Asian Muslims take center stage at OIC summit in Malaysia

Asian Muslims take center stage at OIC summit in Malaysia

Lawrence Bartlett, Agence France-Presse, Putrajaya Malaysia

For the first time in its history the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will this week hold its summit meeting in Southeast Asia, reflecting the growing importance of Asia's huge Muslim populations.

While the Arab world is usually perceived as the center of Islam, Southeast Asia contains both the country with the biggest Muslim population -- Indonesia -- and the most economically- developed Muslim nation -- Malaysia.

The failure of oil-rich Arab states to lead a revival of the power and prosperity Islamic nations once enjoyed, along with the upheaval created by terrorism, has left them vulnerable to a reassessment of their role, analysts say.

"The Arab world see themselves as the defining people, if you like, in terms of where Islam should go and we also have our own definition," said Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Center.

"But the failure of the regimes to deliver the goods, so to speak, has made them lose ground and contributed to the shifting of emphasis from their world to our world."

Abdul Razak noted, however, that Asian Muslims also found themselves "at the crossroads", facing tensions caused by a rise in militancy which has seen a string of terrorist attacks across the region.

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, an associate professor at the Singapore-based Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies who has written extensively on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, said Asia was beginning to take a leading role among Islamic nations.

"Asia is the future for Islam. There has been a massive failure on the part of the Middle East," Gunaratna told AFP.

"Asian Muslims are moderate, tolerant, compared to the Middle East Muslims who are more hard and harsh." He said the al-Qaeda- linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist group "enjoys less than one percent of support of the Muslim people in this region".

"It is the leadership that can be provided by leaders like (Malaysian Prime Minister) Mahathir Mohamad and (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf that can really matter."

Pakistani officials said on Friday that Musharraf would speak on moderation in the Muslim world when he addresses the summit.

"President Musharraf will speak on the idea of enlightened moderation and closer cooperation among Muslim states to combat extremism and terrorism," a foreign ministry official told AFP.

Gen. Musharraf, who is also the army's chief, has pursued a tough agenda against extremism and religious terrorism at home since he rose to power four years ago in a bloodless coup.

He made Pakistan a key ally of Washington in the war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Since then Pakistan has arrested more than 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives.

On Friday Musharraf told a group of Islamabad-based media from Muslim countries that the OIC should be restructured to make it a more vibrant body.

He said he would emphasize closer coordination among the Muslim nations to combat terrorism and extremism.

Malaysia's Mahathir, a strong critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, can be expected to take a stronger line against the West at the summit, while also pressing hard for Muslim unity and development.

He accuses Western countries of using the "war on terrorism" as an excuse to subjugate Muslims around the world, and has called on Islamic countries to acquire skills and technology so they can create modern weapons and "strike fear into the hearts of their enemies".

Mahathir likes to call himself an "Islamic fundamentalist" and Malaysia a "model Islamic state", but he has run a multiracial country for the past 22 years, where large Chinese and Indian minorities have been allowed religious and cultural freedoms.

The mix, along with aggressive economic policies, has seen Malaysia grow from a producer of primary products such as rubber and tin to become a broad-based major Southeast Asian manufacturing nation.

"Muslim countries have failed in modernizing because their rulers have lacked vision and foresight, oil wealth has not helped Arab countries at all," said Gunaratna.

"They can't blame the West for what has happened. If every country had an enlightened leader like Mahathir I don't think the Muslim countries would be in this plight. Malaysia is right at the top of the Muslim countries, the most economically developed certainly."

Abdul Razak said "Malaysia to a large extent is poised to play a bigger role because it can turn around and say 'we have been successful in managing our economy, managing our political stability'.

"Malaysia's chairmanship of the OIC can provide a direction by which instead of focussing on the West versus the Islamic world or the 'clash of civilizations' it can equally look at what is happening in the Muslim world."

The only previous OIC summit anywhere in Asia was in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1974.