There are times when one feels that the Orwellian state has arrived for good in Malaysia. Just when the country is abuzz with talk of 'Islam Hadhari' and 'Progressive Islam', the Malaysian public is forced to witness now-familiar U-turns that can only be described as shameful and obscene.

On Merdeka Day (Aug 31) it was none other than the prime minister himself, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who articulated his vision of the future and the common destiny of the Malaysian people. His statement that "no Malaysian should think that he or she is more Malaysian than others" struck a chord with many other fellow citizens, both in and out of his party.

It seemed as if the country was finally under the leadership of a leader who was willing to break away from the crass and repugnant communitarian politics of the past. Even those who have been long-time opponents of the Umno party and the BN coalition it leads had to agree with the prime minister's statement - at least in principle.

Less charitable sceptics however would argue that we should wait and see before jumping to hasty conclusions. They point out that during his first years in office the previous prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad was likewise seen and regarded as a 'reformist' PM in his own way, keen to demonstrate his commitment to cutting down a top-heavy civil service, to reform the mindset of the Malays, to open up some public space for a (relatively) free press to emerge, and so forth.

The brief 'democratic experiment' of the early Mahathir era ended soon enough, and by the time of the mass arrests of NGO activists, academics and opposition leaders in 1987 (during Operation Lallang) we all knew that rhetoric had encountered the brick wall of institutional inertia.

Abdullah is likewise a new leader and the new administration - as is the case in many other countries - has tried to set itself apart and distinct from the previous order. One of the ways it has done this is to adapt and co-opt the rhetoric and discourse of the 'reformasi' movement of 1997-98, as it speaks the language of multi-culturalism and pluralism, openness and political reform. Lest it be forgotten, it was precisely the adoption and co-optation of this reformist agenda that earned the present political leadership of this country the mandate it received at the recent federal elections in March.

The prime minister's Merdeka day speech would - and should - have been the icing on the national cake, the final statement of intent that would seal the discursive economy of the new order and to foreclose any possibility for further shifts or contradictions from within. This was 'regime continuity' at its ablest and best: a move that not only temporarily robbed the opposition of their ideological leverage but also allowed the new leadership to draw a defining line between itself and the past.

Ghosts of the past

The problem however, is that something is rotten in the house of Umno. Palace politics and Umno's feudal culture being what it is, the house of Umno has seen numerous internal coups, upheavals, character assassinations and muck-raking in public. What was inflicted on Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 when he was expelled from the party was neither new nor surprising. In different degrees the same intra-party feuding has taken place many times before, and the actors then included Tunku Abdul Rahman, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdul Razak, Harun Idris, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and a host of others.

So entrenched has Umno become thanks to its long stay in power that the party has developed a form of institutional inertia that would be the envy of many Third World banana republics. This was made evident during the recent Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur.

While Abdullah Badawi may think and state that "no Malaysian is more Malaysian than another", it is clear that such sentiments are far from hegemonised in his own party. When Umno deputy permanent chairperson Badruddin Amiruldin warned that to question the notion of Malay special rights was akin to 'stirring a hornets' nest', this could hardly have been construed as a bold step forward for multi-culturalism in Malaysia.

From the mouth of this prodigy of home-spun Umno wisdom came other gems such as: "Fifty-eight years ago we had an agreement with the other races, in which we permitted them to 'menumpang' (temporarily reside) on this land. In the Federal Constitution, our rights as a race have been enshrined Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land. Don't question the religion because this is my right on this land."

This writer will not even begin to refute the contents of the Umno deputy permanent chairperson's speech as the shallowness of the ideas should be clearly self-evident to all. However, we would like to remind the great minds of Umno that should they wish to continue with the charade of promoting their brand of 'Islam Hadhari', then several key factors need to be taken into consideration:

No 'race' in Islam

If there is anything that Umno should want to liberate us from, it should be the oppressive order of knowledge and power that this country inherited from the British during the colonial era. Apart from the ISA, the other colonial legacy that continues to poison our society and the minds of our fellow citizens is the notion of 'race' and 'racial differences'.

While it cannot be denied that societies tend to develop common features and common identities on their own, it should be noted that it was during the colonial period that such differences were rationally ordered and instrumentalised to serve the needs of a divisive colonial politics. It is one of the supreme ironies of post-colonial Malaysia that Malaysians today continue to remain divided along the lines of racial and ethnic differences that were reinforced by our former colonial masters.

Sadder still is the fact that these forms and structures of division are replicated and mirrored to some extent by the opposition parties in the country as well, with perhaps the exception of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat which is at least trying to make multi-culturalism a central tenet of its ideology.

But from an Islamic point of view it has to be noted that the concept of 'race' has no place in either the theology or praxis of the religion. If anything, Islam - being a monotheistic faith of the Abrahamic tradition like Judaism and Christianity - sees the human race as singular, and coming from the same singular God. To suggest that race can be the basis of politics, or more bizarre still the politics of Islam Hadhari, is a contradiction as embarrassing as a socialist party trying to promote capitalism!

The hysterical outburst of the Umno deputy chairperson (which incidentally received thunderous applause from the audience, we are told) demonstrates that the leaders of Umno still have a long way to go before they understand, much less internalise, the ideas and values of Islam Hadhari itself. The prime minister has said time and again that he wishes to present Malaysia to the world as the face of moderate, progressive Islam that is plural and tolerant. We wait with bated breath for the arrival of this new school of thought, while some of the leaders of his own party should perhaps be sent back to school.

And a final word to the demagogues and xenophobes in our midst: Apart from debunking and rejecting the illogical concept of race and racial differences, we also need to dispel this myth that the Chinese and Indians are 'foreigners' who simply 'menumpang' in the country. Again from an Islamic point of view, the idea that any piece of land can 'belong' to a 'race' is both illogical and contrary to the fundamental tenets of Islam.

In case the good folk of Umno have forgotten, the foundational principle of tauhid (unity of God) in Islam immediately leads us to the simple conclusion that unto God is the entire universe, and all of us ('Malays' and 'non-Malays' alike) happen to be trespassers who are merely here on a temporary basis.

To suggest that any country 'belongs' to a particular 'race' is tantamount to overturning the principle of tauhid itself. This should be clear to any Muslim with even a modicum of Islamic instruction, though ironically it seems an alien concept to some of the leaders of Umno - the very party that claims to be the defender of Malays and Muslim interests in Malaysia! The comedy of errors soldiers on

Note: Farish A Noor's series 'Apa Itu Islam Progresif?' shall continue next week. The series was temporarily interrupted due to a sudden wave of hysterical communitarianism in certain parts of Kuala Lumpur last week, and shall be resumed when IQ levels return to normal.