Exigency or expediency? Contextualising political Islam and the pas challenge in Malaysian politics

Abstract

Few would disagree that Islam has become a major force in Malaysian politics. Be that as it may, scholarship on political Islam in Malaysia has mostly centred on detailing the umno–pas confrontation. While it is important to understand the depths of this phenomenon of politicised Islam, it is equally vital that attempts be made to relate it to broader socio-political tectonics in the complex Malaysian landscape in order to better appreciate the nature and trajectory of the politicisation of Islam in Malaysia. Focusing on pas as the institutional manifestation of politicised Islam in Malaysia, this paper advances two arguments. First, pas has been successful insofar as it has managed to relate Islam to the pressing issues of the day. Second, the best electoral performances turned in by pas have all coincided with problems with umno and the broader coalition. Islam then, appears to be less vital to the politics of pas than is widely perceived.

Notes

Joseph Chin Yong Liow is in the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Block 54, Level B4, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. Email: [email protected].

umno is the United Malays' National Organisation, which is the Malay-based and dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, while pas is the Malay-Muslim opposition party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, which was previously known as the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party (pmip).

More recent studies include P Martinez, ‘Mahathir, Islam, and the new Malay dilemma’, in J Chin & KL Ho (eds), Mahathir's Administration: Performance and Crisis in Governance, Singapore: Times Books International, 2001; SA Hussein, ‘Muslim politics and the discourse on democracy’, in FKW Loh & BT Khoo (eds), Democracy in Malaysia: Discourses and Practices, Richmond: Curzon, 2002; K Abdullah, The Politics of Islam in Contemporary Malaysia, Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2002; and J Liow, Deconstructing Political Islam in Malaysia: umno's Response to pas' Religio-Political Dialectic, IDSS Working Paper No 45, Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, 2003.

See for example, W Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism, Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1967; and F Abdullah, The Origins and Early Developments of the Radical Malay Opposition Movement in Malaysian Politics, Kuala Lumpur: Pelanduk Publications, 1985.

As a sample of this scholarship, see S Barraclough, ‘Managing the challenges of Islamic revival in Malaysia: a regime perspective’, Asian Survey, 23 (8), 1988, pp 958–975; J Nagata, The Reflowering of Malaysian Islam: Modern Religious Radicals and their Roots, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984; C Muzaffar, Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia, Petaling Jaya: Penerbit Fajar Bakti, 1987; and KS Jomo & AS Cheek, ‘The politics of Malaysia’s Islamic resurgence', Third World Quarterly, 10 (2), 1988, pp. 843–868.

AB Shamsul, ‘Identity construction, nation formation, and Islamic revivalism in Malaysia’, in RW Hefner & P Horvatich (eds), Islam in an Era of Nation State: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, pp 207–210.

See Martinez, ‘Mahathir, Islam and the new Malay dilemma’, p 216.

H Mutalib, Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1990, p 60.

While the same political party, before 1974 pas was known as the Pan-Malay Islamic Party. Only after 1974 was it popularly known by its Jawi abbreviation, pas. pas was formed by umno Ulama who challenged the legitimacy of the party's leadership in the name of Islam.

J Funston, Malay Politics in Malaysia: A study of UMNO and PAS, Singapore: Heinemann International Books Ltd, 1980.

H Crouch, Government and Society in Malaysia, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996, p 18.

See S Ibrahim, The Islamic Party of Malaysia: Its Formative Stages and Ideology, Kelantan: Nuawi bin Ismail, 1981, pp 26–27.

The first general election on a federal basis was held in 1955, when the Alliance coalition won 51 out of 52 seats.

The vision and leadership that Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy provided for the pmip has been discussed in K Jaafar, Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy: Politik Melayu dan Islam, Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Anda, 1980.

The Alliance coalition was the precursor to the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition which fronts the Malaysian government. This coalition first came into being at the Kuala Lumpur municipal elections of February 1952 with umno–mca co-operation.

This claim was made in Abdullah, The Politics of Islam in Contemporary Malaysia, p 46. See also TG McGee, ‘The Malayan elections of 1959: a study in electoral geography, Malayan Journal of Tropical Geography, 16, 1962, pp 78–79.

See Ibrahim, The Islamic Party of Malaysia, p 86. The five principles were: 1) the Malay nation was to be the rightful owner of Malaya; 2) the Malays should be granted special rights; 3) stricter conditions for Malayan citizenship; 4) Islam to be the official religion; and 5) Malay to be the national and official language.

This point was established in KJ Ratnam, ‘Religion and politics in Malaya’, in RO Tilman (ed), Man, State, and Society in Southeast Asia, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969, p 356.

