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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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UMNO's lurch towards an ill-defined Islamic future, couched in political
terms to clip PAS sails, heralds no fears or dangers with Malaysia's
multiracial community. Even if its rides roughshod over the non-Islamic
constituency to deny them their religious comforts. But the non-Muslim
Malaysian community is in near rigor mortis with fright when PAS'
measured worldview of Islam beckons. The Islamic identity is lost in
this orchestrated political void, with one view of an obscurantist PAS
fed Malaysians by a contested mainstream media. So, when the Kelantan
mentri besar and the PAS spiritual leader, Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat,
led a discourse on "An Islamic State in Malaysia" to a group of
Christians -- the Conference of Churches in Malaysia -- at the Crystal
Crown Hotel in Petaling Jaya on 15 May 00, it broke down many barriers.
For the first time in living memory, certainly since independence
in 1957, an Islamic party comes before a non-Islamic audience to explain
its vision of a Malaysia decidedly Islamic. UMNO has refused to explain
its Islamic policies before any audience, including PAS, reject any
attempt at ecumenical meetings of Islam and the other religious faiths.
UMNO insists its multiracial coalition members represents all faiths in
Malaysia, but that misleads, since the non-Malays sleep walk when
contentious Islamic laws are enacted, or when the Selangor state
government removes a parent's to his or her children if they convert to
Islam after puberty without their parent's consent. Or Selangor's
refusal to allow a Roman Catholic church to be built, after construction
had begun, on the belated grounds that a non-Islamic place of worship
should not exist in an Islamic state capital. The caning of Muslims in
Kelantan for drinking alcohol was introduced not by PAS but UMNO; PAS
tightened the hudud laws by amending this legislation. It is curious
that in Trengganu the UMNO state assemblymen, now in opposition, takes
the PAS administration for not endorsing an Islamic state.
So, when Tuan Guru Nik Aziz insisted that his party believes not in
an Islamic state ("negara Islam") so much as an Islamic community
("masyarakat Islam"), the shock of surprise amongst many in the 450-odd
audience underscored the contentious ground on which PAS's Islam is
viewed. There was, necessarily, a grandstanding by both the audience
and the Tuan Guru, but his disarming replies and explanation, ended in
the end with a confused audience, with many prepared to give the Tuan
Guru the benefit of the doubt. The usual questions at functions like
these were asked: kharaj, the position of the kaffirs, the dimmis, the
role of civil law, the position of civil law and non-Muslim lawyers, and
other appurtenances of an Islamic state deemed degrading or demeaning to
the non-Muslims. Tuan Guru accepted the limited role of an Islamic
state in a multiracial country, especially with a non-Muslim population
of just under half its 22 million people, and repeated his preference
for a Masyarakat Islam.
The Tuan Guru's message was one of fairness, that those who live in
an Islamic community -- the Medina Ummah at the time of the Prophet
Mohammed was one such -- were treated within the narrow confines of
their faith, but as human beings. He explained that was what PAS aims
for in Kelantan, pointing out to such examples of a Chinese school given
Malay reservation land to expand when no other land was available. The
larger interests of the community required it, he said. His message was
one of compassion and fair play in Islam, implied that in a society
where PAS could not, on its own, get the twothirds majority to amend the
Constitution, the Islamic state is not a practical option. Indeed, as
Prof. K.S. Jomo, who chaired the function, said PAS, on its own accord,
would not include its long-term agenda of an Islamic state when it
joined the Barisan Alternatif. Realpolitik dictates its actions, but
more important, and unmentioned last night, is the latter day focus
Islam has in PAS. Until 1983, PAS's overview was a pan-National Malay
worldview, in sharp contrast to UMNO's national limitations.
The most persistent question from the audience was on women's
rights. The Tuan Guru stuck to his position of keeping women away from
temptation, said his government's policy of appointing women to the
Senate was to give them the respect they deserve without having to be
involved in the hustle and bustle of campaigning and its actions not
condoned in Islam. He said appointing women to the Senate obviated that
"problem", but it was not an answer which stuck a sympathetic chord.
The give-and-take was patchy at best, inevitable at the first meeting of
minds between a Muslim and a largely Christian audience. But the
importance of last night was that such a dialogue could begin. If it
could be the first of many, a meeting of minds is possible. Frequent
meetings mean an understanding of each other's views, which as the Tuan
Guru said, allowed one to the understand the other.
But a 43-year barrier is broken with this meeting. What was said
represented the differing perceptions of each, but that the two groups
could meet to discuss is itself a step forward. It is that, more than
what Tuan Guru Nik Aziz did or did not say, that underscored the success
of the evening. I understand PAS has plans to hold a dialogue with
non-Malays and addressing an English-speaking crowd. PAS has to address
two contentious constituencies: one that believes it likes nothing
better than eating non-Muslim boiled babies for breakfast; and the
other that questions its multiracial credentials. The DAP's problems
when it joined the BA with PAS is symptomatic of these doubts. One
swallow does not make a summer. And Tuan Guru's dialogue with the
Conference of Churches in Malaysia does not resolve the millennial
confrontation between Islam and Christianity. But it is a beginning,
the first step in the journey of a thousand miles. To that extent, the
dialogue is both a success and a new opening. There should be more of
such dialogues in the future.
M.G.G. Pillai
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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