Posted on 11/16/2005 10:00:03 PM PST by Lorianne
Since September 2001 the struggle between militantly radical and progressive or democratic tendencies—between “ungentle” and “gentle” Islam—has become a matter of urgent importance not only among Muslims but to others beyond their faith community.
Some observers suggest that the course taken by this contest in Malaysia may be of more than local significance: because Malaysia has demonstrated singular success among Muslim-majority nations in achieving economic growth and the various worldly attainments associated with it; and because, in opposition to the new militant Islamism, its rulers have promoted and identified themselves with modern, progressive, and liberal forms of Islam.
Islam Hadhari During his long premiership Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad opposed the Islamists with conviction, and a stridency that often served their political objectives more than his. With more convincing religious credentials, his successor Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has, in less contentious manner, pursued the same objective, now embodied in the project of promoting what his government terms “Islam Hadhari.” This approach not only sees how the Islamic faith has shaped the character and ethos of Islamic civilization. It also recognizes that, as it exists today, the Islamic faith itself, rather than having been given once and for all time in immutable form, has been shaped in its historical evolution by that of Islamic civilization generally in which the faith's human history has been couched.
Such recognition of the “historicity” of faith, of the human history of whatever it is that a community of believers has received (or believes it has) from Divine Revelation—and therefore of the fact and legitimacy of continuing religious change and innovation faithful to the original divine inspiration—is the essential foundation, in all the religious faith traditions, of any coherent and persuasive “modernist” position.
So far, so good, and so encouraging, perhaps. Yet the outlook for modern understandings of Islam and their champions in Malaysia is not bright. Several disquieting indications and developments are undeniable. Malaysian Islamist activists have long targeted religious modernists and progressives, seeking not so much to argue with or against them as to stigmatize them as un-Islamic, apostates, and renegades. This is now the fate, too, of the proponents of Islam Hadhari.
Attacks from Without and Within Attacks against this latest official restatement of Malaysian Islamic modernism, the new progressive démarche, have been mounted not simply by the militant Islamist radicals inside and beyond the Islamic opposition party PAS, or from their legions of sympathizers inside the bloated Islamic affairs bureaucracies, at federal and state levels, that have swelled in size and pretensions over the last twenty years as UMNO, under Dr. Mahathir, and PAS engaged in unrelenting competition to outbid each other, and to avoid being outbid, in an escalating “Islamist policy auction.” Such attacks have even been mounted from within UMNO, the dominant Malay-based party in the governing Barisan Nasional coalition, and from members of the Prime Minister's own Ministry.
These attacks have been carefully directed not against the Prime Minister himself but against certain less “protected” and secure surrogates, such as the courageous and principled women's and human rights NGO, Sisters In Islam. These onslaughts do not come only from the supposedly “backward” and “regressive” elements in Malay society situated well beyond the communicative reach of the Prime Minister's party and the UMNO's middle-class appeals. In September an organization known as the Muslim Professional Forum held an all-day event to give unbridled rein to such criticism of the Prime Minister's religious orientation and supporters under the banner “Liberal Islam: A Clear and Present Danger.”
Meanwhile, driven by righteous local and state-level zealots and vigilantes, the hand of government was forced into official action in the state of Terengganu against the Sky Kingdom cult, a fringe syncretist community led by Ayah Pin, an amiable and apparently harmless old eccentric. Yet the underlying issues involved here are not of fringe but central concern to the nature of the modern Malaysian state and citizenship in it. Some of them, long unresolved, are now, arising from the arrest of Sky Kingdom adherents, before the courts.
Does the constitutional protection for freedom of religious belief and worship apply to all individuals? If so, how is this to be reconciled with the constitutional view that all Malays are by definition Muslims, subject to ensuing legislation placing all Muslims, their manner of life, and inner beliefs under the supervision of the religious [shari'a] courts and religious bureaucracies? Can one cease to be a Muslim, freely choose to leave the faith community of Islam? A recent court decision held that a person who purports to do so, renouncing Islam by deed poll, does not have the right to have the designation “Muslim” removed from their national identity card or in the National Citizen Registry System.
