An Islamist intellectual once said to me: "Anyone who doubts the failure of political Islam today should do a crash course in political Islam gone off the rails. For their BA they should go to Pakistan for three years, for their MA they should try to live in Afghanistan for a while, and for their PhD they should go to Saudi Arabia.

"After witnessing the abuse of religious laws and corruption there from close-up, they can come and tell us that political Islam is not without its problems!"

Now it seems that some of us here in Malaysia have taken my friend's advice a little too literally. In case there are still any doubts, let me remind you that the statement was meant to be ironic. But the irony now is that some of us still cant see it.

The news that the PAS government of Terengganu has decided not to enforce the hudud laws which it passed in July because it wants to send a study team to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan to study the implementation of Islamic laws there first has caught many observers of Malaysian politics by surprise.

(1) Not that this has dampened the spirits of PAS leaders in the least: Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang also went on record to state that the PAS-led Terengganu government will now begin organising courses for 'volunteer syariah enforcement officers' who would be helping the state's religious affairs enforcement officers in so-called 'anti-vice' operations.

The Islamisation race

Here again is proof that the Islamisation race between Umno and PAS has gone seriously out of control in this country. A host of problems have now emerged, all of which relate to the thorny question of the relationship between religion and politics, and the political manipulation and abuse of religion for realpolitik gains.

In the long run, the outcome will be the same: Those who stand to lose out the most will be the millions of ordinary citizens in this country who have had no choice or say in the matter, but whose lives will come under even greater scrutiny and policing by the self-appointed 'guardians of the faith' who think that they have the right to break into our homes at night; monitor our movements in public; control what we read, think and say; and criminalise any form of critical enquiry and dissent which threatens their powers and privileges.

As if there were not enough repressive laws in Malaysia as it is, PAS' latest bid to out-Islamise Umno merely brings us one step closer to a theocratic-authoritarian state.

Before the entire situation gets out of hand, there are two vital factors that should not be left out of consideration.

BA formula betrayed

In case we have all forgotten, PAS happens to be a member of a political coalition known as Barisan Alternatif. Despite of the vacuity of the name given to it, BA did actually try to provide an alternative to the present status-quo in the country.

Those whose memory cells have not been totally destroyed by overdoses of MSG may remember that when BA was launched in the wake of the economic and political crises of 1997/98 there were calls for a radical reconstruction of Malaysian politics as a whole.

The moment seemed right for a major ideological overhaul of the system as a state of radical dislocation had set in and the ruling elite's hegemonic grip on the country was faltering.

BA claimed it wanted to create a broad-based, multiracial and multi-religious political front that would effectively challenge the communitarian and divisive politics of the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition.

The leaders of the component parties of BA called for a 'new politics' of anti-racism, anti-communitarianism and inclusivity, that was couched on the discourse of democracy and human rights.

The foundational principles of this new political philosophy were laid out in a number of key speeches and documents, one of which was the 'Pematang Pauh Declaration' that was made at the beginning of the reformasi movement.

The Pematang Pauh Declaration made it clear that what Malaysia and Malaysians needed today was a new political culture of openness, freedom and liberty that was no longer hindered or curtailed by the repressive laws of the colonial era like the Internal Security Act (ISA).

At that crucial point in Malaysian history, a major discursive and paradigm shift could have been attempted. Malaysian society and the younger generation in particular seemed totally sick and tired of the old ways of doing things and were looking for new ideas and alternatives to work with.

It seemed as if we could, for the first time in decades, devise a new form of politics and political culture that would free us from the shackles of the past and help bring about a new society and form of government that would enable individual citizens to finally exercise their rights and rational agency as thinking beings.

PAS' selfish reasons

But things went wrong almost from the start. Sadly, the entire reformasi movement was hijacked by one constituency in particular which kept pushing its own exclusive religio-political agenda on the rest.

In time, PAS emerged as the biggest winners in the1999 election and since then the whole reformasi project seems to have been held hostage by something which none of the reformasi activists really wanted or envisaged: the Islamic state.

Lest it be forgotten, the massive vote-swing for PAS and BA parties in 1999 was NOT a vote for an Islamic state. It has to be remembered that the vote swing came from a number of sections of Malaysian society, and some of these groups (like DAP and PRM) have made their opposition to the Islamic state patently clear.

Yet PAS remains adamant and is trying to make hay while the sun shines. Over the past two years we have seen how PAS has managed to squander all the gains that it and BA made in 1999, for purely selfish reasons that have nothing to do with democracy, freedom, human rights or the aspirations of the reformasi generation.

Instead they have merely reverted back to type by tapping into the common insecurities and frustrations of the masses and proposed instead an idealised model of an Islamic state that not only neglects the demands and standards of human rights as understood elsewhere in the world, but has even made things worse as far as the protection of civil liberties is concerned.

While we should all condemn the injustice that is apparent in laws such as the ISA, one is forced to ask the painful question: Isn't it just as bad, or worse, to cut off limbs, stone people to death and crucify them in public?

Learning from the worst

If it was not bad enough that PAS hudud laws include such punishments that would make Malaysia a mockery and embarrassment in the eyes of the world, now it appears that the doyens of the party want to send their boys to learn from other countries with even worse records in human rights and democracy.

PAS' choice of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan as states to learn from should set all the alarm bells ringing for those committed to the struggle for human rights and fundamental liberties in this country.

At a time when the Muslim world is witnessing the emergence of new schools of progressive Muslim thought and progressive and open-minded thinkers like Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi, Fathi Osman and even Shiekh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, PAS' choice of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan is baffling to say the least.

