In layman's language, within our current political context, a secular state is the antithesis of an Islamic state. The call for a secular state is an implied rejection of PAS ideology.
| Sim Kwang Yang |
SIM KWANG YANG was DAP MP for Bandar Kuching in Sarawak 1982-1995. Since retiring in 1995, he has become a freelance writer in the Chinese-language press, and taught philosophy in a local college for three years.
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He is now working with an NGO in Kuala Lumpur, the Omnicron Learning Circle, which is aimed at continuing learning for working adults and college students. Suggestions and feedback can reach him at: [email protected].
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This call for a secular state is a strange phenomenon; it manifests the power of pure negation. It means that whatever shape and size the PAS idea of an Islamic state shall take, some radical proponents of political secularism will always reject it out of hand, beyond negotiation or compromise.
This total and blind rejection of the Islamic State proposal, especially among non-Malays and non-Muslims, is the natural consequence of decades of racial politics in our country. When religion is often seen as an extension of race, anything Islamic in matters of official policies is viewed as an attempt at national assimilation, an encroachment upon their freedom to pursue their own faiths.
This perception is cast in the traditional mould of a zero-sum game, in which non-Muslims citizens conceive of no other alternatives except the two versions of Islam served up by Umno and PAS. For many fence-sitting non-Muslims who are unhappy with the status quo, this is a painful Hobson's choice. My suspicion is, most of them will vote for BN in the coming general election, not because they support the policies of the present government, but because they see Umno as lesser of the two perceived evils.
Politics ought to be about choosing the good life, for oneself and for one's country. When this choice is reduced to a range of evils, then it is a sad commentary on the political health of the nation. It is even sadder that there are so many self-proclaimed fence-sitting voters, as if fence-sitting is an ethically comfortable position from which to view the political world.
This sort of radical opposition to all things Islamic, will only entrench further the inter-ethnic chasm that will block all attempts at national reconciliation and meaningful reform.