Mahathir eyes
White House invitation as repression continues in Malaysia
By Abdar-Rahman
Koya in Kuala Lumpur
The beleaguered
Mahathir regime in Malaysia appears to have a knack
for finding strategies that have unintended effects.
In its latest campaign to silence the opposition, ten
more people, including Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz, the
son of PAS chief Nik Abdul Aziz, were abducted in the
first week of August under the notorious Internal Security
Act (ISA), which allows indefinite detention without
the need to produce detainees in court or furnish evidence.
This man’s only crime is to have served in the Afghan
jihad against the Soviets. The police have also admitted
that a witch-hunt is underway for more ‘militants’ who
went for jihad. Mahathir defended the witch-hunt as
‘preventive measures’, saying that the Israelis too
were taking preventive measures against Palestinians.
The arrests
are the third in what seem to be a three-phased police
crackdown against reformasi leaders, students and Islamic
activists: members of PAS, in other words. In April,
ten activists, mostly of the National Justice Party
(Keadilan), led by Wan Azizah Ismail, Anwar Ibrahim’s
wife, were arrested, with six of them now in prolonged
detention at Kamunting, a camp for political detainees.
This was followed by two arrests last month in a nationwide
swoop on university campuses.
The victims
of the latest crackdown are Islamic activists and PAS
leaders. The government says that the arrests were aimed
at ‘militants’ trained in Afghanistan, who are accused
of everything from bank-robberies and murders to attacks
on non-Muslim places of worship to create a ‘purist’
Islamic state. None of these allegations has so far
been supported by evidence, hence the use of the ISA.
Many see
in this a desperate attempt by Mahathir to mend fences
with his Western mentors. A report in the Far Eastern
Economic Review of July 26 revealed that Mahathir
is making frantic efforts to wrangle an invitation to
the White House. The normally west-bashing premier has
sent three letters to President George W. Bush, one
congratulating him for his handling of the spy aircraft
episode in China in April. This was followed by permission
for hundreds of American troops to land in Malaysia
to conduct ‘military exercises’.
The latest
arrest also came as PAS defied a ban on political talks
and vowed to continue its political gatherings. Mahathir
had earlier lamented that the Malays hated his regime
because of what he called a ‘hate campaign’ organised
by PAS. Subsequent gatherings were met by brutal police
action to disperse crowds.
But far
from silencing critics, the provocations appear to have
encouraged PAS, whose support among Malay Muslims has
been increasing at the cost of UMNO since the dismissal
of Anwar Ibrahim. Many had previously voiced concern
that PAS, comfortable with control of two important
states, were becoming more complacent with their current
strength and therefore not prepared to take risks. Worries
have also been expressed about PAS’s declining role
as an Islamic movement. But the latest crackdown on
PAS has woken it up and alerted some of its leaders
to the dangers of working within the system.
Since
putting Anwar Ibrahim behind bars in September 1998,
Mahathir has been displaying some of his most adventurous
strategies, with contradictory aims: to woo back Malays,
and to reinforce the support of the Chinese, whose votes
in 1999 ensured his ruling coalition formed the government.
For the former, he whipped up nationalistic sentiments
along racist lines; for the latter, he tells the non-Muslims
of the danger of Islam and the threat to their culture
should PAS come to power. That has, however, left the
Malays all the more reason to rally behind PAS, while
Chinese leaders are given a free hand to scorn Islam.
The speed
in which Mahathir changes his ill-founded tactics is
also interesting. Not long ago he picked a fight with
Chinese activists, scorning them for questioning what
is called the ‘Malay special rights’, a system whereby
native Malays are accorded quotas in public institutions.
UMNO had then launched a racist anti-Chinese campaign,
with demonstrations and a media blitz, effectively telling
Malays that without UMNO they would no longer have these
rights.
Even then,
Malay support for his government continued to decline.
Added to this is strong opposition among students, young
people and the judiciary, which appears to be changing.
Mahathir finally announced that the education system
will no longer give preference to Malays but will be
based on merit. Although the move is welcome, his argument
is based not on fairness but on political vengeance
against Malay students, whom he continuously calls "lazy"
and "ungrateful".
UMNO is
not the only party worried by PAS inroads. The strongly
anti-Islamic Malaysian Chinese Association, UMNO’s main
Chinese coalition partner, has even formed a special
unit to explain to the non-Muslim Chinese community
"the threat of the Islamic state". The party
did not hide its aim to "educate and explain to
the people the damage that an Islamic state can have
on a multi-religious society". Not long ago, non-Muslim
politicians would not dare declare such animosity openly.
But with Mahathir himself churning out his anti-Islamic
diatribe almost daily, they have been tacitly given
a free hand.
On a lighter
note, however, Mahathir may find himself in the company
of some eccentrics. He was recently declared a true
Islamic leader by a Scottish ‘Sufi master’ by the name
of Abdulqadir Jilani, who flew in to the prime minister’s
office to declare Malaysia the "capital of Islam".
He also criticised local Islamists, branding all of
them Shi’ahs who lack "financial vision".
Jilani was apparently overjoyed that Mahathir had reacted
positively to his proposal to use the so-called gold
dinar minted by his company in place of the US dollar.
The regime’s
imaginary Islamic credibility seems to be gone. With
even Islamic scholars such as Yusuf Qaradawi and Taha
Jaber Alwani, who had earlier praised the government
for its ‘progressive Islam’, now calling for Mahathir’s
trial under Shari’ah, Mahathir is finding it easier
to discard the Islamic card altogether; hence his eagerness
to be invited to the White House. Much to his disappointment,
he was turned down; Uncle Sam’s envoy to Malaysia told
him bluntly to restore ‘democratic’ rights in his country
before ties could be ‘normalised’. Such suicidal acts
he cannot afford. The most he can do is impress Uncle
Sam that he too is playing a small role in the fight
against Islamic ‘terrorism’.
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