Anwar is absolutely right in saying "secular autocrats and dictators raising the bogey of Islamic radicalism in order to subvert democracy and maintain their hold on power”.
Anwar is speaking more like the Prime Minister of all Malaysians and rightly we should make him one.He is proving to be a true true leader for all,regardless of race and religion.
It is sad,due to the abuse by politicians wanting to cling onto power, today instead of being an instrument for unity of mankind,religion has become the cause of disunity,hate,violence and turmoil.
It is time for us to think very very very carefully which politicians we want to represent us in running the country.
Dr.Chris Anthony
Anwar: Islam compatible with democracy
Terence Netto Malaysiakini. | Jan 9, 08 2:32pm
PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who had launched his political career on an Islamist platform, ranged himself on the side of Islam’s compatibility with democracy in a speech to the Regional Outlook Forum in Singapore yesterday.
The debate about such compatibility or otherwise has gripped academic and political circles since the 9/11 incident.
A consensus has yet to be formed on one or the other side but Anwar, widely regarded as a modernist Islamic leader, was clear on his stance.In a luncheon address to the forum organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Anwar said the distinguishing marks of a democratic polity - such as human rights, rule of law and constitutionalism - are “moral imperatives of Islam too”.
In this, he stands with Muslim leaders the world over who reject the notion that Islam is inherently autocratic.
“If we were to look at the issue of Islam and democracy from the empirical angle, I dare say the threat to democracy is not Islam at all,” he said.
“On the contrary, we see Indonesia and Turkey decisively choosing the democratic system rather than the traditional Syariah system.”
Anwar said he sees the situation in Pakistan as posing the “classic scenario of secular autocrats and dictators raising the bogey of Islamic radicalism in order to subvert democracy and maintain their hold on power”.
Bedrock features
A study of the history of the Malay-Indonesian archipelago would suggest that “radical Islam never stood a chance”, he noted.
“In the 1950s, Indonesia experimented with principles of democracy and constitutionalism - it was therefore familiar with the concepts of freedom, universal citizenship, human rights and enlightenment.”
He was referring to the period when Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno steered between the demands of radical secular parties and the theocratic inclinations of Masyumi, the umbrella body for Muslim political entities.
Anwar held that, because the concepts of constitutionalism and democracy are bedrock features of enlightened Islamic society, these enabled “Indonesia to take the giant step from dictatorship to democracy” after the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998.He said the founding generation of Malaysian leaders also placed great emphasis on constitutionalism with “Islam given its pride of place in the private realm”.
“Recognising its multi-cultural and multi-religious society, Malaysia’s (founding) Muslim leaders were generally more inclusive,” he said.
Anwar quoted Quranic verses to show the inclusive vision and universalism of Islam that, he said, expressly abjure the “state-sponsored Muslim Puritanism” adopted by the government in Malaysia.
He portrayed his recent attempt to address the concerns of Indian Malaysians under the aegis of the Hindu Rights Action Force as motivated by his fidelity to Islamic precepts of justice and universalism.
“… I am convinced that there are no foundational reasons as to why democracy should be opposed to Islam or vice versa,” he added.
“Islam is universal but if the notion of this universalism is to mean anything, it would require that its values of justice, compassion and tolerance be practised everywhere.”
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