Bigotry rears its ugly head in multi-racial Malaysia

Bigotry rears its ugly head in multi-racial Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran politician Lim Keng Yaik wears the look of a troubled man.

As the Primary Industries Minister, he has been through the wars before -- seen rubber prices plummet to a 30-year low and battled a robust campaign by soya-bean producers in the United States to discredit Malaysia's palm-oil products.

But it is the changing face of Malaysia that puts the plain- speaking leader in a reflective mood these days.

"There is a certain amount of intolerance among sections of the population. We cannot afford to let this situation continue."

"It will be dangerous for all of us who believe that this is a country for all races and religions," said the president of Parti Gerakan, a political party in the ruling coalition that operates on a multi-racial platform.

In his trademark machine-gun fashion, he lumps the culprits as "people who cannot tolerate places of worship being built, people who do not want to see the mixing of races, people who do not want to shake hands with others of different races".

His concerns are by no means the musings of a single individual.

Behind closed doors last Monday, leaders of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition pondered over the real threat multi-racial, moderate Malaysia is facing from Muslim extremists.

They wondered if the gush of foreign investments that the country has attracted over the past two decades will turn to a trickle if the harmony between races is unhinged.

They wondered how Chinese, Indians and others who call Malaysia home would react to calls to ban unisex hair saloons and Western-style entertainment and the constant badgering for Islamic-style laws. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohamad told his coalition colleagues that the situation was quite tense and warned component party leaders to "be careful of what you say in public".

Over the past month, there have been incidents that have made people sit up, take notice and shudder. One was the arrest of 25 Muslims, including 15 women, for being in a restaurant where alcohol was served. Another was a demonstration by 1,000 university students against the performance of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and the Vengaboys. A more insidious campaign of intolerance is being driven behind the scenes.

Postings have been put on the Internet urging Muslims to boycott performances by the Royal London Circus, arguing that the circus operators are giving some of the proceeds to fund the construction of a new Catholic church.

More worrying has been the reappearance of a Muslim morality squad in Selangor. Staffed by village elders and mosque-committee members, they are the eyes and ears of the religious authorities in the state. Several years ago, the overzealous squad was disbanded after a hail of criticisms. But they are back and active, reporting on young Muslim couples who hold hands in shopping complexes and lending their numbers to pre-dawn raids on entertainment outlets.

A group of students complained to a government agency about an advertisement on a bus panel showing a man hugging a woman. The government agency ordered the ad removed.

Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, an UMNO politician who has served under four prime ministers, noted: "Some people are not only trying to impose their religious ideals but are also trying to be the guardians of lifestyle. We are being subjected to the tyranny of the minority."

Politicians lay a large slice of the blame on Parti Islam (PAS) for stoking the flame of intolerance and promoting religious extremism.

But the government is not blameless. It is reaping what it sowed years ago.

From the early 1980s, it realized that it had to show it was just as Islamic as PAS.

Mahathir stole Islamic firebrand Anwar Ibrahim from under the noses of the fundamentalist opposition party, introduced Islamic banking, started the International Islamic university, made religious lectures in government offices compulsory and spawned 200 religious schools around the country.

The aim was clear: The Mahathir administration wanted to promote a brand of Islam that was modern and progressive in outlook, where substance was more important than form.

But religious and political discourse has an embarrassing tendency of slipping out of control.

The Islamization process permeated all levels of Malay society and fed the expectations of the masses.

The government's own Islamic Affairs departments were dominated by traditionalist religious scholars who preached a narrow brand of religion while the head scarf for women became a common sight in government departments.

Not wanting to be swept away by the tide, UMNO politicians dressed and spoke the language of fundamentalism.

Several of them bowed to pressure from the ground and scuttled a plan to build a church in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor. The reason: It was unsuitable to site a Christian place of worship in a Malay-majority suburb.

Others wanted state-owned television and radio to broadcast more religious programs and reduce other forms of entertainment. Changes were also taking place at home. Many parents chose to send their children to religious schools from a young age.

Latest statistics show that about 120,000 students enter this stream every year. By the time they entered local universities 12 years later, many have no meaningful contact with Chinese or Indian children -- the type of contact that broke down racial and religious barriers in old Malaysia.

Little wonder that racial polarization has become a serious problem in tertiary institutions.

Farish A. Noor, a political scientist who used to lecture at University Malaya, remembers this incident. A student asked him to delay the start of a lecture while he prayed.

"He then proceeded to pray aloud, but not without making a crucial qualifying remark first: "This is just for the Muslims. The rest of you must not take part."

On another occasion, another Muslim student remarked that he preferred not to study in mixed classes because "even the voices of women were tempting".

Said the political scientist: "Malaysia's universities have always been the microcosm of wider Malaysian society. Before, universities were the incubators for technocrats and planners who wished to create a new generation of middle-class professionals.

"But now our universities have become the breeding ground for a new generation of activists and ideologues who will undoubtedly take up the Islamist cause if and when they are able to." His observation is spot on.

A university student who took part in the demonstration to protest against the Shah Rukh Khan concert said he and his comrades, who wore Arafat-style headcloth to cover their faces, are not promoting racial or religious intolerance.

He argues that Western-style concerts promote casual sex and drug-taking, and encourage males and females to be in close proximity.

"We are upholding values that any Malaysian would be proud to have. These are not Islamic laws."

Many non-Muslims disagree, judging by letters published in local newspapers.

Sri Murugan wrote: "No one should dictate what another Malaysian should or should not hear, see or watch -- nor dictate what is good and bad for us.

"As an adult, I too am concerned about the well-being of my teenage brothers, but I believe we cannot force our moral or religious beliefs on others."

Lawyer and newly-appointed UMNO Supreme Council member Azalina Othman wishes that more Malaysians would speak up against any attempt to change the multi-racial tenor of this country of 22 million, half of them Muslims.

He said: "Dr Mahathir alone cannot hold the line against extremism. This is not a job for one man. And this is not even about politics.

"If you keep silent, one day you may wake up to a Malaysia that is fractured and wholly unrecognizable from the one you grew up in."

The Straits Times / Asia News Network