I WROTE a year ago that the people of Malaysia will not be
pawns in a dangerous political gamesmanship that is leading this country to the
precipice of racial and religious conflict.
If our political leaders have neither the will nor the
courage to do what is right for this nation, then we the people will show them.
We want to build bridges, live together, understand and respect each other. Too
many among us have kept quiet for too long while our democracy was being
trampled upon. It is time now to stand up and be counted.
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| Picture from The Star Online |
The year 2014 was indeed a very difficult and challenging
one for Malaysia. The use and abuse of race and religion for political gain
continued unabated and the ensuing gloom and doom about our future was further
dampened by the tragedies of MH370 and MH17 and now the worst floods in our
history and the crash of Indonesia Air Asia flight QZ8501.
But amid this pain and misfortune, a new sense of hope has
been ignited by the G25 letter urging the Prime Minister to take action to
bring clarity and vision to end the unresolved disputes on the position and
application of Islamic laws in this country.
That 25 prominent Malay establishment figures chose to speak
out and express in public their deep concern on the direction this country is
taking with regard to Islam within our constitutional democratic framework
reflects how much is at stake for so many Malaysians. They will keep quiet no
more.
The issues raised in the G25 open letter have been festering
for decades but have grown increasingly contentious as belligerent supremacist
groups and individuals brazenly utter racist and bigoted statements, and as
some religious authorities continue to violate the rule of law in their
enforcement actions.
And yet the political leadership has shown neither the
political will nor courage
to respond to these statements and actions that
consistently undermine this government’s now hollowed-out 1Malaysia policy and
its claim of being a champion of moderation.
Not only that, a government that 20 years ago was strongly
opposed to the PAS effort to introduce the Hudud law in Kelantan is today in
cahoots with its nemesis to implement a law that is unconstitutional and that
generates much fear of injustice and abuses, as has happened in countries where
these draconian laws are in place.
Scores of groups and individuals have rallied in support of
the G25 call for the Prime Minister to show his leadership and vision and
engender a rational and informed dialogue on the position and application of
Islamic laws in the country.
It is as if the floodgates have opened and more and more
moderate voices have found the courage to speak out and break the hegemony of
the supremacist groups who purport to speak for the whole Malay Muslim
community.
Many Malaysians of all faiths and races are now determined
to keep the momentum going, and ensure that the effort of the G25 shall not be
in vain.
It is now incumbent upon the political leadership of this
country, on both sides of the divide, to take serious steps to rally the nation
in a search for equitable and just solutions to the many intractable problems
and miscarriage of justice committed in the name of Islam.
To those who claim ignorance of any evidence of abuses,
injustice and violations of fundamental liberties in the implementation of
Islamic laws in Malaysia, they should start by just Googling “khalwat raids
Malaysia”, “body snatching Malaysia”, “transgender Malaysia” – as a start.
And do read the Court of Appeal judgments on the Borders
case and the transgender case, and the High Court, the Court of Appeal and
Federal Court judgments on the Sisters in Islam book banning case. Do we
believe in the Constitution and the rule of law or don’t we?
These cases reflect some of the issues of concerns raised in
the G25 letter, not least the areas of conflict and overlap between civil and
syariah laws, the lack of awareness, deliberate or otherwise, on the legal
limits of the powers of the religious authorities and administration of
Islamic laws, and the abysmal lack of knowledge on the rich diversity of
interpretive texts, juristic opinions and legal concepts in the Islamic
tradition that enable reform to take place and equality and justice to be
upheld.
It is a gauge of how politicised religion has become in this
country that those Muslims who deeply care for their religion, and are gravely
concerned about how it is used, abused and distorted to serve short-term
political gains, are labelled as anti-God, anti-Syariah, anti-Islam,
anti-Malay, anti-monarchy.
If the political leadership still fails to awaken to the
gravity of the situation and the sense of drift and foreboding enveloping the
nation, then it is the rakyat who must take the lead and show how determined we
are to keep this nation together.
And we can start the national dialogue with all of us
re-committing ourselves to upholding the principles enshrined in our Federal
Constitution, which has served us well over the past 57 years.
It upholds our fundamental liberties, rule of law,
separation of powers and recognises the special position of the Malays and the
legitimate interests of other communities.
We need to re-pledge our commitment to the Rukunegara, a
national ideology drawn up to rebuild a sense of national unity and purpose –
of a government and its citizens committed to building a democratic, just and
progressive society with a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural
traditions.
And we should take pride in our long history of living and
working together, of embracing and celebrating our diversity, which we have
always seen as a source of strength to grow and prosper this nation.
These constitute the bedrock of fundamentals that has kept
this nation together. These are the common grounds on which we stand as we
search for solutions to the problems we face.
We have much to celebrate and to share. We must get real and
serious and examine whether the disgruntlements and disenchantments of the
different communities and groups are real and supported by facts and figures or
whether they are manufactured to serve selfish political, economic and personal
interests at the expense of the best interest of the nation.
Let’s focus our resources to find solutions to real
documented problems instead of wasting time and energy fanning the flames of
racial and religious suspicion and hatred.
How best can we use our Constitutional principles and the
vision of Rukunegara to deal with the contentious issues that have beset this
country for too long?
There are many Malaysians with the expertise, passion and
commitment to devote their time to help this divided nation heal by focusing on
finding solutions to the real problems, rather than clinging to ideologies that
have led other divided nations to conflict, violence and economic backwardness.
That has not been the history of Malaysia or the future of
Malaysia that we want. Let us not undo what our forefathers have built.
> Zainah Anwar is the internationally acclaimed and
award-winning co-founder and former executive director of Sisters in Islam
(SIS Forum) and the co-founder and director of Musawah, a global movement for
equality and justice in the Muslim family. She is a former member of the Human
Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam). The views expressed are entirely the
writer’s own.
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