Farish A. Noor
A word, once uttered, can seldom be withdrawn. This is true for most
of us and particularly true for politicians who forget that we now
live in an age of modern communications technology where every
sentence, every utterance, even every burp, hiccup and indiscreet
bodily emission will be recorded for posterity.
What has now become a maxim of politics was amply demonstrated
recently by the remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Najib Tun Razak, who claimed during a press conference in Kuala
Lumpur that Malaysia is an 'Islamic state' that has 'never been
affiliated' to a secular position and that that Malaysia's
development 'has been driven by our adherence to the fundamentals of
Islam'. (Bernama, 17 July 2007) Needless to say, the Deputy Prime
Minister's remarks were a cause of concern for many Malaysians who -
for the past fifty years or so - have been living under the
assumption that the country was a constitutional democracy and not a
theocratic state.
In due course protests issued from all quarters, ranging from the
Malaysian urban liberal elite to the leaders of the mainly non-Malay
non-Muslim parties of the country; demanding clarification on the
issue and a re-statement of the fundamentally secular basis of
Malaysia's politics. As public frustration increased, the Malaysian
government reacted as it is wont to do. While the Malaysian Prime
Minister is on holiday in Australia, the government issued a blanket
media ban on all discussion of the matter, on the grounds that it can
only lead to even more public anger and misunderstanding between the
racial and religious communities of the country; despite the fact
that the source of the misunderstanding and discomfort was the Deputy
Prime Minister's remarks in the first place.
Notwithstanding the overt ban on media discussion of the Islamic
state issue, however, Malaysia's internet community has been active
in keeping the question alive and well on dozens of websites and
blogs all over the country. Indeed as developments over the past few
years have shown, it is the internet where most of the really
interesting and meaningful political discussions have been and are
taking place.
The Malaysian authorities have been decidedly apprehensive about the
role that the internet can play in deciding the tone and tenor of
Malaysian politics, and for this reason numerous conservative
politicians of the ruling National Front coalition have been calling
for a curb on the activities of bloggers and those who post their
ideas in cyberspace. The accusation most often levelled against them
being that they spread 'lies' against the state and tarnish the image
of the leaders of the country; a charge that resonates well in some
other repressive states where dissent is likewise treated as a
security threat, such as North Korea and China.
Just a week ago a Malaysian blogger - Nathaniel Tan - was arrested
and taken if for questioning by the police due to some postings
related to allegations of corruption against politicians in the
country. Now that a blanket ban has been used to close the forum of
public debate on the Islamic state issue, worries have been raised
about whether this marks yet another attempt to clamp down on
cyberspace and silence the bloggers and cyber-writers.
Following the arrest and subsequent release of Nathaniel Tan, another
prominent Malaysian cyber-writer, Raja Petra Kamarudin, who runs the
hugely popular www.Malaysia-today.net site has had a police report
filed against him by Muhammad Taib, former Chief Minister and member
of the ruling UMNO party. The UMNO leader claims that Raja Petra,
through his articles and postings on Malaysia-today.net had insulted
the king, degraded Islam and incited hatred in the country.
As yet it is not known which of Raja Petra's postings are said to
have been insulting to King and country, though he dismisses the
accusations as being baseless. According to Petra: 'This has nothing
to do with allegations about misrepresenting Islam, though such an
accusation is the most convenient since when I write about religion I
am expressing my personal opinions which are subjective and can
therefore be discussed. But what really upsets them are my exposes on
corruption in the country, which have been backed up with documents I
have posted on the site. How can they refute that?'
Indeed, Raja Petra's site has been receiving hundreds of thousands of
hits daily precisely because of his exposes on corruption among
politicians, businessmen, Malaysian criminal networks as well as the
Malaysian police force; the last of which has taken a battering over
the years due to a series of scandals and exposes related to cases of
police brutality, deaths in custody and of course the now-infamous
beating of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim.
Activists, journalists and legal experts are now worried about what
this may hold for the future, for the arrest of Nathaniel Tan and the
police report against Raja Petra would suggest that moves are being
made to silence the messengers on the internet. In the words of
prominent Malaysian lawyer Malik Imtiaz: 'it would be regrettable if
this latest action is part of a wider campaign to close down the
public domain of speech and discussion on crucial matters such as
Malaysia's constitution and the question of whether Malaysia is an
Islamic state.'
In the midst of this, the Malaysian government's reaction has been
one of denial and retaliation instead. The country's state-controlled
TV channel RTM1 featured an editorial piece condemning local
Malaysian newspapers that 'cause trouble' by raising sensitive issues
on race and religion; while leaders of the ruling UMNO party continue
to mouth a rhetoric of ethno-nationalism that is replete with
communalist sentiments. The contradictions are clear, as is the
paralysis of a government whose leader is on holiday while the
messengers remain in the firing line.
Dr. Farish A. Noor is a Malaysian political scientist and historian
based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin; and one of the founders
of the www.othermalaysia.org research site.
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