Tag: Malaysia

Almakhazin: Is The Islamicity Index Really About Islam?

Once again, we are told that Ireland, Israel and South Korea are more Islamic than Malaysia, Brunei and Turkey.

A six year old study that measures economic activity based on specific moral and religious standards known as the Economic Islamicity Index (EI2) was recently re-shared on social media.

According to this study, North Ireland is the most Islamic country in the world. Singapore is 7th.
Israel 27th.

Malaysia is the top rank Islamic country at 33, followed by Kuwait (42) and Kazakhstan at 54.

The reappearance of this index has, as is expected, brought with it excitement and criticism.

It is used to criticise the Malaysian government for being unIslamic.

And to show how Islamic Western countries really are.

But what does the index actually measure? Does it actually show how Islamic a country is? What are the data and criteria they use?

It is about the economy

The Index is actually about the economy and how economic resources are used in a country.

It was created by two International Business Professors at George Washington University: Hossein Askari and Scheherazade Rehman.

What they attempt to measure is the degree of rules copliance and equitability in economic activity.

Some of the areas they identified as “Islamic economics” are social infrastructure, poverty eradication and development of economic prosperity.

Data was gathered from the UN, World Bank and economic think tanks.

The authors argued that an Islamic system is rules and market based and aid equitable social development.

Different developments

The focus on a market based, socially equitable economy explains why most of the top 30 are developed countries with social infrastructure that have been developed for decades if not centuries.

Most of the countries have never been colonised. For those that were, most of them benefitted from being the economic focus of colonial activity.

The Asian countries in the top 30 (Singapore at 7th, Hong Kong 12th and Japan 21st) have had substantial socio-economic infrastructure since before the mid-20th century. According to data from the Maddison Project, by the 1950s, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore had the top three per capita GDP in Asia.

At Merdeka, Malaysia was on a similar economic position with Philippines. But according to the Islamicity index, Malaysia is almost 50 spots higher than the Philippines which is ranked at 81.

That the three strongest economies in the 1950s are now more able to provide social development, infrastructure and eradicate poverty is quite understandable.

What is also important is to understand how a country that began at a lower trajectory is able to catch up with its historically more developed counterparts in providing socio-economic opportunities and mobility.

It is not about Islam

Even though the index is positioned as an Islamicity index, Islam is not part of the study.

The authors admitted that they developed the index based on their perception of developmental needs. Of particular importance for them is the development model that was proposed by the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

Not only was the level of religiosity not part of the index, the Maqasid Shariah (Objectives of the Shariah) was not included.

In fact, Hossein Askari, writing for the Huffington Post argued that the Shariah should be rejected in Islamic societies.

With Islam not part of the criteria or forming the standard, to refer to the index as measuring Islamicity is problematic. The elements used to measure “Islamicity” are the same elements the authors could have used if the index was simply about ethical socio-economic development.

But why refer to Islam?

And it is about politics

An important part of the Islamicity index is the advocacy for change in Muslim countries.

According to Askari, the main purpose of the index is for Muslims to learn Islam by themselves instead of referring to clerics, rulers and governments.

And to create political change in the Muslim world.

That there is an objective external to the research means that we need to assess how much of the methodology and data collected is influenced by the authors’ political objectives.

If the index is about Islamicity, then why is the Maqasid not used as a reference?

If it is about socio-economic standard, then why advocate for political change?
There is value to the economic Islamicity index.

It helps us recognise the very real need for greater development of social infrastructure and equitable economic distribution in the Muslim world.

But as an index to measure the adherence to or state of Islam in a country, it is insufficient at best.

And quite possibly, highly suspect.

Source: Almakhazin

June 3, 2016
The Singaporean Muslim Identity

“Early this year we hosted some students from Malaysia. They said they heard often that the azan cannot be heard in Singapore,” said Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib, a senior executive of the republic’s Harmony Centre, referring to the Muslim call to prayer which usually blares from a mosque’s loudspeaker five times a day.

“When they asked for recommendations on where to stay, we suggested Arab Street. So every day they could hear the azan from the Sultan Mosque. They were quite surprised since they thought azan could not be heard here,” he added, explaining that there is no such thing as a ban on the azan, even in such a secular country.

“Furthermore, now the azan can even be heard on radio,” added Zainul Abidin Ibrahim, a director at the centre, laughing.

That was one of the Malaysian Muslim misconceptions against their brethren across the Causeway, as told to a group of Malaysian journalists by Harmony Centre, an interfaith initiative by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis).

