Malaysia's Islamist Goals
By Paul Stenhouse
In September 2008, the Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim was quoted1 as saying that ‘the Organization of the Islamic Conference' *OIC+ ‘had asked Malaysia to play a major role in rectifying the misconception of Islam within Western Society'.
Identifying and acknowledging misconceptions about other peoples and their beliefs is an onerous responsibility that we all share. Spurred on by Dr Yatim's challenge, this brief article will highlight a common misconception about the nation he serves - our regional neighbour, Malaysia.
In 1906, when people were less reluctant to speak their minds, a two-volume scientific study devoted to anthropology and philology described the effect of the Islamization of the Malay Peninsular on the non-Muslim aboriginal tribes, as follows: They were ‘reduce*d+ to the condition of hunted outlaws, to be enslaved, plundered and murdered by the Malay chiefs at their tyrannous will and pleasure'. Islam was described as ‘militant and missionary'.2
A common view being promoted in Australia, elsewhere in our region and beyond, is that Malaya in 1906 bears no relation to Malaysia in 2009; that Islam is no longer militant, and no longer wishes to impose itself by force on unwilling ‘infidels'; that Malaysia is now a democratic federation;3 that equality of rights and obligations flourishes amongst its disparate ethnic and religious mix,4 and that Malaysia is a model country in the region5.
For diplomatic reasons best known to the spin-doctors who advise him, July 10, 2008 saw Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd praising Malaysia for its ‘vibrant democracy'.6 A few months later, former US President Bill Clinton joined in this chorus of praise for Malaysia's democracy.7
Let's turn the clock back twenty-nine years.
In November 1980, the Islamic Da‘wa [i.e. missionary] Foundation of Malaysia [YADIM]8 which defines itself as ‘the catalyst' for the foundation of an Islamic State of Malaysia,9 set up a Regional Islamic Da‘wa Council for South-East Asia and the Pacific [RISEAP].
Seventeen countries were represented at this meeting held in Kuala Lumpur; among them were Muslim representatives from thirteen non-Islamic countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.
YADIM is dedicated to achieving its goals of promoting Islam through RISEAP, by creating a unified and efficient Islamic Da‘wa Movement within the seventeen countries represented at the meeting in 1980.
As YADIM's stated aim is to achieve all its objectives within Malaysia ‘according to our own *Islamic+ values,' one can reasonably assume that Islamic groups in the thirteen non-Islamic countries represented at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur will work through Da‘wa to influence their host countries ‘according to [their] own *Islamic+ values'. How these ‘values' affect daily life in countries that accept them will be touched upon later in this article.
The term da‘wa usually means ‘invitation' in the sense of inviting someone to become a Muslim. It can also be used to mean an invitation to a dinner, or to a concert or play, to prayer or to war. The original title of Australian Islamic Mission Inc. [AIM]10 was, for example, Jamaat Daawah Islamiah: ‘The Islamic Da‘wa Organisation.'
This multiplicity of meanings poses no real problem in specific cases, for the context makes clear the meaning intended by those using the term.
‘Da'wah' was translated for us by the organisers of a Sydney Conference organized by RISEAP in 1997, as ‘the invitation to submit to the will of Allah'.11
The organisers explained that ‘every Muslim is a da'i [inviter i.e. missionary] provided they do Da'wah according to the Quran and the Sunnah'. They made no mention of the fact that ‘Islamic Social Planning,' and ‘Comprehensive Da‘wa' - ‘Do*ing+ Da‘wah according to the Quran and the Sunnah' - are the civil, soft-sell, pseudo-democratic counterparts to jihad, and share the same goals as violent struggle, viz.: the establishment of an Islamic State.12
The present Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when Mayor of Istanbul in 1998, was quoted as saying that ‘Democracy is like a streetcar: when you reach your destination you get off'.13
Fore-warned, you would think, should be fore-armed. Apparently not.
Former US President Bill Clinton took his cue from Kevin Rudd and managed to involve himself in this issue in December 2008 when he visited Malaysia for the first time, to receive an award.
