Moderation

The Prime Minister once reminded the world community in New York that moderation is the key to solving our many problems. He made particular reference to the Muslim community, within which sectarian killings and violence are taking a heavy toll on human lives.

Like other Muslim leaders, he took great pains to explain that Islam is a religion of peace and is moderate in its teachings. The question, then, is why the most violent and barbaric conduct is often being carried out by groups who call themselves Muslim, be it al-Shabaab , the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

To answer this question, we have to examine the success story of Indonesia and the failing story of Pakistan.

Muslims form the biggest majority in Indonesia, yet after 60 years of independence their economic standing still lags behind that of non-Muslims in the country. Some sources say that as much as 70 per cent of the country’s wealth is owned by non-Muslims. The Indonesian Government realised that in order for the economic situation of the country’s Muslims to improve, Indonesia had to be a modern and viable democracy.

The Indonesian Government focused on building massive infrastructure projects as well as harnessing their human resources. Parliament did not waste time debating if Indonesia was an Islamic state or not, but on whether the lives of Muslims had improved. Economic matters took priority—although they did have to deal with occasional side issues like beauty contests and the publication of a local version of Playboy magazine.

The contrast with Pakistan is marked. The people spend all their money and resources on building nuclear bombs. They would rather go to war with India and other “Western stooges”, burn buildings and kill Shiites. They much prefer blowing up schools and teachers than improving the lives of the people. The culture of hate and violence is rife among their community leaders and nothing is being done to stop this reign of terror. Pakistan is probably the most ungovernable Muslim country to date.

In Malaysia too, Muslims are economically weak despite being in power with absolute majority for over 50 years. We blame our history, our multiracial makeup and other silly reasons for our backwardness.

The truth is we are too preoccupied with matters that do not improve the lives of the majority of the people. Some of our leaders are only interested in power so they can punish others or impose their thinking and values on everyone else.

Instead of focusing on how to make Muslims more resourceful and have a better economic life, they spend their days talking about how the enemies of Islam are causing the failures of Muslims. They will not admit that they are the real stumbling block to the growth of the Muslim community.

I hope that in 20 years the Prime Minister will be able to return to New York to tell the world what a moderate country Malaysia has become.

Let him showcase this country as an example of tolerance in a pluralistic democracy. Let him show what living in a moderate Muslim country really means, so that others can experience Islam as a moderate religion. But this will not happen if he continues to pander to ultra-nationalists and Islamists who are seeking power to ruin the country.

The Prime Minister must not assume that speeches in New York will reverberate and find acceptance here. He must clearly spell out the line which must not be crossed by power-hungry individuals who are out to destroy racial and religious harmony in the country.

When Algeria was experimenting with democracy and the multi-party system in the late 1980’s, its leaders were warned that they could not allow radical Islamists to cross this line: Algeria had to remain a democracy and only those who supported this system should be allowed to participate in the political process.

This call was never heeded and the group that wanted to impose terror and their own idea of a perfect society were allowed to participate in the election. The resulting power struggle cost 200,000 Algerian lives. History repeated itself in Egypt only recently.

We do not want to take the route of Algeria, Pakistan or Egypt. We want to take the route that Indonesia has taken. Indonesia will be the modern, successful and moderate state of the 22nd century where Muslims can live in harmony with others. Malaysia can follow suit if we are prepared to learn the lessons of the past.

As a first step, we need to strengthen our ties with Indonesia. There is so much we can learn from them. It would be helpful if our Ambassador can be someone who has a strong understanding of the historical and cultural ties between the two countries. This person can help cement the bilateral relationship so that these two Muslim countries can become the pride of the Muslim world.

The affable and cigar-smoking Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim, our newly-appointed Ambassador to Indonesia, should be happy if the Prime Minister were to relocate him to say, Brazil or Mexico, countries that are more exotic but less critical to our future. - October 2, 2013