Freedom of Religion Here lie profound yet long unresolved issues. Does the Malaysian constitution recognize, and do the state's multifarious government instrumentalities respect and are they obliged to uphold, freedom of, from, and also in religion? Long obscured, that question is now before the courts. Civil, not religious, court judges will have to decide whether, in cases from actions against Sky Kingdom followers, people are first of all citizens and only then Muslims, or whether, in the “special” case of citizens from the majority population, they are in the first instance Muslims and only, subsequent to that, also citizens. The religious authorities understandably take the latter view; but presumably the view of the constitution, its laws, and its courts is, or ought to be, the former.
Will the judges see things that way and have the courage to say so? How far might any decision they make be appealed? And what will be the implications of the ultimate decision, whatever it may be, for one of Dr. Mahathir's most fateful yet ill-advised innovations: his decision, via a constitutional amendment in 1988, to raise the status of the shari'a courts (and so, it was hoped, enhance his own standing in the eyes of Islamists eager for further state-mandating of Islam) to a “co-equal” status with the civil law courts, and so to make their decisions, in their own area of jurisdiction, unappealable in, and irreversible by action of, the civil court system?
Interesting times lie ahead, not least because faith itself, or rather the government's ambiguous and even vacillating management of it, is now arguably on trial.
A turd is still a turd, no matter how much you try and polish it.
Believe me I've had more experience with the Bumiputra mob and the corrupt and cunning Mahathir than you can imagine. (I lived there for several years, and have visited your beautiful country many times.)
Great profile page BTW. It gives me great hope that truth combined with the power of the human spirit can shine thru no matter what evil tries to suppress it.
We can do muslims no better favor than help them be free from the evils of islam.
I salute you for your courage. Keep spreading the truth on FReep... many people, even here, are still in denial because they lack the answers to the real issues they dare not face.
New FRiend on FReep, y'all.
Take a look at Prasanpanich's profile page.
Thx USF.
Welcome to FR, Prasanpanich. Your homepage contains amazing truths about islam. Islam is, indeed, insane and pure evil.
About the author: Clive S. Kessler is Emeritus Professor, School of Sociology & Anthropology at The University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has been researching and writing on Malaysian affairs, especially on Islam and Politics for more than 35 years. This article first appeared in Aliran Monthly, vol 25 no 9.
............
http://www.primetimecrime.com/APNS/20031023Mahathir.htm
Alluding to reports that the US President George Bush had "promoted" Australia as Washington's "sheriff" in his part of the world, Dr Mahathir said: "Of course Australia has now been designated the sheriff, not the deputy sheriff, he (Australian Prime Minister John Howard) is now the sheriff."
"I can assure Australia that if he (Mr. Howard) acts as a sheriff in this country, he will be treated as a terrorist and dealt with as a terrorist. My foreign minister I think backs me on this." Dr Mahathir made his mark on the world by speaking out loudly against Western leaders.
While not popular in the West, his standing is high as a champion of Third World and Muslim causes. Political pundits say there is no indication that Dr Mahathir is going to surrender this pedestal after he retires.
..........
Clive S. Kessler, in his article maintains:
"During his long premiership Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad opposed the Islamists with conviction, and a stridency that often served their political objectives more than his..."
Really, Mr Kessler?
In 1997, there were 20 Jews living in Indonesia, some of them in Jakarta and a few Jewish families of Iraqi origin in Surabaya, who maintain a small synagogue.
If one billion muslims are so terrified of a few million Jews, more than half of whom must be women and children, then there's got to be something evil and sick about islam. Methinks the clerics know mohamMAD plagiarized most of the koran from the Orginal Testament while living with the Hebrews who gave him and his band of beggars shelter and food. Islam wants to wipe out the Jews and Christians to conceal the fact mohamMAD was a fraud.
But he is cunning. He knows islam is hurting itself and wants the 'Arab world to negotiate for peace'. He might as well have said, 'islam must stop killing itself.'
Being islamic means to be eternally cursed by the mental illness of the 'prophet' who contemplated suicide as the result of the disturbing voices in his head IMO.
From the same link:
The 77-year-old Mahathir, who retires at the month's end, was roundly criticised by the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Britain and the European Union, which said the comments about Jews "have no place in a decent world".
He made the comments at the opening of the Organization of Islamic Countries summit in Kuala Lumpur.
In his speech, Mahathir called on Muslims to use brains as well as brawn to fight Jews who, he said, "rule the world by proxy".