On that occasion he was reported as expressing ‘admiration for Malaysians, saying that their ability to respect other people's faiths should be emulated by all.' 14
He went on to describe Malaysia as ‘the model that there is hope for the future,' and added: ‘This is what the world should be like'. ‘This remarkable nation,' he said, ‘will be forever in my mind'.15
In holding Malaysia up as a role model for the world, Bill Clinton noted especially its ‘ability to respect people's faith'.
He can't have been well-briefed.
A little more than a year before that, in July 2007, the present Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak publicly declared Malaysia to be an Islamic State, and denied that it was a secular one. ‘He even went out of his way to emphasise that Malaysia had ‘never been a secular state'.'16
Razak's declaration was endorsed by the President of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia [ABIM] Yuri Mohamad. The latter declared that ‘the only changes that have occurred are in the attitude of those who cannot accept what has already been happening [in Malaysia] for a long time'.17
Among those who evidently have difficulty accepting ‘what has already been happening *in Malaysia+ for a long time' must be included the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton; and many Australians, including Prime Minister Rudd.
Countering ‘Islamophobia' and ‘misconception of Islam,' and scrutinising claims of Malaysian ‘respect for *other+ people's faith,' are, it goes without saying, matters that concern all right-minded people.
In the light of Bill Clinton's recommending Malaysia as a model of moderation, it may be helpful to look at its record since it came into existence in 1957; and since Mr Justice Abdul Hamid of the West Pakistan High Court who was a member of the Reid Commission that drafted the Malaysian Constitution, recommended that Article 3 (1) should state that ‘Islam is the religion of the Federation ...'.
Since 1957 Malaysian government policies that discriminate against non-Muslims have multiplied. Incidents of intolerance and discrimination, usually ignored in the Western Press, are well documented and readily accessible to impartial enquirers.
We will content ourselves here with a brief overview of a few of the issues raised in the International Religious Freedom Report 2009. Among other things, the Report notes:
*The Malaysian Government maintains an official list of 56 sects of Islam it considers ‘deviant' and a threat to national security.
*The Government may detain Muslims who deviate from accepted Sunni principles and subject them to mandatory ‘rehabilitation' in centers that teach and enforce government-approved Islamic practices.
*Muslims generally may not legally convert to another religion, although members of other religions may convert to Islam.18
*Shari'a courts have never recognized the conversion of ethnic Malays from Islam to another religion.
*Officials at the federal and state government levels oversee Islamic religious activities, and they sometimes influence the content of sermons, use mosques to convey political messages, and prevent certain imams from speaking at mosques.
*The Government maintains a dual legal system, whereby Shari'a courts rule on religious and family issues involving Muslims, and secular courts rule on other issues pertaining to the broader population.
*Government policies promoted Islam above other religions.
*Minority religious groups remained generally free to practise their beliefs; however, over the past several years, many have expressed concern that the civil court system has gradually ceded jurisdictional control to Shari'a courts, particularly in areas of family law involving disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims.
*Religious minorities continued to face limitations on religious expression and alleged violations of property rights.
*The Government restricts distribution of Malay-language Christian materials in peninsular Malaysia.19
Other matters noted in the report include:
*The Government does not recognize marriage between Muslims and non- Muslims.
*The Government strictly prohibits religious groups proselytizing Muslims, although proselytizing non-Muslims is allowed.
*The State Government of Kelantan
- requires Muslim women to wear clothes that expose only their faces and hands;
- imposes fines on couples who sit too close [Khalwat] in public areas;
Khalwat, if proven, is a criminal offence, punishable with two-years' imprisonment and/or a fine of $940.
- forbids women to wear high heels, bright lipstick, or transparent headscarves.
*The State Government of Kelantan require men and women to form separate queues at supermarkets.
*Some Government agencies pressured non-Muslim women to wear headscarves while attending public functions.
*Religious police can conduct raids at hotels and bars in order to catch Muslims dressed indecently, consuming alcohol, or in close proximity to members of the opposite sex and charge them under Shari'a.
*There was no discussion of protecting individuals wishing to convert from Islam.
*Fifty-seven books were banned. Words like ‘Allah' *God+ ‘Baitullah' *House of God+ and ‘Solat' *Prayer+ can only be used by Muslims.
