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Islamic push for Malaysian
moderation
By Marwaan
Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Despite its
location on the margins of the Islamic world,
Malaysia is coming out well ahead of other Muslim
countries on the pivotal question of how to redeem
the battered image of Islam and its followers.
Such a rise in significance over other
Islamic centers of gravity, such as Egypt, Saudi
Arabia or Iran in the Middle East or Pakistan in
South Asia, stems from moves underway by the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to
give itself a face-lift.
The OIC's
interest in Malaysia to help push through the
sweeping reforms it has in mind was confirmed
during a recently concluded meeting in Pakistan.
During that gathering, from May 28-29, the
moderate ideals of Islam Hadhari being advocated
by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
were embraced as the way forward.
The OIC
wants Islam Hadhari, or civilizational Islam, to
be a central pillar in the new look it is seeking
for itself, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
Albar said recently.
Other changes in the
cards, according to the minister, are a new name
and charter for this premier Islamic body that
reflects the views of the world's Muslims.
Calls for such reform originated during
the last OIC summit hosted by Malaysia in October
2003. That was the first gathering of the
57-member body since September 11, 2001, which
gave rise to a global image of Muslims as prone to
violence and supporting terrorism.
The
recommendations made by Islamic experts during the
recent meeting in Pakistan are to be fine-tuned at
a gathering of OIC foreign ministers in Yemen in
July. They will then be tabled at a special summit
of Muslim leaders to be held in Mecca toward the
end of the year.
Malaysia's appeal for a
beleaguered organization such as the OIC, often
criticized as being long on talk but short on
concrete action, also stems from other factors
that make the nation stand out in the Islamic
world. It is an economic success story where
modernity and multiculturalism have been given
room to flower rather than been crushed by
religious extremists.
But a political
minefield awaits the OIC in the journey ahead,
given the ideas that make up the core of Islam
Hadhari the Malaysian premier is advocating. They
espouse an Islam that accepts differences, is
comfortable with religious pluralism, and is open
to democratic rights.
Among the 10
principles that frame this vision are those that
stress a "free and independent people", a "just
and trustworthy government" and "protection of the
rights of minority groups and women", wrote
Mohamed Sharif Bashir of the Islamic University of
Malaysia on IslamOnline, an Internet magazine.
Such values, however, are woefully absent
across much of the Muslim world. These countries,
in fact, are notorious for their human-rights
violations, and their leaders often dominate the
rogues' gallery of dictators, autocrats and
oppressive monarchies.
Uzbekistan
President Islam Karimov is the latest among such
strongmen to capture the headlines of the world's
media. His brutal crackdown of protesters in May
mirrored a pattern of suppression common in other
Islamic countries where the victims were also
Muslims. According to media reports, hundreds of
people were killed in that Central Asian republic
when government troops fired at the demonstrators.
Karimov's Uzbekistan has also been known
for the widespread torture of Muslims arrested on
charges of Islamic "extremism" and
"fundamentalism", New York-based global rights
body Human Rights Watch stated. The forms of
torture have ranged from beatings, burnings and
asphyxiation to a detainee being immersed in
boiling water.
In late May, another
human-rights champion, Amnesty International, lay
bare the extremism and abuse that prevails in
Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iran, Libya,
Pakistan, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and
Syria.
"Human-rights abuses flourish most
brutally in the absence of democracy, and
unfortunately, the record of Muslim countries in
political freedom is pretty dismal," Irfan Husain
wrote in a commentary that appeared last week in
the Dubai-based Khaleej Times.
A United
Nations report in April about the lack of
political reform in the Arab world was as caustic,
arguing that the region could be shattered by
violence and social upheaval if democracy was
further denied to the people.
"Throughout
the [Arab] region, the concentration of power in
the hands of the executive, be it a monarchy,
military dictatorship or a civilian president
elected without competition, has created a kind of
political 'black hole' at the center of Arab
political life," stated the UN report, "Arab Human
Development Report 2004".
The OIC's quest
to transform itself as an advocate of Islam
Hadhari fits in with the UN report's call for
change. More importantly, it reveals a belated
commitment to give a due place to citizens in the
Muslim world rather than maintain the habit of
placating their governments.
Such a move
would make this pan-Muslim body sound more
credible when it articulates its mission to
protect the interest of the ummah, or the
people who make up the global Islamic community.
How far the OIC gets on this path will be
seen later this year when it finally unveils its
version of Islam Hadhari at the summit to be held
in Islam's birthplace. A watered-down version to
satisfy the despots and the autocrats in the
Muslim world would relegate the OIC's reforms to
mere cosmetic changes.
Were that to
happen, the OIC will have a list of countries that
help perpetuate the image of the Muslim world as
prone to terrorism, religious extremism and
tyranny. Malaysia, where 60% of the country's 25
million people are Muslim, will not be among them.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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