Need for urgent transformation

WHAT makes a respectable scholar, never known to be controversial, at the age of 79, write an explosive book berating Malay and Muslim politicians for their corrupt practices and hypocrisy?

He is known for his academic excellence and leadership. He was the third rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). His better-known works are about moderation in Islam from the Malay perspective and the concept of sejahtera from an Islamic point of view. He is also the chief editor and one of the contributors of an encyclopaedia on natural science from the worldview of the Quran.

Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Mohamad Kamal Hassan simply can’t take it anymore. The title of his latest book tells all, Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics: The Urgency of Moral-Ethical Transformation.

In the introduction, he confessed that he has been most disillusioned, dismayed and shamed by two major crises facing the nation: the deplorable moral decay in the area of politics and governance of the nation, and the widening internal rift within the Malay-Muslim community since the last five years.

He is appalled that hate politics, defamation, slander, political assassination and the act of treachery (khianat) is worsening since the last general election. He is also concerned about “the agenda of national integrity” being trampled upon under “the boots of ugly ethno-religious polarisation”.

According to him, racially motivated political strategies and ethnic-based prejudices will continue to dictate the politics of mutual hostility on both sides of the political divide in many more years to come.

He laments that political stability and the direction of national politics are in the doldrums.

The word “urgency” is intentionally added to stress the point for the need for “moral-ethical transformation”. Without the will to transform, our future is dire. He hopes that the book will trigger serious conversations on the need to put an end to “the cancer of political corruption, the pandemic of hypocrisy and the resulting shameful disunity that have plagued the Malay-Muslim community”.

Some would say, it is easier said than done. The best a scholar of his stature could wish for is for the political elite to take heed. But he understands the current political atmosphere. We have those who are interested only in political survival and little else. Politicians are at the lowest end of the trust ladder.

Many leaders are in precarious positions for their parties are at the mercy of more discerning voters. No one coalition is formidable. Everything is decided in the name of political expediency. Under such circumstances, the tendency to be corruptible is high. It is about making hay while the sun shines.

The win by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in 2018 was an exhilarating event. But the jubilation didn’t last long. PH’s reform agendas were dismally addressed. Many of the reforms promised were lost in transition. Furthermore, they were betrayed from within. The rest, as we know, is history.

Prof Kamal has no solution to the ills of his society. He admits that. But he believes by putting forth a serious discourse on the matter, it will elicit at least some attention, especially from sensible politicians and concerned civil societies.

Perhaps the critical mass would be galvanised to help make the changes possible.

As a Muslim scholar, he argues for the need for Malay-Muslim politicians to follow the tenets of Islam.

Islam is against corruption and abuse of power. As for the word “hypocrisy”, he translates it as “kemunafikan” not just “kepura-puraan” as normally used. Kemunafikan connotes a more serious meaning from the Islamic perspective. He calls upon Muslims “to do something to put an end to social evils and unethical phenomenon”.

He finds it perplexing that Muslim politicians can be blatantly unethical, corrupt and involved in bohong (lying).

“Muslims are not supposed to lie,” he argues in a recent interview with me for Sinar Harian. “But it looks like it is stupid of them not to.”

The professor unsurprisingly is looking for a Muslim antidote to the problem. But that does not mean he rejects everything that is imported from the West. He has nothing against democracy, but he is not in favour of Western style adversarial politics.

In my interview, he was not even entertaining the concept of “sistem politik Islam” (Islamic political system). As for the Malays, he believes that adversarial politics have torn the very fundamental of good Malay values.

His call for urgency is not without merit. Political behaviour and culture need to change. He wants political parties to be led by “selfless, sincere, competent, tolerant and humble leaders of high integrity, with god-fearing character”.

A tall order, you may say. But why should it be otherwise?

Johan Jaaffar is a journalist, editor and for some years chairman of a media company, and is passionate about all things literature and the arts. And a diehard rugby fan. The views expressed here are entirely his own.