*Muslims cannot practise Yoga.
*The National Fatwa Council banned ‘tomboys'. Girls cannot have short hair, or dress, walk or act like boys.
*In April 2009 the Government announced plans to relocate 29 Hindu temples, and gave the caretakers 30-day notice.
*State Shari'a courts can order individuals who request permission to convert from Islam, or who belong to an Islamic sect deemed ‘deviant,' to enter ‘religious rehabilitation centres'.
*Anti-Semitic books are readily available at street vendors, or in book stores.
*The government has occasionally suppressed public discussion of topics like religious freedom, conversion of minors, and inter-faith dialogue.
*The Pan Malaysian Islamic Party [PAS] has even banned traditional Malay dance theatre.20
As we go to press Robert Pigott [BBC News] reported that the Malaysian Government had refused to release 10,000 bibles that contain the word ‘Allah' referring to God.
Two years ago the Malaysian Security Ministry banned the use of ‘Allah' in the Malay editions of the Catholic ‘Herald,' a weekly newspaper which also appears in English, Chinese and Tamil. The reasons given for the ban were 'security' and possible confusion amongst Muslims which ‘could harm the public order'. The ban ignored the fact that the Catholics in the region had been using the word ‘Allah' referring to God, for centuries. And that more than 600,000 of Malaysia's Catholics live in Sabah and Sarawak, and for many of them Malay is their native tongue.21
The Malaysian government has to-ed and fro-ed over this issue since it first banned the use of ‘Allah' by the ‘Herald'. On February 16 this year it ruled that the newspaper be permitted to use the word ‘Allah,' provided the words ‘for Christianity' were printed on the newspaper's cover. When it was announced that permission had been given to Catholics to use the term ‘Allah,' the Chairman of YADIM, Datuk Nakhaie Ahmad, told the State News Agency Bernama: ‘To me, it's a mistake'. He also warned that allowing the use of the word in Christian publications could anger Muslims not only in Malaysia but also around the world. He called on the government to withdraw permission. The Minister Syed Hamid admitted that he had made a mistake, and permission was withdrawn shortly afterwards.22
Nakhaie Ahmad is Chairman of the Malaysian Da‘wa organisation that founded RISEAP in 1980 and assists it in furthering the Islamic cause in Australia. RISEAP is known to be funded from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. It also has links with the Saudi-funded and inspired Muslim World League [MWL] and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth [WAMY] and the International Islamic Relief Organisation [IIRO] which have been accused23 of backing bin Laden and involvement in funding jihadist fighters.
One is tempted to ask the former US President how the above [which does not cover all the matters raised in the Report] differs from a description of life in an Islamic State governed by Shari'a, and how comfortable he would be - as a non-Muslim - making his home there.
Stephen Schwartz's comments are apposite:
‘Aid officials, religious missionaries and assorted hangers-on, in furtherance of extremist ends, appeared from San Francisco to Sarajevo to Singapore, coordinated by such hitherto-respectable entities as the MWL. They had powerful associations in the Saudi kingdom as well as in Pakistan, and with the organisations making up a ‘Wahhabi lobby' in the United States. As the medresas trained suicide warriors, the charities provided them with organisational assistance and cover, including travel expenses and jobs.24
Some Western politicians, academics, clergy, and media, oblivious of the currents surging through modern-day Islamist circles appear to be unfazed by the often reciprocal relationship between various Islamic da‘wist NGOs and terrorist organisations.
Many others simply pretend nothing is happening. When confronted by irrefutable proof of links between Islamic da‘wist charities and suicide-bombers, terrorist cells, revolutionary agendas and the enlisting and training of mujahidun, they rarely go beyond impotent gestures and wrist-slapping. In the case of some particularly ill-informed people - religious people among them - they go into denial mode and accuse critics of prejudice and worse.
Some academics plug into lucrative Australian Research Council [ARC] grants which ‘from 1997 to 2004 provided four million dollars to support projects examining Islam and aspects of Islamic experience,' and indulge in the futile exercise of ‘investigating "innovative ways" of "rethinking" "aesthetic, ethical and strategic" responses to such "tragic events".25
Sad experience around the world since the Wahhabi regime [declared by fatwas in British India of the 19th century to be non-Muslims] drove out the Hashemite tribal rulers of Mecca [1924] and Medina [1925] and seized power in Arabia, proves how toxic political correctness is to a healthy immune system in the body democratic and politic.