A concise summary of the intra-Alliance problems in the run-up to the 1959 elections can be found in L Andaya & BW Andaya, A History of Malaysia, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001, pp 277–282.

See TE Smith, ‘The Malayan elections of 1959’, Pacific Affairs, 33 (1), 960, pp 41–42.

The importance of the language issue to the stability of the Alliance coalition, especially in the early years of independence, was emphasised in L Comber, ‘Chinese Education—perennial Malayan problem’, Asian Survey, 1 (8), October 1961.

For example, with these new laws the Chinese electorate expanded from 11.2% in 1955 to 35.6% at the 1959 general elections.

See K von Vorys, Democracy without Consensus: Communalism and Political Stability in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1976, pp 147. Under these new laws, citizenship was granted on the principle of jus soli. This was a marked change from the earlier laws under the Federation Agreement, where citizenship required residence for at least 15 out of 25 years, a declaration of permanent settlement and competence in Malay and English.

C Kessler, Islam and Politics in a Malay State: Kelantan 1838–1969, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978, pp 120–121.

A Mohamed, pas’ Platform: Development and Change, 1951–1986, Petaling Jaya: Gateway Publishing House, 1994, p 79.

Kessler, Islam and Politics in a Malay State, p 35.

Funston, Malay Politics in Malaysia, p 198. Funston was referring to Kessler's study cited above.

This event alone formed the explicit and implicit premise for several major studies, some of which are J Slimming, Malaysia: Death of a Democracy, London: J Murray, 1969; F Gagliano, Communal Violence in Malaysia 1969: The Political Aftermath, Athens, OH: Ohio University Center for International Studies, 1970; CT Goh, The May Thirteenth Incident and Democracy in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1971; WD McTaggart, The May 1969 Disturbances in Malaysia: Impact of a Conflict on Developmental Pattern, San Diego, CA: Association for Asian Studies, 1971; and L Comber, 13 May 1969: A Historical Survey of Sino-Malay Relations, Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Asia, 1983.

KJ Ratnam & RS Milne, ‘The 1969 parliamentary elections in west Malaysia’, Pacific Affairs, 43 (2), 1970, pp 203–226.

Von Vorys, Democracy without Consensus, p 261.

See Mohamed, pas' Platform, p 91.

Von Vorys, Democracy without Consensus, pp 249–250.

Mohamed, pas' Platform, pp 96–97.

It is interesting to note, however, that, in contrast, Von Vorys felt that pas had expanded its popularity in spite of its rather incoherent organisational approach to the elections. Von Vorys, Democracy without Consensus, pp 261–262.

RS Milne & D Mauzy, Politics and Government in Malaysia, Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1978, p 143.

Ibid, pp 271–272.

Quoted in ibid, p 271.

See RK Vasil, The Malaysian General Elections of 1969, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1972.

Mutalib, Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics, p 51.

Ibid, p 53, emphasis added.

Funston, Malay Politics in Malaysia, p 294.

Ibid, p 245.

Abdullah, The Politics of Islam in Contemporary Malaysia, p 191.

Details of the umno–pas alliance can be found in G Means, Malaysian Politics: The Second Generation, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Details on this struggle can be found in L Ismail, Berakhirnya Zaman Keagungan pas, Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Pena, 1978.

See C Kessler, ‘Malaysia: Islamic revivalism and political disaffection in a divided society’, Southeast Asia Chronicle, 75, 1980, pp 3–11.

For a discussion on these movements, see KS Jomo & AS Cheek, ‘Malaysia’s Islamic movements', in J Kahn & FKW Loh (eds), Fragmented Vision: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Malaysia, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1992. See also Nagata, The Reflowering of Malaysian Islam; A Fauzi A Hamid, ‘New trends of Islamic resurgence in contemporary Malaysia: Sufi-revivalism, Messianism, and economic activism’, Studia Islamika, 6 (3), 1999, pp 75–100.

Mutalib, Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics, p 100.

Asri Muda's attempt to forge an alliance with the Chinese-dominated dap was also seen to have contributed substantially to pas's defeats. It needs to be recognised, however, that, generally speaking, pas did maintain much of its support in the northern Malay states, and its best performances were in Malay majority constituencies. See D Mauzy, ‘A vote for continuity: the 1978 general elections in Malaysia’, Asian Survey, 19 (3), 1979, pp 281–296.

For example, a Majlis Shura Ulama (Consultative Council of religious scholars) was formed, which formulated party policies.

