25 swallows making a summer

I believe the non-Malays should remain silent and just let the Malays engage each other in this matter. We need Muslims to debate Muslims as to what liberal Islam means and not the non-Muslims trying to teach Muslims how Islam should be interpreted. Would Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., accept the opinion of Muslims as to how Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism should be interpreted or practiced?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It appears like the ‘25 Prominent Malays’ have created quite a stir. (READ THEIR STATEMENT HERE). I am already reading comments applauding this ‘silent majority’ and congratulating them and saying that at last the liberal Malays are speaking up and finally we can see light at the end of the tunnel (and much more).

Actually, this was what Zaid Ibrahim, Marina Mahathir and a number of others (some non-Malays included) tried to do about ten years ago when they mooted the idea of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Society (MCLS) — and which never got approved by the Registrar of Societies until today.

And this is also what we tried to do four years ago when we launched the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) in London — and which Pakatan Rakyat opposed because they viewed this Movement as a threat to the opposition (especially that part about MCLM’s aim of seeing good governance in Malaysia and about having independent representatives in government who serve the voters and not the political parties).

Now we know where we went wrong. First of all, if you want to do something like this, you need to get about 20 or 30 ‘prominent Malaysians’ involved (or to head the organisation), desirably Malays, who have titles and/or are very senior ex-civil servants. It is better to get 20 or 30 orang kenamaan (prominent people) rather than 2,000 or 3,000 farmers and fishermen to be able to gain credibility. Titles and positions, even ex-positions, carry weight while if you are not in that category then no one cares two hoots about you.

Secondly, even if thousands support the cause, it will still not be seen as the voice of the majority while just two-dozen or so prominent people will be seen as the voice of the majority. Hence it is better to get just 20-30 ‘prominent people’ than thousands of the masses who no one knows from Adam. The 20-30 ‘prominent people’ will be perceived as the voice of the majority while the thousands of ‘insignificant people’ will not cause a stir.

I suppose this is just like how Muslims love talking about Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) and Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) converting to Islam to prove that Islam is a ‘growing’ religion while ignoring the thousands of Iranians who no longer believe in God and are now atheists. It is better to talk about two ‘new Muslims’ than the two million ‘apostates’ since no one know who these two million are and who are ‘insignificant’ anyway.

So, 25 prominent Malays have spoken up and support liberal Islam. That is good. I am not saying that it is not good. But first of all, has this just happened now? Are you saying that in the past such liberal Muslims have never spoken up? This is fallacy number one. Many Malays (meaning Muslims) share this view since the last 100 years or more. The only thing is they never bother to say anything because the liberal voice, never mind how big the numbers may be, can never outshout the conservatives (or extremists). Hence liberals choose to remain silent because arguing with conservatives is a waste of time.

Over the decades, many liberal Muslims (scholars amongst them) have been assassinated in the Middle Eastern countries for expressing their liberal views. Even Gandhi suffered that fate at the hands of conservative Hindus. Hence if you are a liberal it is better you keep your opinion to yourself than risk crossing swords with the conservatives who may do you harm, even in Israel for that matter.

So, just because the liberals choose to remain silent, it does not mean they do not exist. It just means they have chosen to ‘remain in the closet’ for obvious reasons because there is no way you can argue with the conservatives in a civilised manner, never mind which religion you are talking about.

In short, liberalism is rational whereas religion is not. How can religion be rational when you need faith to believe and faith is translated to mean lack of evidence? When there is lack of evidence you call it faith and if there is evidence you call it science. Hence you cannot rationalise your debate against an opponent who does not require rationalising to debate. It is as simple as that.

More importantly, do these ‘25 Prominent Malays’ really represent the voice of the majority? They did a poll in Pakistan not long ago and more than 75% said they support an Islamic State and more than 50% said they support a military government over an elected government. Pakistan, however, is pro-west and pro-US. But that is what the ‘vocal minority’ wants. The ‘silent majority’ does not support that same thing. Hence it is misleading if you gauge the Pakistani sentiments based on what ‘25 Prominent Pakistanis’ say.

While we may applaud these ‘25 Prominent Malays’, do the thousands of fishermen in Tumpat and farmers in Gua Musang share the sentiments of these 25? That is the million-dollar question. I fear that the ‘25 Prominent Malays’ may actually represent the voice of the minority and not the voice of the majority, like the case in Pakistan.

To be fair, the ‘25 Prominent Malays’ do represent quite a large voice. But we do not yet know how large is large. It could be a large minority. But a large minority does not make it a majority. Hence it is too early to pop champagne and celebrate the light at the end of the tunnel that some believe they are seeing.

The fact that the ‘25 Prominent Malays’ are being applauded by mainly the non-Malays does not help either. We need Malays to express support. Even though some Malays have, that is not enough when more non-Malays than Malays express support for the 25.

I believe the non-Malays should remain silent and just let the Malays engage each other in this matter. We need Muslims to debate Muslims as to what liberal Islam means and not the non-Muslims trying to teach Muslims how Islam should be interpreted. Would Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., accept the opinion of Muslims as to how Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism should be interpreted or practiced?

Maybe the non-Muslims do not realise how sensitive Muslims can be when it comes to non-Muslims trying to teach Muslims about ‘proper’ Islam. I have said this before and I say it again: let the Muslims sort out matters regarding Islam. This is a matter for the Muslims to resolve. Muslims do not try to teach Christians as to whether Protestantism or Catholicism is the correct version of Christianity. In that same spirit Muslims resent being told by non-Muslims as to what the correct version of Islam is.

What we need is for Umno, PAS and PKR to state their support or otherwise for the ‘25 Prominent Malays’. And have you noticed how deafening the silence is? Without a political will nothing is going to happen and it is going to be business as usual. So, if the politicians distance themselves from the 25, that can only mean there is no political will and we are not going to see changes in Malaysia in the immediate future.