The OIC brings together 57 nations home to one billion Muslims.
http://www.primetimecrime.com/APNS/20031023Mahathir.htm
He told the leaders of the Islamic world that 1.3 billion Muslims could not be "defeated by a few million Jews".
"This tiny [Jewish] community has become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains as well," he said. Jews, said the Malaysian prime minister, had "invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy" to avoid persecution and gain control of the most powerful countries.
He added that "the Jews" were "beginning to make mistakes" and Muslims could have "windows of opportunity... in the future".
The Malaysian prime minister also condemned what he called irrational terrorist attacks motivated by anger and suggested the Arab world should negotiate for peace.
While the speech sparked outrage in Jewish communities and the Western world, Muslim leaders and the Malaysian public were quick to defend the hugely popular leader.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar defended Mahathir, saying he had been misunderstood. "I am confident he has no anti-Jewish feeling," he said.
"Don't get emotional, overreacting to something and trying to create a storm when there is no storm at all."
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre - which pursues the perpetrators of the Nazi genocide of the Jews - has expressed shock that Mahathir could make such comments, and at such a level.
"What is profoundly shocking and worrying is the venue of the speech, the audience and coming in the time we're living in," he said .
Interesting article on just what we have been discussing on another thread...
OIC = Political arm of the global jihad.
Mahathir, unfortunately, is no dummy. Self serving islamofasicst, corrupt, liar with an over inflated ego an delusions of grandeur... he knows how to read his audience, serve them up a helping of his prime BS to order.
Someone needs to be looking into the guys financial dealings. His corrupt sons (Mukhriz and Mirzan) too. They ran the country like an islamic mafia state, run on fear and terror. No one was safe from them.
Anyone who crossed them, even those close to them, would be immediately silenced.
Clive S. Kessler, in his article maintains:Now, if only those "islamists" has enough cash to bribe the clan via Tun Daim Zainuddin... they'd probably take it and retire in Dubai."During his long premiership Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad opposed the Islamists with conviction, and a stridency that often served their political objectives more than his..."
Really, Mr Kessler?
The ONLY reason that Mahathir clamped down on some of the other islamic parties is the same reason he clamped down on the DAP and others who threatened UMNO. The swine simply wanted to stay in power, and eventually hand off to one of his lackeys so that an investigation into his families dealings would never be carried out, thus he could retire in peace to enjoy the riches the blood of his country men and women brought him.
UMNO survives on terror and Mahathir was one of its chief architects.
Oh never mind, you get a load of crap if you even have an Israeli visa stamp in your passport... in fact the locals (Malaysian) passports are marked "This passport is valid for all countries, except Israel."
A quick Google for a Giggle...
Description
United Malay National Organisation UMNO is the backbone of Malaysia. It has ruled Malaysia since independence (1957) It has the support of MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PBB, PBDS, SUPP, SNAP, SAPP, LDP, PBRS, PDS, PPP, PBS and IPF. It is the leading party in the country.It is opposed by PAS, DAP, PRM, keADILan, STAR, Bersekutu.
UMNO believes in free speech, free media, justice and human rights.
UMNO percaya kepada kebebasan media, hak asasi manusia dan keadilan.
UMNO menentang korupsi, penipuan, fitnah, kezaliman.
UMNO bukannya tapak untuk mencari kekayaan.
UMNO is strongly anti corruption.
Those who are corrupted are not acceptable in UMNO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UMNO/
They have to say that because they know those are their weak points. Tell a lie often enough and hope some will believe its true.
Kinda like "islam is a religion of peace and tolerance!"
They've screwed over many of their close friends, who have to sell their successful businesses to the Mahathir clan, or licenses and permits and all those things conducive to running a business smoothly suddenly come hard to come by. It doesn't matter which Mahathir crony they've had to bribe for them already. Then they switch to thinly veiled threats.
I'm amazed he was never brought down in a coup. He had a lot of pi$$ed off people in his inner circle who had no love for him as a person, his politics, or his corrupt practices...
Some combination, islam and the asian mindset...soon I am off to Tasmania...that's as far from South East Asia as it's possible to get without freezing.
Oops, I confused Indonesia with Malaysia. There are reportedly no Jews in Malaysia.
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