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.