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Winds of
change blowing in Malaysia
By ATol
Staff
HONG KONG - Not long ago, Malaysia was one
of the West's poster children for moderate Muslim
states. It allowed a variety of religions and beliefs
within its borders - and, more important, it did not
vocally oppose the initial stages of the US "war on
terror". Now its position vis-a-vis the West - the
United States in particular - is in question with Muslim
conservatism on the rise and a stern warning by Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia is not safe from
a Western invasion.
Conservatism's comeback
Recently in Malaysia there has been a surge in
incidents in which young lovers are being summoned to
court for holding hands in public. This phenomenon has
emerged in three cities to date: Kuala Lumpur, Penang
and Ipoh. Surprisingly, the target of this recent
re-emergence of a previously ignored rule is not the
majority Muslim Malay population, but rather non-Muslims
in the Southeast Asian country. And it doesn't stop
there - recently there have been other incursions upon
the rights of non-Muslims that have caused concern among
many.
This campaign was ignited by executives
within the city governments of the three aforementioned
cities who decided to slap hand-holding couples with
subpoenas for their "public indecency". Fines range from
MR100-MR500 (US$26-$131). So far, more than 170
subpoenas have been issued in Ipoh alone.
The
suppression of hand-holding and lovers' trysts between
Muslim men and women in Malaysia by members of Muslim
organizations is not a new occurrence. It is, however,
the first time that local governments have imposed this
kind of moral restriction upon non-Muslims. Mayor
Sirajuddin Salleh of Ipoh, in Perak state, has said the
goal of his new campaign is to "restrict non-Muslims for
engaging in 'impermissible behavior' in parks". He added
that this was necessary because Muslims were already
subjected to similar rules by Muslim organizations.
Since Ipoh's newly appointed mayor took office in
November, the city council has dug up an old bylaw on
parks and is now enforcing it on the city's 400,000
people. The bylaw, enacted in 1985, says that "improper
behavior" is prohibited in parks. Salleh said the rule
was "for the good of the people of Ipoh".
Aside
from the crackdown on hand-holding, other types of
Islam-based policies are increasingly encroaching upon
the rights of non-Muslims. As for media coverage, in
every case the incidents are only covered in
Chinese-language "local editions" - these issues are not
to be found in national publications. For example, in
one town, non-Muslim dog owners are now required to
obtain written approval of their dog ownership from a
Muslim neighbor when applying for a dog license. Another
town forbids the selling of pork products in open-air
markets. Signs advertising alcoholic beverages are
forbidden in cafes, restaurants and karaoke bars
throughout Selangor.
The renewed enforcement of
previously ignored 1980s-era conservative Muslim laws
has put non-Muslim members of the Malaysian government
in an embarrassingly difficult position. This
conservative resurgence is occurring before national
elections this fall. The timing of this morality
campaign offers food for thought when combined with
recent comments by the prime minister on the nature and
ambitions of Westerners, who Mahathir said were
proponents of war, sodomy and genocide.
Mahathir warns of a clash with the
West
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the United States, Mahathir tried to portray
Malaysia as a tolerant society that openly embraced its
non-Muslim members and rejected extremist and
excessively conservative elements. Since US military
operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, however, Mahathir
has done a diplomatic about-face, which raises the
question of Malaysia's future, both domestically and
internationally, after he steps down as prime minister
in October and is replaced by his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi.
On Thursday, Mahathir gave a clear
warning of the threat that Western countries posed to
Malaysia and its sovereignty to the annual congress of
his United Malays National Organization (UMNO). He used
the term "Europeans" to refer to European countries as
well as "those who migrated and set up new nations in
America, Australia and New Zealand".
The prime
minister made an obvious reference to the US-led
invasion of Iraq, saying that the United States and the
United Kingdom "have demonstrated that they are ready to
invent false allegations in order to go to war to kill
children, old people, sick people and just anyone, and
consider all these people as mere collaterals, which
cannot be allowed to come in the way of the achievement
of their objective".
While Malaysia has not
recently drawn warnings or threats from the United
States or other Western countries, Mahathir urged the
UMNO congress to realize the threat that the "war on
terror" posed to the country. "The September 11 attack
on America, which supported Israel, was made an excuse
for the Anglo-Saxon Europeans to return to their old
violent ways," he said, adding that Muslim countries
were now the primary target of the Western threat.
"Their strategy to fight terrorism is through attacking
Muslim countries and Muslims, whether they are guilty or
not," he said.
Mahathir insisted that the new
Western offensive, operating under the guise of
security, would undoubtedly target Malaysia, either
directly or through less palpable methods. "If our
country is not attacked, our minds, our culture, our
religion and other things will become the target," he
said.
Mahathir's thoughts were clearly on the
ramifications of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and
the aggressive foreign policy of the George W Bush
administration: "By making all kinds of baseless
accusations, they launched attacks against Muslim
countries, using their weapons of mass destruction,
killing civilians and destroying the towns.
"Because we are not democratic, then
interference by them in our domestic affairs would be
justified ... Today, the Europeans talk of the need to
have 'regime change' in many countries. Do not think
that we will not be targeted."
While such words
are unlikely to get Mahathir invited for a sleepover at
President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, they do call
into question the future of Malaysia's relations with
the United States. With Southeast Asia increasingly
fingered as a hotbed of terrorism combined with a
growing US military presence in the region, Mahathir's
successor has a difficult task ahead of him.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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