Mahathirudan

Malaysiakini : “Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.”― BR Ambedkar

COMMENT | In his rather downer New Year’s Eve speech, former (twice) prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as reported in the press, said “…politics in Malaysia had become 'bad', and that the country was on track to becoming a failed nation”.

Well yes, the country has been on that track for some time now. It is pointless going over who put us on this track because the fact remains there has never been a political coalition that wants to get us off this track.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, then this yearly hoping for change from the political establishment (which includes the opposition) is well, insane or maybe just a comforting delusion that the political class encourages and certain voting polities eagerly cling too.

The reality is that Mahathir (above) is right. Little will change, or rather, little will change for the better. The change, if any, is the accelerated dismantling of our civil, economic and social rights under the guise of Malay/Muslim social, political and religious cohesion.

False narrative

If there were a central historical narrative as to why this country failed, it would not be because of corruption. It would be that our public institutions, our private and public spaces were overwhelmed by toxic religiosity that enabled a class of potentates free from the sanctions of secular laws – unlike the tenuous grip such laws now have on the ruling class.

People like Mahathir propagandise corruption as the route to a failed state but this is a false narrative. There has always been corruption in this country. What has made the system worse, the corruption acceptable are the efforts of religious extremists who are slowly emerging from the shadows. These religious fellow travellers use global economic and social vagaries as an excuse to further spread a toxic form of religiosity to control any agitation in the dominant voting polity.

We are at this weird moment on the destination of a failed nation status. Religious extremists are using gullible, kleptocratic political operatives to further their agendas, but there has never been a time when opposition to such agendas has been the most vocal. There is a false comfort in that.

Folks fixate on political personalities and while their attention is diverted, a whole slew of legally challengeable actions are attempted as some sort of dress rehearsal then withdrawn – in some cases – as a nod to Muslim/non-Muslim cooperation.

Think about it. When he babbled on about a Muslim-only cabinet in 2017, his dream came through with the treacherous Sheraton Move. 

The fact that the current bloated monstrosity masquerading as a cabinet that Abdul Hadi Awang envisioned is running this country is not the point. 

Maintain a facade

The point is that there are more than enough fellow travellers in the political, security and bureaucratic apparatus who believe that this is the natural God-given order of things. 

Do not get me wrong. The reason why this country has been able to maintain the facade of being a “moderate” Islamic country is the urban demographic and policy decisions that enabled relative economic success despite all the leakages. In other words, there was political will that this country would not turn into just another failed Islamic state.

The kidnapping of Pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat has emboldened religious operatives who believe their agendas supersede that of the state. The numerous deaths in custody normalise a certain kind of behaviour in the state security apparatus. 

Both make the supplanting of civilian rule to something darker much easier, especially with a cowed public.

In some Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia being the most glaring example, the idea of moderation as an economic survival mechanism is slowly gaining traction.

Malaysia in fact could make the claim that at one time, it was the kind of moderate Muslim success story that other countries could emulate.

Political situation unstable

However, while some Muslim countries learnt the hard way, that religious fascism destroyed their country, Malaysia is determined to tread that path. 

Because the political situation is unstable and because the ketuanan mentality has never dealt with disparate political coalitions, desperate political operatives are retreating to old tools that they believed ensured political hegemony.

The funny thing is that state governments controlled by the opposition bend over backwards to accommodate Muslims’ preoccupations and have to continuously defend themselves against charges of racism. 

This is why religious extremists understand that they do not need political power to change social and political paradigms.

What they need are feckless “reformers” who use religion (as they do as a means of control) and non- Muslim political operatives who gaslight the non-Muslim polity on respect and tolerance when the state is busy dismantling rights that ensure such tolerance and respect.

All these natural disasters, political machinations and the ongoing meltdown of the opposition is the fertile field in which these religious operators, aided by desperate political operatives, will continue planting their divisive policies.

This is what we have to look forward to in 2022. I hope that rational Malaysians will not buy into the kool-aid and remember that although we have not held the political establishment accountable for various partisan reasons, what makes us Malaysian, still shines through in moments of adversity.

There will be no such moments under a theocracy.