Stirrings in Selangor state.
If you wish to understand the governing philosophy of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, you must familiarize yourself with Islam Hadhari. It’s a particular take on Islam and its role in public life that has especial traction in Malaysia, not least because the Prime Minister is a vigorous proponent of its role and possibilities. Americans used to our Constitutional order may not readily grasp the importance of a democratic leader’s theological propensities: as Jefferson said, “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” But in Malaysia, and in an Islamic society, it might well do both. Most (though not all) strains of Islam claim an explicit role in the state and governance — as do some forms of Judaism, Theravada Buddhism, and to a vastly lesser extent, particular Christian denominations — and so it matters greatly what a leader’s view of religion in public life is.
Before Badawi’s ascent to power, in the 22 years of Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership, the role of Islam in governance was inextricably bound up with the promulgation of the Bumiputra system of ethnic-Malay preference in economic and policy affairs. (We’ll be writing much more on the Bumiputra system in time.) Though Mahathir himself became infamous for saying inflammatory things to Islamic audiences in the last decade of his tenure, within Malaysia itself, it cannot be said that he implemented Islamic rule per se. Rather, Islam was an adjunct to Bumiputra, as Islam plus ethnicity defined what a Bumiputra was.
Under PM Badawi, Islam’s role is shifting, and the endorsement of Islam Hadhari is intrinsically bound to this process. It’s best to let him define the term himself, as he did to a Western audience in his speech at Victoria University in New Zealand in March 2005:
We like to view Islam Hadhari as an effort to bring the faithful back to basics, to give primacy to good values and adherence to certain fundamentals. Islam Hadhari posits ten fundamental principles which Muslim nations and communities must demonstrate, namely:
First, faith and piety in the almighty god, Allah; Second, a just and trustworthy government; Third, a free and independent people; Fourth, vigorous pursuit and mastery of knowledge; Fifth, balanced and comprehensive economic development; Sixth, a good quality of life for the people; Seventh, protection of the rights of minority groups and women; Eighth, cultural and moral integrity; Ninth, safeguarding natural resources and the environment; and Tenth, strong defence capabilities. Just in case there is any doubt, I would also like to state that Islam Hadhari is entirely consistent with democracy because Islam Hadhari is all about living peacefully and respecting each other in the society. Islam Hadhari would encourage “mushawarah” (consensus building) as an approach to solving problems and would accept the “shura” (consultative process) as the best way of dealing with various societal issues. Islam Hadhari provides for democracy in much the same way as John Dewey, the classical guru on democracy, provided for democracy in his time. In 1916, in his book entitled “Democracy and Education”, John Dewey had stipulated that the democratic way of life requires of everyone that “each has to refer his own action to that of others, and to consider the action of others to give point and direction to his own”.
This passage is worth noting, not just because it’s the only time you’ll ever find an Asian leader using John Dewey as a validator of governing philosophy, but because that invocation emphasizes the pragmatic and moderate role that Islam Hadhari assigns to Islam in Malaysian governance. (Further backgrounder on the topic may be found here and here.)
This is not to pretend that under PM Badawi and Islam Hadhari, all is well at the intersection of Malaysian faith and society. It assuredly is not, and a good example of what goes wrong may be found in Malaysia’s Selangor state, where the ruling state party, the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, has just forbidden wholesale Islam Hadhari’s promulgation. The Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, or PAS, shocked the ruling coalition, of which Badawi is the national leader, when it seized Selangor’s government in the epochal March 2008 Malaysian elections. Selangor is no backwater, as it directly adjoins the national capital at Kuala Lumpur — its control by the opposition therefore affords it the opportunity to directly challenge the ruling coalition’s policies and practices at the country’s heart.
Herein lies another point worth noting: the PAS is one of the three key members of the opposition coalition, which is itself headed by Western media darling Anwar Ibrahim. It should be recalled that Ibrahim has confidently predicted his own ascent to the Prime Ministerial office by September — so it should be asked who he will bring to power with him. If the PAS will lead Malaysia as a senior coalition partner under an Ibrahim government, it’s worth noting the PAS’s public record. A quick survey leads one to note that the PAS has a history of endorsing shari’a law, including “punishments of stoning, whipping and amputation“; protests against non-Muslim Malaysians; and offering “rhetorical support for Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban regime.” Ibrahim himself is quite aware of this, and has offered some weak defenses of his alliance with the PAS — but he is not, on the whole, especially concerned with their excesses. Americans may feel differently.
The PAS prohibition on Islam Hadhari in Selangor state, then, is not merely a tactical swipe at a political opponent. It is a fundamental expression of what the PAS believes, and a forthright preview of what it will seek if and when it is part of Malaysia’s ruling coalition. In this light, the success of Islam Hadhari is not some obscure doctrinal dispute in a faraway country, but a very real and current issue in Islam’s own worldwide struggle to accommodate modernity. Americans in the post-9/11 era don’t need any reminder just how much this matters to them — and so we watch Selangor state with concern.
