from: Johan James, via email
Nader Hashemi, the Director of Centre for Middle-East Studies at the University of Denver, has labelled Malaysia as a failed nation because of its failure to live up to the expectation of fighting radical Islam.
This disheartening remark by the US-based scholar was made in his talk entitled “The ISIS Crisis and the Spread of Radical Islam” two days ago at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
He could be right to a certain extent but that doesn’t mean that he is absolutely correct in his statement on Malaysia’s status as a moderate Muslim country. Indeed there are certain groups of Muslim youths in Malaysia influenced by Wahhabism but not all have fallen under the influence of these extreme Islamic beliefs.
Our unique demographic composition of different types of people with various beliefs and cultures has formed an effective repellent against extremism.
Moreover Malay culture has never tolerated violence against non-Muslims or the minorities. Malays are certainly not like their Muslim brothers in the Arab world, with their own way of practising Islamic teachings, not only today but in the pre-independence era.
Malays are generally tolerant in nature and that’s why they can live in harmony with people of other races. This exceptional nature in Malay culture has overshadowed the Wahhabism brewed in the Arab world.
According to Nader, Wahhabism was developed by the Saudis after the discovery of oil and was propagated around the world with expenditure of up to US$100 billion during the Cold War era.
Nader seems to miss another important factor that contributed to the rise of Wahhabism and subsequently Jihadism, especially among the displaced young men, notably in Iraq and Syria. He missed the false intelligence provided by the irresponsible CIA for control of the oil-rich Middle East.
Those contributory factors led to the emergence of IS, as an ultimate evil force under the disguise of Islamic teachings.
Malaysia’s citizens are totally against extremism. The Malay Muslim majority never resorted to violence to exert supremacy. The only major clashes occurred in May 1969 and was quickly put down.
On the other hand, Nader subtly concluded in his speech that Malaysia has to set its democracy in order before being able to achieve the status of an exemplary Islam state practising moderate Islamic teachings.
This is stark evidence of his failure to understand the demographic pattern and that Malaysians are unique in that we allow people to practise their own culture, religion and provide education in their native languages, despite Islam being the federal religion.
Given that Malaysia is a multiracial country, unlimited democracy is still a far cry. As our political landscape is dominated by race-based political parties, a democratic system with certain limits is the best option to maintain harmony.
More than five decades of peaceful governance reflects the success of limited democracy. That said, it is not an exaggeration if Malaysia is hailed as the beacon of hope for the Muslim world.
Johan James is an FMT reader
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