One of the clearest indicators of this change came in the form of the establishment of the Majlis Shura Ulama to co-ordinate decision making in the party leadership. The formation of this institution within the party epitomised the re-emphasis on Ulama leadership in the rejuvenated pas.

See Abdullah, The Politics of Islam in Contemporary Malaysia, p 141.

The term used by pas to condemn umno's emphasis on Malay identity was ‘assabiyah’, which referred to racial chauvinism or communal exclusiveness, and which was frowned upon in Islam. See Mutalib, Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics, p 118.

‘Kafir-mengafir’ refers to the reciprocal labelling of each as infidels.

For insightful elaboration and deliberation of the Islamic state concept of governance as it may apply in Malaysia's case see Hussin Mutalib, Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State, Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1993.

This is enshrined in the party's manifesto. See www.parti-pas.org. See also N Mat Isa, The Islamic Party of Malaysia (pas): Ideology, Policy, Struggle and Vision Towards the New Millennium, Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Party of Malaysia, 2001.

Abdul Hadi, it will be remembered, was arguably the most vehement and scathing critic of umno among the new pas leadership. It was he who upped the ante in the so-called Islamic race by labelling umno leaders infidels and calling their struggle against umno a jihad.

See S Ramanathan & MH Adnan, Malaysia's 1986 General Election: The Urban–Rural Dichotomy, Occasional Paper No 83, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988, pp 32–33. Needless to say, these accusations subsequently proved groundless.

A detailed account of the Memali incident has been provided by Abdullah, The Politics of Islam in Contemporary Malaysia, pp 196–200.

Sankaran & Adnan, Malaysia's 1986 General Election, p 59.

Ibid, p 60.

See SA Hussein, ‘Muslim politics and the discourse on democracy’, FKW Loh & BT Khoo (eds), Democracy in Malaysia: Discourses and Practices, Richmond: Curzon, 2002, p 93.

This is touched on in BT Khoo, ‘Economic vision and political opposition in Malaysia, 1981–1996: the politics of the Mahathir era’, Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 12, 1997, pp 9–34.

Mutalib, Islam in Malaysia, p 115.

Semangat '46 was formed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah after his failure to unseat Mahathir Mohamad as party president in the closely fought 1988 umno party elections. Details of this episode can be found in Crouch, Government and Society in Malaysia.

See K Raslan, ‘Islamic winds of change’, Sunday Times (Singapore), 12 December 1999, p 6.

J Funston, ‘Malaysia’s tenth elections: status quo, reformasi or Islamization?', Contemporary Southeast Asia, 22 (1), 2002, pp 55–56.

See for example, ‘Racial politics versus pas’, Harakah (Kuala Lumpur), 30 November 1998, p 4.

See for example, AL Othman, Wajah Baru Politik Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Pemuda, 1995; TM Jam, Ketahanan pas Ancam Masa Depan umno, Kuala Lumpur: Pangkaian Minda Publishing, 1995.

See Hussein, ‘Muslim politics and the discourse on democracy’, p 95.

See J Hilley, Malaysia: Mahathirism, Hegemony and the New Opposition, London: Zed Books, 2001, pp 206–209. See also ‘Racial politics versus pas’, Harakah (Kuala Lumpur), 30 November 1998, p 4.

M Mohamad, ‘The contest for Malay votes in 1999’, in FK Loh & J Saravanamuttu (eds), New Politics in Malaysia, Singapore: iseas, 2003, p 76.

See J Hilley, Malaysia: Mahathirism, Hegemony and the New Opposition, London: Zed Books, 2001, pp 206–209. See also ‘Racial politics versus pas’, Harakah, 30 November 1998, p 4.

pas was one of the four component parties of the Barisan Alternatif, which included the Chinese-dominated dap. The dap, however, withdrew from the coalition after failing to reach an understanding with pas over the latter's commitment to the Islamic state objective.

See Funston, ‘Malaysia’s tenth elections', p 38. While the concern of this paper has primarily been with election campaign politics, it is nonetheless interesting to note that this claim has recently been reiterated by pas Secretary-General Nasharuddin Mat Isa, who has stated that pas will not establish a theocratic state as ‘responsibility of leadership must be derived from a mandate through consent of citizens’. See ‘No plan for pas to set up “theocratic” state: Nasharuddin’, at www.malaysiakini.com, 16 July 2003.

Greg Barton, ‘The ties that do not bind’, Asiaweek, 16 June 2000; and P Martinez, ‘The Islamic state or the state of Islam in Malaysia’, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 23 (3), December 2001.

M Mohamad, ‘The umno malaise’, Aliran, February 2000.

Mohamad, ‘The contest for Malay votes’, p 78.