The press statement issued by the Malaysian human rights non-governmental organisation Suaram recently sums up the anxieties and concerns that most Malaysians have about what PAS is doing and where its leaders are taking the party. (2)

Iran is the one Muslim country that seems to be abandoning the hard-line approach to political Islam after paying the price for it over two decades. Two decades of moral and religious thought-policing has served only to undermine the loftier principles that once underscored the Iranian revolution itself.

Having done away with the repressive government of the corrupt and Western-controlled Shah of Iran, Iranians found themselves living under the repressive rule of the Ayatollahs instead: Something that Ayatollah Taleqani warned them about in his fateful last sermon.

Despite the internal critiques and rise of post-revolutionary thinkers and intellectuals demanding greater freedom and space for critical thought, the hardline Mullahs remain intransigent and dogmatic as ever. The persecution of Hashem Aghajari, one of the thinkers of the revolutionary movement at the hands of the Mullahs today shows precisely how (to quote Mazeni Alwi's phrase) 'the Islamic state has come full circle'.(3)

Sudan's experiment with political Islam has also resulted in some of the most spectacular displays of public piety among the Islamist elite but all at the cost of the people themselves. The country remains chronically poor, under-developed and lawless.

In the face of such a major institutional and structural crisis, what have the Sudanese Islamist elite done? All they have offered are cosmetic demonstrations of religiousity that has come in the form of amputations, floggings and killing of criminals.

Repressive, corrupt state

But it is Saudi Arabia a country that is practically run and owned by one elite feudal family, the Sauds that takes the cake. A long-time ally of the United States; the sponsor and benefactor of numerous radical Islamist jihadi groups like the Taliban; and the home of the al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most corrupt, dictatorial and repressive states in the Muslim world today.

The long history of collaboration between the decadent and corrupt Saudi royals with their Western (notably American and British) patrons has been recorded many times over. This is also a country that is witnessing the rise of an increasingly powerful anti-establishment movement, made up of ordinary workers, students, intellectuals and activists who have been persecuted by the state for so long.

The response of the Saudi elite to these challenges has been predictable: Rather than open the way for genuine democratisation of the country (this is, by the way, the country where Muslim women are not even allowed to drive cars), they have instead sponsored a school of dogmatic and narrow Islamic thought Wahabbism which they export to the world, and now to Malaysia.

PAS' decision to 'learn' from the Saudis is therefore a cause of concern for all of us. At a time when Southeast Asia has more to offer the Muslim world in terms of new ideas, approaches and understandings of normative Islam, it is we in Southeast Asia who should be giving lessons to the Arabs, and not vice-versa.

PAS' eagerness to learn from the Saudi establishment shows that there are still Malay-Muslims in Nusantara who prefer to kow-tow to their Arab masters, whom they may think of as 'better' or 'purer' Muslims.

Intelectually colonised state

That the leadership of PAS can make such a move at this stage in Malaysian history is no surprise either: The party's Mursid'ul Am (spiritual leader) Nik Aziz Nik Mat is a product of the highly conservative and reactionary Deobandi school in India, which was itself a product of Wahabbi thinking and influenced by Hanbalite ideas of ibn Taymiyya.

Abdul Hadi, on the other hand, was once linked to the Arab Ikhwan'ul Muslimin movement, which grew increasingly radical thanks to the influence of more militant intellectuals like Sayyid Qutb.

All of this points to one thing: The intellectual bankruptcy and impotence of Islamist intellectuals in Malaysia today and the public's own sense of apathy and ignorance of the seriousness of what is going on.

Should this trend continue, Malaysia will inevitably end up being just another intellectually colonised state living under the undue influence and tutelage of radical and extremist Arab-Islamist thinkers and their agendas.

The open, tolerant and pluralist spirit of Nusantara Islam will be sacrificed at the altar of realpolitik, just so that PAS can score a few more points in its pathetic bid to out-do its nemesis Umno.

Both parties are ultimately to blame, but as always, its little people like us who will end up having to pay the price for their failures.

Endnotes:

(1)See: Rosli Zakaria, 'Terengganu delays hudud enforcement', New Straits Times (Dec 11, 2002). The report noted that Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang went on record to say that "We (PAS) will send a team to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan to study the implementation of Islamic laws there". The team will be led by state education, dakwah and syariah implementation committee chairperson Harun Taib.

(2) See: Suaram Press Statement, 'Saudi Arabia will only worsen the Syariah Enactment.' (Dec12, 2002).The Suaram statement expressed deep concern about the choice of Saudi Arabia as a 'model' and example for the PAS state government of Terengganu in particular. To quote the statement: "Saudi Arabia for example which according to Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang has agreed to a near future cooperation, has consistently been assailed by credible international NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for its defective and secretive system of justice that results in systematic and gross abuse of human rights. Human Rights Watch in its April 2002 press statement said: "Saudi Arabia should open up its highly secretive justice system and end practices that deny fundamental due process rights to criminal suspects. Prolonged solitary confinement, confessions, and secret trials are regular features of the Saudi justice system." Amnesty International in its launch of the second report on Saudi Arabia 2000 stated: "An important factor that perpetuates the patterns of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, is the inherent structural defects in the criminal justice system. Such defects include lack of safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention, the absence of the right to prompt access to a lawyer and family upon detention, summary and secret trial proceedings, use of confessions extracted under duress as sole evidence for conviction, denial of defence by lawyers, and the absence of meaningful appeal."

(3) see: Mazeni Alwi, The Case of Hashem Aghajari: Islamic State comes full circle'. In malaysiakini, Nov 30, 2002.

Dr FARISH A NOOR is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. 'The Other Malaysia' tries to unearth aspects of Malaysia's history and culture that have been erased or relegated to the margins in order to remind us that there remains another Malaysia that is often forgotten. His columns are going to be published soon under the title "The Other Malaysia: Writings on Malaysia's Subaltern Histories" published by Silverfish in January 2003.