•

Read book online Β«Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) πŸ“•Β».   Author   -   Barry Wain



1 ... 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 ... 152
Go to page:
by the Conference of Rulers to refuse to accept the government's nominees for two top judicial appointments. Leslie Lopez, "Malaysian Royals Start to Flex Their Muscles", Straits Times, 28 July 2008.

Roger Kershaw, Monarchy in South-East Asia, p. 117.

H.P. Lee, Constitutional Conflicts in Contemporary Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 119.

(9)

The Perils of a Pragmatic Islam

For Dr. Mahathir, Islam was more than a personal creed. It was a tool to help uplift the Malays and pursue his dreams of a fully developed Malaysia.[1] The problem, as he saw it, was that Islam-dominated Malay culture was an obstacle to their advancement. It was not so much the religion itself, he believed, but the local interpretation of Islamic doctrines that caused the trouble. So he defined for Malaysian Muslims an interpretation of Islam that was meant not only to take care of their spiritual well-being, but to secure material benefits for them as well.

Quick to recognize the significance of a global Islamic resurgence, Dr. Mahathir harnessed it to legitimize his administration and make Islam an integral element of his commitment to an increased Malay stake in the economy. Establishing Islamic institutions, such as a university, a bank and various business bodies, he promoted economic development and prosperity as compatible with the ethics, theology and philosophy of Islam.[2] He went further, asserting that it was incumbent upon Muslims to embrace modernity and economic progress to overcome their backwardness and recover Islam's past glory. Dr. Mahathir's pragmatic strategy won him a glowing reputation throughout the Islamic world, but he stumbled badly as he succumbed to political expediency in the final years of his leadership of Malaysia.

By equating Islam with ethnicity in pursuit of his grand design, Dr. Mahathir ensured that religion became an even more vital part of Malay identity, which led to significant numbers of Malay Muslims questioning many aspects of Malaysian society. Holding their leaders to Islam's strict ethical standards, these Malays were alienated by the rampant corruption and cronyism spawned by Dr. Mahathir's economic vision, centred on the government's affirmative action programme. Dr. Mahathir's abrupt dismissal and vilification of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998 stripped the administration of much of its remaining moral authority in the eyes of Malays, leaving the prime minister exposed and vulnerable to electoral punishment and heavily dependent on non-Malays to remain in office.

The major beneficiary of Dr. Mahathir's perceived ethical collapse was the opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), the direct ethnic rival of his UMNO. Ironically, it was PAS, which always wanted Malaysia turned into an Islamic state, that Dr. Mahathir had tried to undercut by adopting moderate Islamization policies back in the early 1980s. With disillusioned, disenchanted and disgusted Malays deserting UMNO in droves in the 1999 general election, however, PAS vaulted from its provincial base to become the formal leader of the opposition in the national Parliament. The measure of PAS's success was the extent of Dr. Mahathir's failure.

Recast overnight by his critics as an "anti-Muslim villain" and contemptuously labelled Mahazalim, Mahakejam and Mahafiraun[3] β€” the Great Oppressor, the Cruel One and the Great Pharaoh: in summary, the cruelest of them all β€” Dr. Mahathir chose not to address the many sources of Malay discontent. Instead, he tried to recover Malay affection by further outbidding PAS on religion, offering some of the items on the fundamentalist agenda he had always opposed.[4] Encouraged and emboldened, religious bureaucrats flexed their muscles and tried to impose a grim form of Islamic orthodoxy. The whole sorry saga culminated in a declaration by Dr. Mahathir in late 2001 that Malaysia was, in fact, already an Islamic state β€” a day that in local terms is likely to live in infamy.

It was possible for Dr. Mahathir to make such a controversial claim because the Federation of Malaysia's Constitution is ambiguous on this crucial point. An Islamic state is commonly understood to mean a country where Islamic law, known as sharia, is the supreme law of the land. The alternative is secularism, where the state professes no religion and does not side with any religion. The Malaysian Constitution states that Islam is "the" religion of the nation, though freedom of worship is guaranteed for all. Despite that constitutional guarantee, in practice freedom of religion is qualified. Muslims β€” all ethnic Malays are automatically registered as Muslims β€” are answerable to sharia courts, which usually deny them the right to leave Islam or convert to another faith. Indeed, apostasy or conversion is a punishable offence in most states, either with a fine or a jail sentence, or both.

In a memorandum to the Reid Constitutional Commission, which drafted the Constitution before independence in 1957, the governing Alliance said the country should be secular, with Islam made the official religion.[5] An Islamic state was not one of the commission's terms of reference. A White Paper dealing with the constitutional proposals specified that Islam's status would "in no way affect the present position of the Federation as a secular state".[6] But the language ultimately adopted was thought sufficient to convey that notion without actually mentioning the word "secular".[7] At the same time by designating, in effect, an official religion, Malaysia's Constitution allowed the government to fund certain Islamic activities β€” building mosques, holding Qur'an-reading competitions and organizing the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that every Muslim is expected to make at least once.

Back in those more relaxed days it was expected that Islam would play a declining role in national affairs. The departing British handed over to an UMNO-led democratic government with a Western-educated leadership that was focused on economic development. Malaysia's Sunni Muslims were easy-going, coexisting peacefully enough with the Chinese and Indian minorities β€” predominantly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus β€” who made up half the population.[8] Few Malay women wore head-coverings, the men were clean-shaven and Muslims generally felt comfortable eating their pork-free meals in non-Muslim restaurants and homes.

Contrary to expectations, however, Islam gradually became more important in the country's politics

1 ... 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 ... 152
Go to page:

Free e-book: Β«Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) πŸ“•Β»   -   read online now on website american library books (americanlibrarybooks.com)

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment