Political power play in the ‘Melayuisation’ of Islam
It’s good to be guided by Islamic principles in how we live, but even as we Malays became more pious, we haven’t become kinder, gentler or less corrupt.
(FMT) – Over the last few decades, Malays have become more religious, though perhaps more pious is a better description. With that, there’s also been much talk about the
“Arabisation”
of the Malays. Looking around, there’s indeed a lot of evidence, albeit rather superficial ones, to support that view.
I’m not a fan of “going Arab”. I think it’s misguided, and any devout Muslim should be concerned about this focus on the external (what people see) rather than the focus on the internal, of who you truly are in the eyes of God.
It certainly is easier to appear a good Muslim than to be a good Muslim. This is true with any other faith.
Being a good Muslim requires a lot of hard work – including the need to sift through the noise and confusion that have appeared in the 14 centuries since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
It’s indeed hard work because the confusion unfortunately requires us to make many tough decisions – is this right? Is this what God had wanted from us? Is this what the Quran or the Prophet said and, more importantly, meant?
On the other hand, it’s much easier to appear a good Muslim. Apart from performing the rituals and commandments – prayers, fasting, giving alms, etc – you just blindly follow the loudest voice telling you what you must do to be a good Muslim.
There’s no shortage of such voices in Malaysia – shrill, even hysterical, voices full of judgments and admonitions about what you can and especially cannot do.
Such voices often come with great power, whether officially through the many agencies or political positions backed by government budgets and laws and ordinances, or unofficially through the power to persuade others to defer to them on everything sacred or profane on account of them being “learned’.
The Arabisation of Malays however may not be the biggest problem facing us. After all, dressing up like an Arab will evolve over time as people realise it doesn’t make much sense in Malaysia’s culture and weather. Good sense will prevail.
Being a good Malay
A bigger issue is the increasing “Melayuisation” of Islam, in reducing the faith to the performance of simplistic ways that have more to do with meeting the latest definition of what it is to be a good Malay then it is about being a good Muslim.
This manifests itself in many ways, but none clearer than the slogan that says “Malay is Islam – Islam is Malay”. It’s easy enough to say “Malay is Islam” meaning a Malay is a Muslim – a definition written into the Federal Constitution – but not so simple to say “Islam is Malay”.
Islam, a faith for all of humanity, cannot be equated with or claimed by any particular racial group, not even by Arabs.
The increasingly uneasy way Malaysians now relate to each other, manifested in toxic racial politics, has been made more complicated with the injection of Islam into the mix.
Islam, an officially “sensitive” topic, is increasingly used as a political tool, an effective one at that.
True, Islam has always been part of the Malay body politic. There have always been Islamic political entities, such as PAS, some of which existed even before the country gained independence.
Islam in politics isn’t new. What’s new is the newfound power and increased radicalism that comes with it.
Power of racial identity
Politics has become fixated on racial identity, and Islam has become a very convenient and powerful tool in Malay identity politics. Politicians recognise the power of such tools, which are like get-out-of-jail cards that confer immense power and immunity to those who wield them.
We see this in the increasingly strident invocation of the 3Rs – race, religion, and royalty. The 3R flame-throwers conveniently forget we have laws, and that any concern about 3Rs must lie within the bounds of such laws, and not above or beyond them.
It’s not OK for some sections of Malay politics to silence others from saying things they don’t like to hear.
I’m all for having Islam being the guiding principles of how the Malays live their life. The principles of Islam ask for the Muslims to live an exemplary life. If we truly follow these principles, we would be a very moral and successful people, shining beacons to those with whom we share our country and world.
But we have seen how, even as we Malays became increasingly pious, we haven’t become kinder or gentler or less corrupt. Our religious leaders haven’t found the courage of their religious conviction to stamp out the evil of corruption – this breaking of amanah, or trust – that is the root of all our evils.
Ignoring the problem
What they do is slink away from having to deal with it, partly because it’s so widespread and entrenched and they’ve no idea how to deal with it, and also given that some of the most corrupt are also among the most powerful in our society and are not to be trifled with.
Can they blame others for feeling that, if such is the case, then the Islamic laws they want to introduce are no more than a tool to keep the lower strata of our society – already the least powerful – in control? That hudud – hence Islamic laws in general – are only suitable for petty thefts and moral transgressions?
As a senior police officer recently remarked, Muslims can’t just say that corruption in the country is the fault of the non-Muslims. It takes two hands to clap, and both corrupt parties are wrong, though forgive me for believing those who take an oath in God’s name to keep the trust must at least be a smidgen more guilty.
Moreover, Malays run the country. We control almost all the important levers of the country’s governing framework. There’s nothing to stop us from waking up tomorrow and saying we’ll abolish corruption forthwith, and follow through with it.
When that’s done, we can go on to deal with the really important stuff, such as improving education and eliminating poverty and injustice. But, no, that’s too difficult, and risky.
Non-Muslim bogeymen
They would rather just keep on shouting about rituals and about the typical topic of their insecure souls – how Islam and hence the Malays, are under threat. From whom? From non-Muslims, of course, a minority that is becoming ever smaller over time.
By “Melayu-ising” Islam, many of today’s Malay leaders are able to elevate their politics into areas that others can’t question for fear of running afoul of a 3R offence and paying the price.
The other advantage is that such leaders can literally lord it over ordinary Malays, who have spent years being frightened out of their skin about threats by non-Muslims against them.
Certainly, the fears these leaders have put into the minds of ordinary Malays are also real fears in their insecure souls. It’s this insecurity, which hasn’t diminished, despite decades of independence, that drives identity politics and its most powerful tool yet – conflating Islam the faith with Malay the race.
For our learned religious and political leaders, who seem to draw their authority directly from the Almighty, I have this to say: unlearned as I am, I doubt that God is pleased about being dragged into the petty politics used to cover, perhaps even promote, corruption and injustice.