One of us asked, is it true that in Singapore a Muslim can eat openly in public during Ramadan without fear of being arrested by religious authorities?

That one is true, and the Harmony Centre leaders were not too fussed by the fact.

“What we do, always we do it through education… At the end of the day, if the community as a whole can uphold the religion by itself, then some few individuals they will find it uneasy lah to lepak at kedai kopi.

“That’s the type of pressure [that we use instead]. As times go by, there is even an increase of religiosity,” claimed Muhammad Fazalee Jaafar, the centre’s head.

Imran shrugged off these misconceptions, explaining that they are opportunities for the centre to explain how Singaporean Muslims live within the multicultural context, especially in housing estates with dense populations.

Elsewhere during our visit to the city-state, hosted by its Ministry of Communications and Information, we found the same dedication towards inclusiveness, co-existence, and pluralism.

Among such initiatives was the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), which has offered counselling services to terror detainees for at least 13 years now.

The group started out its work with members of Jemaah Islamiah in Singapore, the South-east Asian Islamist terror group bent on establishing an Islamic state in the region. The group was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing.

Now, RRG has even started working to rehabilitate self-radicalised lone wolves. Its message remains clear: violence is not acceptable at all in Islam.

“Is it an obligation for the rest of the Muslim world to join [in foreign fights]?” asked Ahmad Saiful Rijal Hassan, an ustaz, or religious teacher who works with the group when told that some Muslims used the Palestinian conflict and the Syria war as excuses to invoke the need for jihad, or holy struggle for self-defence.

“Jihad is not an individual obligation, it is a communal obligation,” he added.

What is more astounding about RRG and the work they do is the group is made up of volunteers — religious scholars and teachers — who decided to do something about Singaporean Muslims’ foray into extremism and jihadism.

It did not need government coaxing to galvanise itself. Instead, it has now grown into a valuable adviser to the government when it comes to the topic.

In an interview with our group, Minister of culture, community and youth Grace Fu assured us that the island’s youths identify themselves as Singaporean first, especially in the light of rising Islamism in the region that calls for Islam and its holy book to be the base of governance.

“Within the Muslim community, they’ve gone to some extent educating the followers to the true meaning of Islam, and what we call the Singaporean Muslim identity,” said Fu.

So, what is this Singaporean Muslim identity? I asked Imran, who earlier in the tour similarly emphasised the need for Muslims in the region to identify with the context of the multicultural countries that they live in, instead of aping wholesale the strain of Islam from its birthplace in the Middle East.

Imran pointed towards the pamphlet of “Building a Singapore Muslim community of excellence”, published by Muis in 2006 and available on its website.

In the pamphlet were 10 desired attributes of the Singaporean Muslim — a guide on how Muslims can be religiously profound but still socially progressive in the context of Singapore.

Among them?

Holds strongly to Islamic principles while adapting itself to changing context.

Appreciates other civilisations and is self-confident to interact and learn from other communities.

Progressive, practises Islam beyond forms or rituals and rides the modernisation wave.

Well adjusted as contributing members of a multi-religious society and secular state.

Inclusive and practises pluralism, without contradicting Islam.

To have an Islamic authority actually recognising secularism and pluralism instead of demonising them as filthy words might seem astonishing, especially when you compare it to the Malaysian context. But it should not be.

It is undeniable that this brand of progressive Islam might just turn out to be a showcase by the Singaporean government to impress us Malaysian journalists. Perhaps the reality on the ground is much different. My experience with the Muslim community there is much too shallow to jump to concrete conclusions.

But in a way it might not matter at all. What is more important is the fact that this strain of inclusive and progressive Islam is the one recognised, endorsed and actively promoted by its government.

In Singapore, the mainstream Islam is one that is humble enough to stand on the same platform as nine other religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Bahá’í, and Zoroastrianism — in the 67-year-old Inter-Religious Organisation of Singapore, instead of lording over the others.

It is not the Islam which uses its political superiority and standing to marginalise and oppress not only adherents of other faiths, but also its own.

It is not the Islam that ends up being a mere tool for the powerful to stay in power, and the powerless to gain more power.

Source: The MalayMail Online

May 30, 2016
Panelists: “Creeping Arabisation” Phenomena Could Be Due To Inferiority Complex

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 ― Self-loathing, ignorance and insecurity were among the main reasons for “Arabisation” taking root in Malaysia’s Malay community, pundits told a forum here last night.

