Portrait of the middle class Muslim in Malaysia
A number of middle class Malay Muslims, who are the very picture of NEP success, may come with a rigid and sometimes hostile mindset.
I am often asked what kind of Islam is practised in Malaysia these days.
It is horrifying to meet many Muslims, and having to address the snobbery, who have little idea of what their fellow Muslims in Malaysia have to face. Being middle class endangers our worldview.
Very few can relate to the idea that we do have serious urban poverty, and when they are confronted by the facts, they relegate the responsibility to the government.
It is not their problem, they claim, as they race to help marginalised Muslims who are overseas.
(On this note, the writer would like to express her disbelief and exasperation. She sees too many Facebook posts on the plight of Syrians, Palestinians et al, and how we Muslims unite, but when they are told that Syrian, Palestinian refugees ARE in Malaysia, help is not forthcoming.)
They are the very same parents who send their children to private and international schools, lambasting government ones, and the vitriol they spew against non-Muslims and yes, their very own kind, the disenfranchised Malay, is frightening.
It is this voice that requires investigation, as the conversation is already dominated by well-known voices of the “modern” Muslims and conservatives of the Perkasa ilk. Masked by education, designer handbags and cars, these model Muslims may be the Hyde next door.
Why is class an important influencer?
The newly minted Malay Muslim is not unlike American evangelical Christians.
“Evangelical Christians are now increasingly likely to be college graduates and in the top income brackets. Evangelical CEOs pray together on monthly conference calls, evangelical investment bankers study the Bible over lunch on Wall Street and deep-pocketed evangelical donors gather at golf courses for conferences restricted to those who give more than US$200,000 (RM659,300) annually to Christian causes.
“Their growing wealth and education help explain the new influence of evangelicals in American culture and politics. Their buying power fuels the booming market for Christian books, music and films. Their rising income has paid for construction of vast mega-churches in suburbs across the country. Their charitable contributions finance dozens of mission agencies, religious broadcasters and international service groups.”
It would be very hard not to be impressed by these very people, for they are everything we all aspire to be. They are also very connected in more ways than one, and educated.
