The power behind the throne

KUALA LUMPUR: Malay political leaders on both sides of the political divide are afraid of the religious authorities and this can be seen in the manner they express themselves at different forums in different languages.

“The real power in our lives emanates from the religious authorities,” writes Zaid Ibrahim in The real power in Malaysia, in his blog Zaidgeist. “Our leaders are like the Imperial Chinese eunuchs who would always obey the Emperor for the privilege of living in the Palace and having control over state finances.”

The Malay political leaders are a bundle of contradictions, he adds, in implying that they seek relevance from both ends of the municipal drainpipe.

“The so-called ‘Malay moderate’ leaders normally expound their sugar-coated liberal ideas in international forums and always in English,” notes Zaid. They know that the Malay-Muslim audience at home will miss it completely.”
So, it seems that their “secret” is safe.

Both Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim take the same approach but “their actions are, however, diametrically opposite to what they profess to believe”.

Examples abound.

Anwar, pointed out Zaid, was at his usual charismatic best when delivering a talk at a posh hotel to some “Muslim democrats”. “He said there was nothing wrong with pluralism and liberal ideas but also that he would not change the decision of the religious authority in Selangor where his party is in Government.”

Najib, on the other hand according to Zaid, has been acting as he has always been, expressing an “elegant silence” on everything important happening in the country.

Zaid warns that the political leaders have done nothing when they should be calling up the religious authorities to explain to them the dangers of their rulings and how they violate our constitutional freedoms. “Muslims too will be adversely affected by such rulings,” said Zaid.

A recent example is the religious authorities taking the view that liberalism and pluralism are great sins.

“Pluralism is not merely ‘permitted’ in our country; it is a fundamental characteristic of our nation enshrined in the Federal Constitution,” argues Zaid. “It’s an idea that we must co-exist peacefully. That’s the essence of Article 11 of our Constitution and the religious authorities really should not be afraid of the word.”

A liberal is merely someone who has forward-looking and progressive ideas, continues Zaid. “Being liberal means just being “open minded” about things.”
On the other hand, what is certainly not permitted is religious hegemony, he cautions.

But what are the political leaders doing about liberalism and pluralism being cast as great sins?

Nothing!

This has allowed the religious authorities to virtually run amok.

The Sisters in Islam, for example, have been labelled “deviants” i.e. those who have strayed from the true path of Islam by professing liberalism and pluralism.
“Here, there are religious authorities who have usurped the power of God and pass judgment on Muslims long before they die and long before The Day of Judgment,” said Zaid. “Islam is supposed to be a simple religion with no clergy i.e. no intermediaries between man and God but not so in Malaysia.”

The bottomline is that anyone who defies the religious authorities would be labelled as not Muslim.

In the context of UMNO, Najib, Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin are liberals and progressives.

Utusan Malaysia, Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, Ibrahim Ali and ISMA are conservatives.

-fmt