Of leadership, compromises, and a better Malaysia

A filepic of Khalid and his brother, Shahrir

FOR many, PAS’ Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad epitomises the most interesting and paradoxical aspects of political Islam at this juncture in our contemporary milieu. Urbane yet confrontational, sophisticated yet at times brash, learned yet not arcane. I consider people like him among the torchbearers of hope for this nation: moderate, democratic, progressive, and engaged.

Is it sheer coincidence, then, that he hails from a family of seemingly complex contradictions? Immediately, one recalls his brother, Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad, the gentlemanly, sophisticated Umno politician. Or perhaps this is not contradictory, but rather a reflection of our Malaysian socio-political melange?