Malaysia needs Muslim Hadhari Not Islam Hadhari

Malaysia An Unusual And Complex Country, Says Prof Khoo
LONDON, April 14 (Bernama) - A veteran Malaysian academician has described his country as "very unusual and so complex" before an audience of British Muslims.
"Malaysia is truly Asia", Emeritus Professor of History, Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim said in an interview-discussion which was part of the weekly event of the London City Circle Islamic group, when asked the question if there were lessons to be learnt from the role of Islam in Malaysia's plural society.
"It is not that we don't have problems. We do have problems but they stem from misunderstandings not hatred," he said.
He cited a recent event where Muslims demonstrated before a church after rumours about a group of Muslims being prepared for conversion to Christianity.
"It turned out that these boys were Indians, so the Hindu Indians made loud noises about the conversion of their children, then it turned out that these were the young children of Christian Indian parents being prepared for religious initiation," he added.
"Non-Muslims in Malaysia generally do not understand Islam because Muslims think Islam has nothing to do with non-Muslims. The Muslims in Malaysia have not seriously played the role of 'muballigh' (spreaders of religion).
"I can tell you that the Muslims are not explaining Islam to non-Muslims. Muslims also should not distance themselves (from them). I said this on TV and they got angry with me. You have to play your role as 'muballigh'.
"The young are not taught Islam properly, the fundamentals of Islam. As my Pakistani friend told me, the fundamentalist is a good Muslim who knows the fundamentals of Islam. He is not a terrorist," Prof Khoo said.
Citing the experience of his own family, he said that his son wanted to do a doctorate in Islamic Studies in Britain but was disappointed when he could not get financial assistance from Malaysian officials who asked him why a non-Muslim would want to pursue the subject of Islam.
There has been unrest in Malaysia even before the May 13 incident but generally Malaysia is a tolerant country.
The biggest statue of the reclining Buddha in that part of the world is not in Thailand but in the Islamist controlled state of Kelantan, he told the audience.
He said that the government recently wanted to promote 'Islam Hadhari', the idea of progressive Islam, but what is needed in Malaysia now is not Islam Hadhari but Muslim Hadhari, progressive Muslims who reach out to non-Muslims and explain their religion.
"Islam in Malaysia has never really been given the opportunity to cross over to the non-Muslims because they (the Muslims) have been told not to," he said.
Asked if the New Economic Policy affected the climate of tolerance in Malaysia, he said that tolerance is always there but the division of parties meant that the politicians are always looking at racial issues.
"We have to make our young comfortable with one another," he said.
"People like to preserve their cultural identity. But you have to explain to them that if they become part of a nation then questions like cultural identity will no longer matter."
He said that the government is now realising this and is looking for better ways to integrate the young through the education system.
Elaborating on the Rukunegara, he said that the children are asked to learn the principles of nationhood by rote without understanding its content.
"The Asian approach to education is very mechanical. They learn by rote, they believe in the correct answer. The Malaysian education system is like that, you must always give the correct answer, you must always ask the correct question.
The students are asked to memorise the Rukunegara, the Rule of Law and so on, but if you ask them what the Rule of Law is they don't know." he said.
Forty years on, Prof Khoo, a member of the panel that formulated the Rukunegara holds this view: "So far it has no serious effect on society."
But even with all that, Malaysia is still a 'blessed society', he said.
When a member of the audience told him that she was not as optimistic on the future of the country, Prof Khoo replied that he had lived 70 years in Malaysia through thick and thin, and the country had always been able to overcome its problems.
"You should not listen to people who complain too much; you should listen to people who take the trouble to know the country," he said.

tunku : i totally agrees with what Prof Khoo had said, it's very true and we as Muslim should really think about it.We the muslim should let the non-muslim knows what is Islam about so they don't have doubts about Islam.It's very true most of us also draw a line with the non-muslims.we are leaving in a multiracial/multi religion country, so we have to live together and understand each other better, this is the only way and also Islamic way of life.Prof Khoo is right again when he said that what malaysia needed is muslim hadhari not Islam hadhari.the fundamentalist is a good Muslim who knows the fundamentals of Islam.this is what our former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir has always been saying.