Posted on 06/20/2003 6:11:28 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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.
Conservatism is not an absolute, it all depends on what you are trying to conserve. The "old days" are not alike everywhere. Communism in Russia, bloodthirsty theocracy in any Muslim country, aristocratic privilege in Europe, ordinary human decency in the USA, all are conservative.
Man, that is such a good point! I've always said that the U.S.'s convervativism is the only correct one, because our values are the only ones worth conserving.
Here we go. Fasten your seatbelts, folks, the Religion of Peace is hungry again, and needs fresh blood and new victims tossed down its jagged-toothed maw.
Don't worry, A_perfect, because in the words of the Sarge (R. Lee Ermey), "God has a hard-on for Marines, beacuse we keep Heave packed - with fresh souls!"
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