Elections in 2008 saw the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), lose its dominant two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time since Malaysian independence.
An opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party made significant gains, and in September 2008 seemed to be on the brink of persuading government MPs from Sabah and Sarawak to cross the house and vote against the BN.
That did not happen, however, and while the opposition has won a number of significant by-election victories at national and local levels, it has not been able to launch a final push to dethrone the UMNO-led BN.
Ethnic and religious controversies have revealed divisions in the opposition, which features the Islamist Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) and the secular Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP), alongside Anwar’s party, which portrays itself as inclusive and open to all creeds and ethnic groups.
The courts stoked an ongoing “Allah controversy” by ruling that Christians are not permitted to use the word “Allah” to refer to God. Some Malays claim that the word is reserved exclusively for Muslims, while Malaysian Christians say that the word pre-dates the founding of Islam and has been used by Christians in what is now Malaysia for centuries. Arabic-speaking Christians in the Gulf and Middle East countries still use the word, as do Christians in neighboring Indonesia.
The ruling prompted over a dozen arson attacks on Christian churches and, in turn, the pig heads were left outside several mosques. The PAS line was to accept the court ruling, which the government has appealed in any case, and to condemn the arson attacks on Christian churches that took place afterward. However, a senior PAS lawmaker has come out against what he deems his party’s soft line on the issue, revealing a potential split within the PAS and within the opposition more generally.
I asked a group of twenty and thirty-something professionals what they thought of the controversy. None appeared to know all the details of the various cases, and all claimed to be agnostic or atheist. “We would be better off without any religious differences,”
The differences nonetheless exist and are widening. UMNO is seeking to outdo PAS in its apparent devotion to Sharia norms, and the impact of this race toward orthodoxy affects a large portion of the population.
Malays, who make up around 60 percent of the population, and are by definition Muslims under Malaysia’s dual legal system, are subject to Sharia law in personal matters such as inheritance, marriage and of course apostasy.
Muslims are not allowed to convert to another faith, and a landmark case in 2007 involving a woman who converted from Islam to Christianity saw the country’s secular civil courts transfer the case to its Sharia counterpart, ruling that it—the secular court—had no jurisdiction. The woman’s conversion was not recognized.
Since February, the country has been subjected to another round of accusations against Anwar, labelled “Sodomy II” by the press. In what the opposition sees as another politically motivated trial, the key prosecution witness Saiful Bukhari, a former junior Anwar aide, stunned the court and added another sizzling chapter to the growing salaciousness by testifying that Anwar had asked him if he could engage in sodomy with him.
Anwar, now formally charged with having a relationship with Saiful, says the whole thing has been fabricated by Prime Minister Najib and his wife. Anwar supporters feel the case is a charade aimed at removing him from national politics, presumably leaving the opposition without a nationally recognized unifying figure. Although the trial is now suspended, it is expected to resume in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Najib has spent his first year in office promoting a “One Malaysia” quasi-ideology, while at the same time maintaining that UMNO is an Islamist party.
04/08/10
An opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party made significant gains, and in September 2008 seemed to be on the brink of persuading government MPs from Sabah and Sarawak to cross the house and vote against the BN.
That did not happen, however, and while the opposition has won a number of significant by-election victories at national and local levels, it has not been able to launch a final push to dethrone the UMNO-led BN.
Ethnic and religious controversies have revealed divisions in the opposition, which features the Islamist Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) and the secular Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP), alongside Anwar’s party, which portrays itself as inclusive and open to all creeds and ethnic groups.
The courts stoked an ongoing “Allah controversy” by ruling that Christians are not permitted to use the word “Allah” to refer to God. Some Malays claim that the word is reserved exclusively for Muslims, while Malaysian Christians say that the word pre-dates the founding of Islam and has been used by Christians in what is now Malaysia for centuries. Arabic-speaking Christians in the Gulf and Middle East countries still use the word, as do Christians in neighboring Indonesia.
The ruling prompted over a dozen arson attacks on Christian churches and, in turn, the pig heads were left outside several mosques. The PAS line was to accept the court ruling, which the government has appealed in any case, and to condemn the arson attacks on Christian churches that took place afterward. However, a senior PAS lawmaker has come out against what he deems his party’s soft line on the issue, revealing a potential split within the PAS and within the opposition more generally.
I asked a group of twenty and thirty-something professionals what they thought of the controversy. None appeared to know all the details of the various cases, and all claimed to be agnostic or atheist. “We would be better off without any religious differences,”
The differences nonetheless exist and are widening. UMNO is seeking to outdo PAS in its apparent devotion to Sharia norms, and the impact of this race toward orthodoxy affects a large portion of the population.
Malays, who make up around 60 percent of the population, and are by definition Muslims under Malaysia’s dual legal system, are subject to Sharia law in personal matters such as inheritance, marriage and of course apostasy.
Muslims are not allowed to convert to another faith, and a landmark case in 2007 involving a woman who converted from Islam to Christianity saw the country’s secular civil courts transfer the case to its Sharia counterpart, ruling that it—the secular court—had no jurisdiction. The woman’s conversion was not recognized.
Since February, the country has been subjected to another round of accusations against Anwar, labelled “Sodomy II” by the press. In what the opposition sees as another politically motivated trial, the key prosecution witness Saiful Bukhari, a former junior Anwar aide, stunned the court and added another sizzling chapter to the growing salaciousness by testifying that Anwar had asked him if he could engage in sodomy with him.
Anwar, now formally charged with having a relationship with Saiful, says the whole thing has been fabricated by Prime Minister Najib and his wife. Anwar supporters feel the case is a charade aimed at removing him from national politics, presumably leaving the opposition without a nationally recognized unifying figure. Although the trial is now suspended, it is expected to resume in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Najib has spent his first year in office promoting a “One Malaysia” quasi-ideology, while at the same time maintaining that UMNO is an Islamist party.
04/08/10
No comments:
Post a Comment