Something terribly wrong is going on here in Malaysia (tag). Despite disapproval from Malaysian Cabinet, a government-based religious body is going to go ahead and establish a moral police squad. As if having the Malaysian police force acting as moral police is not enough, now we are going to have an official moral police entity. Meanwhile, amendment to Article 121 (1A) of the Malaysian Constitution – an article which deals with division of power between civil and syariah courts in Malaysia – which aims to make the constitution more just, are receiving popular opposition from the Muslim community; popular support for the amendment is apparently coming from non-Muslims. This collision must be avoided.
If the plan to set up the moral police goes through, this is where Malaysian human rights watchdogs like Suhakam, Hakam, Suaram, etc, could prove their worth. In the name of privacy, a class action suit against the moral police is a must. The suit must demand the entity disbandment while at the same time, prevents of similar future establishment. I don’t know about you but it seems to me these watchdogs, with exception of Suhakam, are dominated by non-Muslims and this might pose a delicate problem by turning it into a Muslims versus non-Muslims episode.
These days, as with the amendment of Article 121 (1A) of the Malaysian Constitution, it’s unfortunate to see that it’s mostly non-Muslims that are trying to defend various civil rights. To make it worse, some civil rights overlaps with Islamic sphere. This makes it easy for Muslim far-rightists to appeal to the Muslim masses that non-Muslims are trying to challenge Islam’s authority. No thanks to this, Muslim rightists could easily gain popular support from Muslim community in Malaysia.
This very reason is why I disagree with the way the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikh (MCCBCHS) is handling the matter. They should have worked with other rights-conscious Muslims instead of presenting themselves as champion of the non-Muslims. The way MCCBCHS acted only encourage a Muslim versus non-Muslim worldview. Memo by the 10 non-Muslim ministers on religious conversion to the Prime Minister is another unwelcoming development. Again, they should find at least a Muslim minister to join in, presenting an united Malaysian front and not an united non-Muslim front. The non-Muslim ministers and MCCBCHS’ recent actions are merely strengthening far-rightists’ base.
Populism could be very hard to counter with logical thinking. PAS, a Malaysian Islamist party, has already expressed support for the moral police and opposition to the amendment. They see this opportunity and they will definitely manipulate the masses to its own gain. I’m sure that the 10 ministers are also working on popular frequency. I hate this because currently, we are in a very volatile situation. All these developments might push everybody, including centrists, to a quagmire. Here, I offer a strategy for Malaysians to prevent themselves from falling into rightists’ hands.
The strategy to counter a rightist populists’ point is to prevent any of them from making populist’s argument in the first place. To put it bluntly, we need to stop a snowball from becoming an avalanche. That is, since the Muslim far-rightists are starting to make this as a Muslims versus non-Muslims dichotomy while the non-Muslims surprisingly are unaware of that they are falling into rightist’s hand, it is very important for the rights groups which unfortunately are apparently but not necessarily (I’m sure that liberal and moderate Muslims are concerned with erosion of civil liberties too; remind yourself of Nixon’s “silent majority”) dominated by non-Muslims to cast a Muslim face on the movement. Or at least a neutral face. Dr. Chandra Muzaffar looks like a possible candidate, though I’m not sure where he stands on the matter. Regardless, it’s very important that the face is not a mere puppet.
The same strategy applies to DAP or any other so-called multiracial political parties too if they plan to expand; though, they need Muslim Malays instead of just Muslims.
Before reading on further, please make explicit mental note that civil rights groups and rightists do not refer to the same group. Civil rights groups are placed in context of rights and privileges while rightists are found in right-left spectrum. Be very clear of that. Having the two groups sharing the same root word is, I suppose, an ugly language accident.
