MGG Pillai Commentary View

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The turf battles for the Muslim and Malay mind destroy the non-Malay and middle ground

ISLAM RETURNS TO THE political centre-stage. The National Front (BN) government, to bring the administration of Islam under its control, takes issue with the religious leaders it appointed, on what is permitted in Islam. It insists Islam should be practices as it dictates, but it gets into theological arguments with its flock because it does not explain itself, or why it should be as it prescribes.

Where Islam stands in the political stage will determine constitutional politics in Malaysia. It is a debate in which the non-Muslims are side-lined. Politics in Malaysia in recent years was Malay-centred; not it becomes Muslim-centred. Once the non-Malays were excluded; now the non-Muslims are. In the first, the non-Malays at least could voice their views; in the second, if they do, they are told they cannot participate because they are non-Muslim.

The non-Malay and non-Muslim political parties lose ground when they do not protect their flanks to insist Malaysia return to the ideals of its founding fathers. Those in the BN cannot, for their leaders are in it for what they can benefit for themselves. The one common criterion for a BN leader is his longevity, with some leaders in office for more than two decades, their only role to shut up when the communities they represent are marginalised.

The Malaysian constitution has Islam as the official religion, but it would not intrude in administration as it now does. As the multiracial Alliance made way for the BN, its ranks swelled, under an autocratic UMNO; the non-Malay leaders would not accept why this happened, and before they knew it, they were allowed to remain in BN councils only if they would agree to be trussed and blindfolded and placed on the knife's edge. They stayed so long as they backed the UMNO president of the day, even if this meant turning their backs on the communities which sent them into office.

Now there is another crisis. UMNO having difficulty with championing Malay interest and culture attempts to retain power to back an Islamicised Malaysia. This is to meet the other party in the Malay heartland, Parti Se-Islam Malaysia or PAS. But in so doing it has ignored the non-Malay and the non-Muslim, and what it seeks now is for a narrow sectarian interest, in which the non-Malay and the non-Muslim is forgotten.

PAS has not wavered in wanting to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state in which the syaria rules. Its strength was in the Malay majority states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu. But it crept into the Malaysian heartland as UMNO lost its hold on the Malay cultural and feudal ground. To a degree that UMNO must be avowedly Islamic to fight for a Malay ground that was unquestionably its.

This in turns makes it defensive. And to prove it is right in what it does, it amends the constitution to give Islam a political role it did not have. The syaria and civil courts are ranked equally now, where once the former were confined once to Muslim personal laws like marriage, divorce, and personal conduct. Criminal penalties have stiffened, and it would not be long before a fully fledged Islamic criminal law is in force, with those charged with a crime given a choice of courts to be tried by.

But with this creeping Islamisation is another unmentioned development: the arrogance of those in power who believe they can ignore the Muslim religious figures. TV3's 'Sure Heboh' carnival is a case in point. It went ahead without religious sanction. Concerts like these have always roused the irea of the religious authorities, who see it as venues where moral authority breaks down.

'Sure Heboh' was no exception. Several government-appointed 'muftis' and 'kadis' objected to it. A government minister who challenged the religious opposition quickly backed down to insist he did not. He should have known it would be bad for his re-election if his stand is more widely known. But the government is clear that it will be allowed, challenging the religious constituency to challenge it. Meanwhile, TV3 is adamant that it would continue with its 'Sure Heboh' carnivals throughout the country, and it cares a damn if the religious authorities do not like it.

These turf battles between Malay politicians and Muslim religious leaders affect the non-Muslim and the non-Malay. The 'Sure Heboh' carnivals are to attract the Malay, not the non-Malay, crowd, an attempt to tell the Malay young that UMNO and the government is not a fuddy-duddy organisation but which has their interests at heart. The religious leaders see it as a licence for immoral activities. They point to used condoms found after a carnival like this is held in the past.

This is an oversimplification, but neither wants to test the ground intellectually or consult the other; so, they often talk at cross purposes. When a non-Malay or a non-Muslim is involved, his or her rights are curtailed.

The custody fight of the Moganarajahs is one example. The husband became a Muslim and converted to Islam, with their sons. When the wife challenged this in the civil courts, the High Court judge told her to go to the syariah courts, which he had no right to; and then gave a judgement that could not be enforced: the children would remain with the mother so long as she did not attempt to bring them up as Hindus, the father had visiting rights. So confused was the judgement that she left the country instead.

Another area of confusion would be when a Muslim decides to leave the faith. Under present law, he is not allowed to, although converts often are. But when the government wants to update Islam to bring it to make it relevant for the 21st century, this right to leave the faith is one it cannot ignore. But four Malays who did are jailed, and told to attend classes to be good Muslims, and return to the faith or face further penalties.

The confusion of the modernists of Islam in Malaysia is his ambivalence about the modern well-educated detribalised Malays at one extreme and the fundamentalist back-to-the-Quran outlook at the other. He espouses one but is fearful of the other. At one end is the modern elitist well-educated in choice Western universities and colleges, cosmopolitans as they come; at the other, the well-educated in the finest Islamic universities in the world; each with a diamentrically apposite view of the other's plans and intentions.

In this confrontation, the middle ground has all but disappeared. This poses a far greater danger to Malaysia than the turf battles for the Malay and Muslim mind.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com