Sociologist Syed Farid al-Attas and historian Eddin Khoo said while the issue may have a more complex origin ― mostly from geopolitics stemming from the Saudi-Iran conflict ― the Arabisation phenomenon here could simply stem from inferiority complex.

“For some reason the Malays often feel very low about themselves. So when they ape the Arabs they believe they are the more authentic (Muslims),” Syed Farid said.

The term “Arabisation” is used among the country’s moderate and progressive Muslims to describe the rapid spread of Islamic conservatism within the community that once prided itself as the global poster boy of progressive Islam.

Khoo noted that prior to the Arabisation phenomenon, the Malays were known for their ability to “internalise” Islam with their own culture.

The result was a rich mix of identity that became unique to this region, he said.

But much of it, like Kuda Kepang and Dikir Barat, have been systematically erased as the community became more eager to prove who is the more “authentic” Muslim, Khoo added.

“There is an internal struggle within the Malays… Malay culture has become the victim of the battle between factions vying for control over who is more Malay (and Muslim),” the historian said in reference to the political rivalry between nationalist Umno and Islamist PAS.

Historian Eddin Khoo speaks at the ‘Arabisation’ forum in Kuala Lumpur, May 23, 2016.Amid the clash of ideologies between the two political parties, there are alarming signs that the more extreme strain of Islam, namely Wahabbism, has crept into the mainstream, Syed Farid said.

This can be seen in the growing intolerance shown by hardline Muslims here towards diversity and religious pluralism, he added, noting that the autocratic ideology of “salafism” appealed to Muslims who wanted to impose their beliefs on others.

“What we are importing is not the faith but the practices and beliefs from a culture from Saudi Arabia.

“So what it is actually is not Arabisation, but the salafisation or Saudi Arabisation process… this is dangerous as this narrow interpretation of Islam can undermine (the diversity) of our religion,” he said, adding later that he was a staunch anti-salafist.

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks revealed recently that Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars, often in covert campaigns, to spread Wahabbism globally.

Wahabbism, a Saudi invention, is a radical, exclusionist puritanism strain of the Sunni sect. Salafis on the other hand are fundamentalists who believe in a return to the way of life of the first three generations of Muslims

The funds are used to spread the belief through the building of mosques, madrasas, schools, and Sunni cultural centers across the Muslim world, leaked documents showed.

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir speaks at the ‘Arabisation’ forum in Kuala Lumpur. May 23, 2016.

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, the third panellist at the forum, argued that one of the reasons why Malays want to appropriate Arab culture is because they ignorantly equate the community with Islam, whereas Arabs made up just 15 per cent of the world’s Muslim population.

“Malays have this simple thinking that everything Islam is Arab. But there are so many types of Arabs in the region… so when we try and emulate Arabs, which one are we talking about?” she asked.

Khoo also said adoration of the Arabs by conservative Muslims was likely a psychological problem.

He said some Malays believe weaving Arabic words into their daily speech made them come across as more knowledgeable about Islam.

At the end of the public talk, Syed Farid said cultural assimilation was normal as the Malays had imported various cultural elements from different civilisations throughout history, including from the Arabs.

But he said it was crucial for the community to preserve its own identity while practising Islam.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

May 26, 2016
Hot Weather Means More Expensive Vegetables And Coconuts

JOHOR BARU — Consumers in Singapore can expect to pay more for vegetables from Malaysia and coconuts from Thailand, as the hot weather and lack of rain caused by the El Nino phenomenon continue to hurt crop production in the region and push up prices.

Federation of Malaysian Vegetable Farmers’ Association president Tan So Tiok told The Star newspaper that local vegetable output had dropped 20 per cent since last month. The shortage has also affected supply to Singapore by about the same percentage, he said.

Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary Chay Ee Mong said output from the highlands has dropped between 30 and 40 per cent. About 80 per cent of the output is consumed locally while the rest is exported to Singapore.

Mr Tan said the situation had improved because of the recent rains but the upcoming Ramadan month would create new problems. “Indonesian farm workers will usually head back to their hometowns for the fasting month, which leaves us shorthanded,” he told the paper. “The situation is made worse by the freeze on foreign workers because we can’t take in labourers from other countries to replace those heading home.”

Over in Thailand, the hot weather has affected Thai coconut production and prices have gone up almost 100 per cent in Singapore as a result.

