Anwar’s progressive Islam or Hadi’s conservative Islam?
Dennis Ignatius
[1] Professor Tajuddin Rasdi posits the view that Malaysians – and especially non-Malays – have a stark choice before them: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s “progressive” Islam or Hadi Awang’s “conservative” Islam.[1]
[2] According to him, Anwar’s Islam is “a perfect blend of western progressive thinking and eastern spiritual values rooted in tradition… progressive in all knowledge constructs, innovative in all artistic and scientific constructs and just to people of all faiths as its main creed of service.” Conservative Islam on the other hand is “backward, intolerant, narrow-minded and regressive.”
[3] It’s the kind of ‘heads-I-win, tails-you-lose’ offer that is disingenuous at best because neither of these choices appeal to non-Muslims.
[4] For non-Muslims, the clear choice has always been for the secular democratic state that found expression in our Federal Constitution and which was later reaffirmed in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement – a hybrid polity with Islam as the “religion of the Federation” within the framework of a secular multicultural society. As Tunku Abdul Rahman said in parliament in 1958: “I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic state as it is generally understood; we merely provided that Islam shall be the official religion of the State.”[2]
[5] Time and again, non-Muslims have voted overwhelmingly for political leaders who have upheld our multicultural framework while rejecting those who would fundamentally alter it. In fact, non-Muslims voted overwhelming for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition in the last election because they were persuaded that he was committed to this basic understanding about the character of our nation. Many now feel disappointed and betrayed.