Once the civil rights groups have a Muslim face, the rightists will have trouble making their Muslim/non-Muslim points. Once that’s done, with them deprived of Muslim/non-Muslim dichotomy, these rightists will probably fall back to “secularism is the root of all evil” argument. For instance, this “secular militant“. But “secularism is the root of all evil” is easy to counter since once these rightists do that, they are only blabbering and will start to rely on spurious conspiracy theories that nobody actually cares.
erratum – Bernama says that 10 ministers handed the memo and that’s inaccurate. Only 9 ministers were involved.
8 replies on “[712] Of countering far-right groups”
Civic education is one area that is sorely lacking in our polity. Our citizens are not particularly aware of what our roles, rights and responsibilities are by virtue of the fact that we are citizens and what the dynamics of a citizen’s relationship with his or her government is.
Our concept of national identity is also very lacking. That is why, until today, we still have people arguing about whether Malaysia is a secular state, Islamic state, et al. The various labels tend to be political statements and proclamations that Malaysians seem to adopt, depending on their personal preference, due to the lack of clear understanding about what our identity is (Menj’s blanket statement that all non Muslims are already dhimmis whether we like it or not comes into mind).
All these factors come into play when we try to figure out why Malaysians tend to flock together on the basis of ethnicity and/or religion whenever things turn south and civil society remains the arena of the “elite”.
A good post on the issue.
I agree with you that civil rights groups are currently dominated by non-Muslims, and that in order to deflect the issue from turning into a ‘Muslims vs Non-Muslims’ thing, those groups need more prominent liberal Muslims in their fold. However, instead of asking why these groups aren’t searching for more Muslims to join them, we could also ask why aren’t more Muslims interested in joining those groups on their own accord?
I guess we can surmise from the present situation that most Muslims really aren’t that interested in participating in those kinds of groups, for whatever reasons. I therefore think educating more Malaysians to raise their awareness of their civil rights is the best way of gradually changing the mindsets of these people.
__earth, it indeed is a catch-22. The Muslimat cannot appear to go against anything related to Islam, or risk giving opportunists (i.e. PAS) fodder to nix them. Even the Muslimah will have to draw the line soon (SIS appears to be becoming even more isolated from mainstream Islamic thought). (Recently on a mostly yuppie Malay forum, I caught this gem of a comment that no Muslim dared to disagree with, even though I can name at least three or four liberal regulars there. It’s taboo to question Islam, no matter how ridiculous the matter may be.) Therefore, nothing will be done. This is why I am very skeptical about what can be done for Malaysia. In this country, race and religion are more important than the nation. By the time anyone remembers the nation, it’s too late. (Note: I am not indicting all or even most Muslims/Malays here. I’m just pointing out the realities of life.)
david, I concur with you and I understand the situation. However, if things are going the way it is, then it’s gonna be tough. I’m sure the Muslim/non-Muslim dichotomy, especially after the memorandum, cemented the disagreement and encourage other populists (read UMNO Youth) to join in and completely shut off the possibility of amendment. I’m sure the Prime Minister said no yesterday after many see this as a Muslim against non-Muslim issue. That in turn forced the PM to say no because he’s a Muslim and he doesn’t want to go against the wave.
But perhaps, this is kind of a catch 22 scenario.
Malaysians, or the governement of Malaysia, still have not learned to work together as a country …
I agreed with you that having a list of 10-non-moslims from the cabinets on the petition list is asking for trouble. Exclusion (on both sides) would only worsen the situations.
i agree that the moorthy affair is taking on a racial/religious tone but you must understand how deeply we non-muslims feel affected by the incident. the point is, are there ‘liberal’ minded muslims in the cabinet who feel the same way about equity and justice and will stand with non-muslims? (ie – ayah pin and co, had a hard time finding muslim lawyers to represent their interests or feel strongly enough to do so pro bono). where were they when dr mahathir declared malaysia an ‘islamic’ state? correct me if i’m wrong but an islamic credential is these days essentail to political survival. any hint of ‘secularism'(as u correctly surmise) and you lose your groundroots support…
Strategic engagement .. among other things .. interesting thoughts, and good observations. Should make this required reading for everyone who’s involved in this sad sordid affair.
“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.” Aldous Huxley