Coconut importer Kelvin Ngian of Siam Coconut told Channel NewsAsia that the prices are the highest he has seen in 15 years.

In the case of coconuts, apart from the hot weather, prices have gone up because there has been an increase in demand for coconuts as drinking coconut water has become a health fad.

The hot weather is also affecting the supply of durians. Last month, it was reported that durian yields in Perak were expected to fall by 50 per cent because durian trees were not flowering and trees were dying because of the lack of rain.

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 19, 2016
Alvin Tan Muat Naik Gambar Hanya Untuk Jenaka – Bekas Teman Wanita

Vivian Lee, bekas teman wanita blogger Alvin Tan, memberitahu Mahkamah Sesyen semalam (10 Mei) bahawa lelaki itu memuat naik gambar berserta kapsyen yang mempersenda umat Islam hanya untuk berjenaka dan melihat reaksi masyarakat.

Vivian Lee atau Lee May Ling, 27 tahun, berkata Tan memberitahunya sedemikian selepas dia (Tan) menyunting gambar berserta kapsyen bertajuk ‘Selamat Berbuka Puasa (with Bak Kut Teh…fragrant, delicious and appetising (‘Selamat Berbuka Puasa (dengan) Bak Kut Teh, Wangi, Enak dan Menyelerakan’).

Lee berkata Tan kemudian memuat naik gambar berserta kapsyen itu ke laman Facebook miliknya tanpa mendapat kebenaran daripadanya terlebih dahulu walaupun Lee merupakan seorang daripada pentadbir bagi akaun Facebook berkenaan.

Dia berkata pada mulanya, Tan enggan memadam atau menukar kapsyen itu tetapi selepas menerima kecaman dan penghinaan pelbagai kaum dan masyarakat, Tan menulis kapsyen baharu iaitu ‘Ampunkanlah kami’ ‘Selamat berbuka puasa dengan rendang ayam’.

“Kapsyen baharu itu digantikan selepas melihat sentimen negatif daripada masyarakat yang boleh menimbulkan kemarahan. Kapsyen itu diharap dapat memperbetulkan dan menjadikan keadaan lebih baik,” kataya.

Ketika pemeriksaan utama oleh peguamnya Chong Joo Tian semasa membela diri di hadapan Hakim Abdul Rashid Daud, Lee berkata dia dan Tan bergaduh berikutan tindakannya memuat naik gambar berkenaan.

Wanita itu berkata Tan turut menolaknya ketika cuba mengambil komputer riba milik Tan.

“Kami bergaduh. Saya rasa sedih, tidak gembira dan marah dengan tindakan Tan. Saya suruh dia padam kesemuanya namun Tan enggan dan memberitahu itu hanya untuk jenaka dan mahu melihat reaksi masyarakat,” katanya.

Menurutnya gambar itu diambil secara ‘selfie’ di sebuah kedai makan di Jalan Ipoh pada 10 Julai 2013.

Lee, saksi tunggal pembelaan, berkata demikian dalam perbicaraan kesnya dan Alvin Tan atau Tan Jye Yee yang didakwa menyiarkan gambar mereka sedang menikmati hidangan dengan kapsyen bertajuk ‘Selamat Berbuka Puasa (with Bak Kut Teh.. fragrant, delicious and appetising)’ dan mengandungi logo halal di laman Facebook mereka.

Mereka didakwa bersama-sama melakukan kesalahan itu pada 9.00 pagi, 12 Julai 2013 mengikut Akta Hasutan yang membawa hukuman denda RM5,000 (S$1,690) atau penjara tiga tahun atau kedua-duanya, jika sabit kesalahan.

Pada 14 April lepas, Hakim Abdul Rashid memerintah Lee membela diri terhadap pertuduhan itu.

Pada perbicaraan kes itu yang bermula pada 23 Nov lepas, hanya Lee yang hadir manakala Tan telah melarikan diri ke luar negara.

Ketika pemeriksaan semula Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Lee menafikan dia bersama-sama Tan memuat naik gambar itu.

Lee juga tidak bersetuju dengan cadangan Wan Shaharuddin bahawa dia boleh memuat naik gambar itu kerana dia tidak memiliki akaun facebook, komputer dan telefon bimbit pintar bagi membolehkan gambar itu dimuat naik.

Mahkamah menetapkan esok untuk hujahan kedua-dua pihak selepas pihak pembelaan menutup kesnya semalam (10 Mei).

Source: Berita MediaCorp

May 11, 2016