Asia-Pacific, Headlines, Human Rights | Analysis

POLITICS: Malaysia Moots Moderate Path for Islamic World

Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 3 2005 (IPS) - Despite its location on the margins of the Islamic world, the South-east Asian nation of Malaysia is coming out well ahead of other Muslim countries on the pivotal question of how to redeem the battered image of Islam and its followers.

Such a rise in significance over other Islamic centres of gravity like the Middle East’s Egypt and Saudi Arabia or Pakistan in South Asia or Iran stems from moves underway by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to give itself a face-lift.

The OIC’s interest in Malaysia to help push through the sweeping reforms it has in mind was confirmed during a recently concluded meeting in Pakistan. During that gathering, from May 28-29, the moderate ideals of ‘Islam Hadhari’ being advocated by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi were embraced as the way forward.

The OIC wants ‘Islam Hadhari’ to be a central pillar in the new look it is seeking for itself, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the media Tuesday, according to Bernama, the Malaysian state news agency.

Other changes on the cards are a new name and charter for this premier Islamic body that reflects the views of the world’s Muslims, the Malaysian minister affirmed.

Calls for such reform originated during the last OIC summit hosted by Malaysia in October 2003. That was the first gathering of the 57-member body after the Sep. 11 acts of terror in the United States, which gave rise to a global image of Muslims as prone to violence and supporting terrorism.

The recommendations made by Islamic experts during the recent meeting in Pakistan are to be fine-tuned at a gathering of OIC foreign ministers in Yemen in July. They will then be tabled at a special summit of Muslim leaders to be held in Mecca towards the end of the year.

Malaysia’s appeal for a beleaguered organisation like the OIC, often criticised as being long on talk but short on concrete action, also stems from other factors that make the nation stand out in the Islamic world. It is an economic success story where modernity and multiculturalism have been given room to flower rather than being crushed by religious extremists.

But a political minefield awaits the OIC in the journey ahead, given the ideas that make up the core of ‘Islam Hadhari’ the Malaysian premier is advocating. They espouse an Islam that accepts differences, is comfortable with religious pluralism, and is open to democratic rights.

Among the 10 principles that frame this vision are those that stress a "free and independent people", a "just and trustworthy government" and "protection of the rights of minority groups and women," writes Mohamed Sharif Bashir of the Islamic University of Malaysia on ‘IslamOnline’, an Internet magazine.

Such values, however, are woefully absent across much of the Muslim world. These countries, in fact, are notorious for their human rights violations, and their leaders often dominate the rogues’ gallery of dictators, autocrats and oppressive monarchies.

Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov is the latest among such strongmen to capture the headlines of the world’s media. His brutal crackdown of protesters in May mirrored a pattern of suppression common in other Islamic countries where the victims were also Muslims. Close to 500 people were killed in that Central Asian republic when government troops fired at the demonstrators, according to media reports.

The Uzbekistan of Karimov has also been known for widespread torture of Muslims arrested on charges of Islamic "extremism" and "fundamentalism," states Human Rights Watch (HRW). The forms of torture have ranged from beatings, burnings and asphyxiation to a detainee being immersed in boiling water, adds the New York-based global rights body.

In late May, another human rights champion, Amnesty International, lay bare the extremism and abuse that prevails in Muslim countries like Egypt, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria.

"Human rights abuses flourish most brutally in the absence of democracy, and unfortunately, the record of Muslim countries in political freedom is pretty dismal," wrote Irfan Husain in a commentary this week in the Dubai-based ‘Khaleej Times’.

A U.N. report in April about the lack of political reform in the Arab world was as caustic, arguing that the region could be shattered by violence and social upheaval if democracy is further denied to the people.

"Throughout the (Arab) region, the concentration of power in the hands of the executive, be it a monarchy, military dictatorship or a civilian president elected without competition, has created a kind of political ‘black hole’ at the centre of Arab political life," stated the ‘Arab Human Development Report 2004’.

The OIC’s quest to transform itself as an advocate of ‘Islam Hadhari’ fits in with the U.N. report’s call for change. More importantly, it reveals a belated commitment to give a due place to citizens in the Muslim world rather than maintaining the habit of placating their governments.

Such a move would make this pan-Muslim body sound more credible when it articulates its mission to protect the interest of the ‘ummah’, or the people who make up the global Islamic community.

How far the OIC gets its way will be seen later this year when it finally unveils its version of ‘Islam Hadhari’ at the summit to be held in Islam’s birthplace. A watered down version to satisfy the despots and the autocrats in the Muslim world would relegate the OIC’s reforms to mere cosmetic changes.

Were that to happen, the OIC will have a list of countries that help perpetuate the image of the Muslim world as prone to terrorism, religious extremism and tyranny. Malaysia, where 60 percent of its 25 million population are Muslims, will not be among them.