Take a closer look at Malaysian model Mushahid Hussain

Opinion, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Take a closer look at Malaysian model

Mushahid Hussain

| Special to Gulf News | 24-09-2003

Malaysia is about to witness something unique in the Muslim World, which would be a rarity in the Third World as well. After 22 years of success, popularity and performance as Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohammed is all set to implement his commitment to leave his powerful position voluntarily, honourably and peacefully.

For centuries, the Muslim World has not been able to settle the fundamental issue of power politics, namely, that of political transition. Islamic history is replete with power struggles sparked by wars of succession. Conspiracies, coercion, coups are the norm, with bloodletting among brothers, father and son and long-standing comrades, until the sword, or now the barrel of the gun, determines the winner - normally the one who managed to escape the last bullet.

Malaysia is about to change that pattern, with Dr. Mahathir retiring at the end of October following the Islamic Summit he is hosting in Kuala Lumpur. He has already nominated a successor, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, an experienced technocrat-turned-politician.

In the Third World too, voluntarily relinquishing high office is a rarity. Nelson Mandela did so after serving a single term as president of multi-racial, democratic South Africa. More recently, the Chinese leadership did it under the guidance of former President Jiang Zemin.

When Mahathir retires, he will have the satisfaction of bequeathing a legacy of stability, prosperity and democracy to his country. At 78, he still exudes charm, charisma, energy and stamina, with a hands-on approach to development, domestic and foreign policy.

He was the first real politician to rise from the grass roots to assume the top slot in Malaysia. All his predecessors were civil servants, who turned to politics. And interestingly, when Malaysia got its independence in 1957, it had only 11 doctors, and two of those were Mahathir and his wife.

What is more important is that this political transition is anchored in an institutional framework where personalities, policies and performance have combined to erect a new Malaysia, that is expected to join the ranks of the developed nations according to Mahathir's "Vision 2020".

Demoralised

For the world at large, and for Muslims who are downright demoralised these days, groping in the dark for magical formulas, instant solutions to long-standing problems or messiahs thought to serve as panacea for all ills, it would be instructive to examine the basis of the Malaysian success story.

Why is it that Malaysia has succeeded where others, including Pakistan, have failed? How come a state, a mixture of races and religions, has been glued into a nation, with an inclusive, tolerant political culture? After all, Malaysia had to face a long-running Communist insurgency during its formative phase.

A bigger neighbour, Indonesia under Sukarno, threatened it with irredentist claims plus a needless, mindless policy of 'kronfrontasi' (confrontation). And in 1969, the same year that the demise of the Ayub regime saw the beginnings of an enduring, chronic instability and ad hocism in Pakistan, Malaysia witnessed vicious racial riots pitching the Malays against the Chinese, with doomsday forecasts predicting the unravelling of the Malaysian federal experiment.

Those doomsday forecasts have proven wrong in the case of Malaysia, but right in the case of Pakistan - since 1971 saw the country's break-up with the failure to compromise both among politicians and between the army and politicians. What are some of the reasons for the Malaysian success story?

After a recent visit to Malaysia, with meetings with their Federal and provincial leaders, and intellectuals and policy-makers, five reasons are noteworthy.

First, leaders with a vision to articulate and implement policies. For instance, Malaysians decided from day one to make education their number one priority, with mass literacy in three languages in stages, mother tongue, Malay - the main national language, and English - the official language.

And as one of their leaders put it: "We treated development as providing security for our people, since it gave stakes and rewards for all people in the system." Obviously, personal power was subordinated to policies based on performance.

Second, democratic institutions with an uninterrupted political process. This gave a sense of participation to people representing all segments of society, removing any sense of alienation or deprivation. For instance, one important base of support for the Communist insurgency was the Chinese population, many of them immigrants.

The government weakened the insurgency's base by giving citizenship to the Chinese, providing them with a stake in the system. Third, the ability to learn from mistakes and not repeat these, whether it was the insurgency or the race riots.

In Pakistan's case, even the capacity for new mistakes is not there since old ones are repeated with the same results as before. But here Pakistan can claim to be in good company, since the United States, for all its knowledge, military power and sources of information available to an open society, is repeating the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq with results that will probably be no different.

Multi-racial

Fourth, the role of Islam in a multi-racial and multi-religious society. With a 70 per cent Muslim majority - since Malays are dominant in numbers and the power structure - Malaysia is relaxed about its Islamic moorings, and mosques co-exist with Hindu mandirs, Sikh gurdwaras and Budhhist temples. There is no attempt to brand 'the other' as 'kafir' (it is strictly proscribed under the law) and religions co-exist peacefully.

Fifth, the role of women, as an integral and important part of the educated work force, who play an active role in all areas of society.

Most Malay women sport the hijab, as a voluntary act, not imposed by the state. And as in Iran, where women film directors have flourished after the Revolution, in Malaysia, productivity is considerably enhanced by the richness and diversity of the female labour force.

The Muslim World, as it gets ready to convene in Kuala Lumpur for next month's Islamic Summit, should learn lessons from the Malaysian "Model", which has the potential to provide a way out from the malaise currently afflicting Muslim societies.

The writer is a former Minister of Information and is currently a member of Pakistan's Upper House, the Senate. He can be contacted at mhussain@gulfnews.com

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).