Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Barry Wain (grave mercy .TXT) 📖

accepting Dr. Mahathir's invitation to join UMNO and contest a parliamentary seat in a general election two weeks later.[16]

Dr. Mahathir had long held strong views on Islam, the practice of which he believed should be drastically reformed in Malaysia, and he saw in the charismatic and popular Anwar an agent of change. Islam of the Shafi'i school, introduced to Malaysia by Arab and Indian traders and scholars around the beginning of the fourteenth century, might be moderate and enlightened, but Dr. Mahathir identified it as a cause of Malay failure and a barrier to national development. He touched on the subject in The Malay Dilemma[17] in 1970 and elaborated on it in Menghadapi Cabaran,[18] published in 1976, which appeared later in English as [The Challenge].[19] Dr. Mahathir wrote that the Malays' value system and code of ethics, on which Islam was the single greatest influence, were "impediments to their progress".[20] He blamed "Malay-style" Islam for fatalistic tendencies, a disinclination to compete and a preference for spiritual over material pursuits.[21] But he said there was no reason why the Islamic faith, "properly interpreted", could not achieve spiritual well-being as well as material success for the Malays.[22]

Although Dr. Mahathir had no claim to religious expertise — he was not educated in the Islamic school system or in Arabic[23] — with the help of expert assistants and advisers he described in some detail the way Islam should be redefined.[24] Drawing on Islamic texts, with verses quoted in Arabic, he took issue with Muslims who saw their religion as either opposed to modernity, or as the equivalent of socialism. He said, "Islam accepts the reality that in any society there will be rich and poor, king and commoner, leader and follower."[25] Despite the way the Qur'an reverberates with the ethos of social justice, as one analyst noted, Dr. Mahathir declared the teachings and spiritual values of Islam to be entirely compatible with the pursuit of materialism.[26] He said the ownership of property did not mean loss of spirituality, and Muslims "need not reject wealth or endeavours which lead to wealth...".[27] Indeed, Muslims must be equipped with knowledge and other "tools and skills of the modern world" to uphold spiritual values, for "without wealth and efficiency, the Muslims will be oppressed and finally spiritual values too will be lost".[28] Bottom line: Malays had almost a religious obligation to change their character and participate wholeheartedly in Malaysia's development.

With acute political instincts, Dr. Mahathir spotted the domestic effects of the international Islamic awakening before most others, and planned to engage and reshape it with Anwar's help. Nevertheless, he significantly underestimated the extent to which Malaysian Islam would be "Arabized" and come under Salafi influences from the Middle East.[29] As a member of UMNO's Supreme Council in the early 1970s, Dr. Mahathir had tabled a paper warning of a growing Islamization among Malays, but party seniors dismissed his concern because he was not a religious expert.[30] UMNO and the government were content to keep responding piecemeal to the proliferating and diverse dakwah groups, whose aspirations varied from communal living and producing their own products, to forming a religious party and establishing an Islamic state. State governments set up educational foundations in rural areas to compete with ABIM, while the federal authorities launched a "dakwah month" in 1978 and opened Pusat Islam, in effect the government's own dakwah group, in 1980.[31] These official efforts were widely derided by UMNO's opponents as little more than token concessions meant to control and manipulate the growing Islamic consciousness.[32]

Dr. Mahathir's co-option of Anwar soon after becoming prime minister was a masterstroke, because it not only took much of the steam out of ABIM but also deprived PAS of a valuable ally, regardless of whether he would have joined the opposition party. Most of all, it gave the government the services of arguably the most influential thinker on religion and politics outside the political parties.[33] It also strengthened Dr. Mahathir's "Islamic" image and enabled him to make a coordinated and comprehensive response to the dakwah phenomenon. He entered directly into Islamic competition with PAS, choosing consciously to fight Islam with more Islam, which had the predictable effect of intensifying Islamization in Malaysia.[34]

At the 1982 UMNO General Assembly, Dr. Mahathir declared that "the biggest struggle...[is] to change the attitude of the Malays in line with the requirements of Islam in this modern age...UMNO's task now is to enhance the Islamic practices and ensure that the Malay community truly adheres to Islamic teachings".[35] The government banned the import of non-halal beef, prohibited Muslims from entering the country's only casino at Genting Highlands and introduced compulsory courses on Islamic civilization at universities. Under a slogan of "Inculcation of Islamic Values", the government also promoted in the civil service such virtues as justice, honesty, dedication, diligence and self-discipline, which had the added attraction of being universal human values.

Systematically, the government set up a series of Islamic institutions. An Islamic bank, which treated earnings as profits and not interest to conform to Islamic principles, opened in 1983. Catering mostly to rural Malays, it was offered as an addition to Malaysia's commercial banking system. An International Islamic University, co-sponsored by the multinational Organization of the Islamic Conference, aspired to be the Malaysian counterpart of Egypt's renowned Al Azhar University. It began teaching in 1983 with an international faculty and student body. There followed an Islamic insurance agency, a sharia advisory council for the Securities Commission and Islamic unit trusts for Muslim investors. The overtly political Institute for Islamic Understanding, known by its Malay acronym as IKIM, opened in 1992, with one of its main tasks to channel the ongoing Islamic revival along state-defined lines.[36]

Dr. Mahathir had no patience with ikhtilaf the tradition of scholarly disagreements and varieties of opinion in interpreting Islam.[37] He complained that while Muslims endlessly debated "the minutiae of our religion", Islamic countries were unable to cope with change and were dominated by others.[38] Anyway, he argued, all those options confused Malays without specialized knowledge of religion,