Mahathir's fresh battle with Islam<\/p>\n
By Barani Krishnan<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Asia's longest-serving elected leader,
\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is waging an old
\nbattle in the twilight of his career -- beating down the multi-
\nethnic country's Islamic opposition.<\/p>\n
Over the last month, police have shut down political and
\nreligious forums, banned videos and tapes of political speeches
\nand locked up more than 20 political activists accused of violent
\nextremism.<\/p>\n
One of the detained men is a son of Parti Islam se-Malaysia's
\n(PAS) spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. Several others are
\nmembers of PAS, now the country's main opposition party and one
\nwhich advocates Islamic law.<\/p>\n
"The motive is to portray PAS as an extremist party, which is
\ndangerous," said respected PAS lawmaker Kamaruddin Jaffar,
\nreferring to the recent police crackdown.<\/p>\n
Mahathir blames PAS, which governs two of Malaysia's 13
\nstates, for dividing the Muslim Malay community.<\/p>\n
Race and religion are highly sensitive issues in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Malays and other Muslims make up around two-thirds of the 22
\nmillion population, with Chinese, Indian and tribal Christians,
\nBuddhists and Hindus accounting for the rest.<\/p>\n
The outspoken premier -- a former physician who prefers to be
\ncalled "Doctor Mahathir" and has all sorts of prescriptions for
\nhis country's socio-political ailments -- says PAS's attitudes
\nthreaten to retard Malaysia's development into a modern state.<\/p>\n
"They are nothing but traitors to Islam," Mahathir told his
\nUnited Malays National Organization (UMNO) at its annual party
\nconference in June.<\/p>\n
In the years before and after independence from Britain in
\n1957, Malaysia's main internal threat was a communist insurgency
\nin the jungle-draped countryside.<\/p>\n
But since the early 1980s, following the Islamic revolution in
\nIran, Malaysia's biggest internal security threat has come from
\nvarious radical Islamic groups.<\/p>\n
The 76-year-old Mahathir, an ultra-Malay nationalist early in
\nhis career, has been dealing with the challenge of radical Islam
\nsince he was first elected prime minister in 1981.<\/p>\n
In the latest case, police say 10 men arrested in August were
\nmembers of the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, a group fighting for
\na "purist" Islamic state, with alleged links to Afghanistan's
\nruling Taliban.<\/p>\n
Malaysians were also implicated in two bomb attacks on
\nchurches in neighboring Indonesia last month.<\/p>\n
"This is not normally a politically violent place," said Khoo
\nBoo Teik, who teaches political science at Science University in
\nPenang."People would be scared if they thought there was any
\nthreat from political or religious extremists, but these
\naccusations are as yet unproven."<\/p>\n
PAS said if the 10 arrested men were militants involved in
\nmurder and robbery, as the police have suggested, they should be
\ntried in court, rather than held under the Internal Security Act
\n(ISA), which allows indefinite detention without trial.<\/p>\n
Whatever the merits of the case, some UMNO members say the
\nget-tough policy toward PAS was overdue.<\/p>\n
"They must admit they have provided the grounds for the
\nauthorities to act," Zulkifli Alwi, an official from the youth
\nwing of UMNO, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Up until recently, Mahathir had been circumspect in his
\ndealings with PAS, the largest party in the opposition front that
\nsupports Mahathir's jailed former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
Anwar is serving a 15-year sentence for sex and corruption
\ncrimes that he says were trumped up.<\/p>\n
Just six months ago, Mahathir was still trying to entice PAS
\ninto joining so-called Malay unity talks to heal the rift caused
\nby the sacking and jailing of the popular Anwar.<\/p>\n
The Islamic party's apparent answer to the overture was to
\nheap criticism on Mahathir, even questioning whether an UMNO
\nmember can be a good Muslim.<\/p>\n
An exasperated Mahathir told his party at the convention the
\nrest of the world knows Malaysia is a Muslim nation. "But in
\nMalaysia, there are Muslims who allege that Malaysia is a non-
\nIslamic nation and its government is infidel."<\/p>\n
PAS became a formidable force two years ago by throwing its
\nsupport behind Anwar, an enthusiastic mosque builder who was seen
\nas the UMNO leader with the strongest Islamic credentials.<\/p>\n
"The chief perception in the Malay political divide is the
\nvote-winning idea that PAS is more Islamic than UMNO," wrote
\nRashid Yusof, a columnist in the pro-Mahathir New Straits Times.<\/p>\n
While PAS is the largest party in the opposition front, its
\nrefusal to moderate an ambition to propagate Islamic law is
\ntesting the patience of its largely ethnic Chinese ally, the
\nDemocratic Action Party (DAP).<\/p>\n
Women's and human rights groups worry about how strictly PAS
\nwould interpret Islamic laws if it ever came to power.<\/p>\n
The party has not clearly defined its plans for an Islamic
\nstate or whether laws meant specifically for Muslims would be
\nextended to cover non-Muslims, as well.<\/p>\n
The conservative PAS has so far banned alcohol sales, gaming
\nand some forms of entertainment in the two states on Malaysia's
\neast coast that it controls.<\/p>\n
It also once proposed harsh Islamic penalties such as stoning
\nand amputation of limbs for thieves and adulterers, but did not
\nget federal approval from Mahathir for the plan.<\/p>\n
Some DAP leaders reckon the alliance with PAS was a mistake
\nthat should be rectified as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
"I've always been of the view that we should break away,"
\nKarpal Singh, the DAP's vice president, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
PAS members say such concerns are misplaced and reckon the
\ngovernment is playing on those fears for both domestic and
\nforeign policy reasons.<\/p>\n
PAS president Fadzil Noor, in the latest issue of the party's
\nnewspaper, Harakah, said linking the party with Afghan militants
\ncould help Mahathir improve relations with the United States,
\nwhich considers Anwar a political prisoner.<\/p>",
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