Spotlight on Malaysia’s complex ties with Islam
(FT) – As investigators scramble to figure out whether missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was hijacked, analysts will be tempted to speculate on whether this has any relevance.
As any tourist visiting Malaysia discovers, the lure of the country’s pristine beaches and rainforest treks are a powerful draw.
The government has designated 2014 “Visit Malaysia” year, as part of a plan to boost tourist arrivals to 36m – 6m more than the country’s population – by 2020.
Yet as well as the colourful images being portrayed in the government’s advertising campaign, Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with a complex relationship with Islam.
As investigators scramble to figure out whether missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was hijacked, analysts will be tempted to speculate on whether this has any relevance.
On the face of it, the answer is no. Malaysia is not known as a base for radical Islamist terrorism, and it is precisely its success in managing its multi-ethnic population under the banner of moderate Islam that has turned the country into an important ally for the US.
Malaysia was at the forefront of nations condemning the 9/11 attacks on the US and provided logistical support and use of its air space for the US-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Yet domestically, the picture is more complex.
Malaysia’s constitution established Islam as the state religion when the country achieved independence from Britain in 1957. But its vague provisions mean that successive political leaders were “given free rein over the employment or neglect of Islam as a political tool”, says Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