Former US President Bill Clinton's vision of Malaysia as a role model for the region and the world, is shared by many well-meaning people in Australia and elsewhere who are ill-informed about the reality of life in the exotic former Spice Islands and Malay States.
Such fantasies need to be balanced against readily available and well-documented evidence to the contrary. Non-Islamic indigenous, Chinese and Indian communities in Malaysia suffer ongoing discrimination and intolerance that gives the lie to claims that Islam is peaceable, and that Malaysia is respectful of other faiths. It should also make democratic countries in the region look carefully at Da‘wist organizations that promote a Malaysian model of Islam.
A final thought: the US is reportedly Malaysia's largest trading partner, and Malaysia is the United States' 10th largest trading partner. Two-way trade between the two countries stood at US$44 billion (RM160 billion) in 2005.26
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Some of the material on Da‘wa included here appeared in my article ‘Ignoring Signposts on the road - Da‘wa, Jihad with a Velvet Glove,' Quadrant, June 2007.
1 ‘Malaysia proposes convention on Islamophobia,' The Star, Thursday September 25, 2008.
2 Walter Skeat and Charles Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsular, 2 vols. London, Macmillan & Co, 1906,
i, 15.
3 Malaysia officially describes itself as a ‘Parliamentary Democracy'.
4 See e.g. My Far East - About Malaysia, http://www.myfareast.org/Malaysia/homepage.html
5 ‘Clinton: Malaysia a Role Model,' by Royce Cheah, The Star, Saturday December 6, 2008.
6 See ABC News, ‘Rudd praises "vibrant" Malaysian democracy,' July 10, 2008, 3.16 pm AEST.
7 See further on in this article.
8 Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia.
9 RISEAP website: http//riseap.org
10 AIM's President is Dr Zachariah Matthews.
11 This makes it clear that the organizers understand the primary meaning of the term ‘Islam' to be ‘submission to the will of Allah' and not, as is so often claimed, ‘peace'.
12 Islamism and its enemies in the Horn of Africa, ed. cit. p. 10.
13 quoted in "The Erdogan Experiment", New York Times, May 11, 2003.
14 ‘Clinton: Malaysia a Role Model,' by Royce Cheah, The Star, Saturday December 6, 2008.
15 Ibid.
16 . http://blog.limkitsiang.com
17 See Fauwaz Abdul Aziz ‘ABIM: We're an Islamic State in Practice', quoted in ‘Three Responses to Najib's ‘717 Declaration'. http://blog.limkitsiang.com
18 The case of Lina Joy, an ethnic Malay who applied unsuccessfully to have her conversion to Catholicism recognized by the Malaysian High Court, is notorious. The Court declared that ‘a person cannot, at one's whims and fancies renounce or embrace a religion'. She was sent back to the Shari'a Court. She and her fiancé have received death threats. See Islam Watch, June 31, 2007 ‘Moderate Malaysia's Religious Freedom:Lina Joy, Thou Shan't Leave Islam' by Adrian Morgan.
19 USA Department of State: International Religious Freedom Report 2009 - Malaysia.
20 USA Department of State: International Religious Freedom Report 2009 - Malaysia.
21 UCA News, Monay November 9, 2009
22 See e.g. The Star, February 28, 2009: ‘Home Ministry rescinds gazette on word "Allah"
23 ‘Saudi Arabia: Terrorist Financing Issues,' Prados and Blanchard, CRS Report for Congress, Updated February 8, 2006; Dore Gold ‘The Saudi State and Terrorism,' The Middle East Forum, April 4, 2003.
24 The Two Faces of Islam, Anchor Books, 2003 p.200.
25 ‘Delusion reigns in Terror Studies,' David Martin Jones, Carl Ungerer, The Australian, September 15, 2006.
26 See inter alia TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements, 16 January 2007, ‘Critical Issues in US-Malaysia FTA Talks'.