Even Najib is not safe from Islamic enemies
“Terrorism works better as a tactic for dictatorships, or for would-be dictators, than for revolutionaries.”
- Christopher Hitchens
In a series of articles describing the US-Malaysian efforts to combat IS terrorism in the region, online magazine The Diplomat highlighted the Najib Abdul Razak regime’s (so far) observer status in the US-led Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.
As detailed in the article, “Malaysia has determined that it would do best within the counter-messaging group - currently co-led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Put simply, counter-messaging seeks to erode ISIL’s appeal by exposing the group’s message of hate and violence while presenting an alternative and inclusive vision of hope for a better future. The idea, the then-special presidential envoy for the coalition General John R Allen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, is to ‘defeat ISIL as an idea’.”
What we have to keep in mind is that cooperation of these sorts (especially with so-called ‘friendly’ Muslim nations) involves complicated inducements like the visa waiver programme for information gathering and sharing processes.
Malaysian intelligence operatives (current and former) and foreign observers (who most likely owe allegiance to Langley) tell me that all this is part of the larger scheme to combat Islamic terrorism in the region.
The former reminding me of the tightrope walking nature of moderate Islamic regimes who have to balance their precarious hold on power with commitments from the so-called enemies of Islam like the US, according to the narratives of Islamic groups like IS. The latter cognisant of the reality that Islamic regimes of this sort are riddled with corruption and excess that make it easy for groups like IS to recruit the disenfranchised into their ranks.
The Diplomat quoting US president Barack Obama, said, “Malaysia is part of the coalition to fight (Islamic State) and can be extraordinarily helpful on issues like countering the destructive and perverse narrative that’s developed.”
Unifying gambit
Controlling narratives has served Umno well long before the calamity that is our current prime minister, Najib. Umno prime ministers have always attempted to use Islam as a unifying gambit in an attempt to homogenise the Malay community.
The destruction of the Malay left, the decimation of the civil service, the erosion of secular values in public education, the propaganda of government agencies like Biro Tatanegara (BTN) and mainstream Umno propaganda media outlets, have created classes within the Malay/Muslim community, with elites having free reign and the average Malay subjected to the harsh glare of Arab-influenced Islam.
Three years ago, I continued the narrative of class tensions within the Malay community. I wrote of the then-recently-concluded elections: “However, it all goes back to the simmering class tensions within the Malay community that Umno has managed to keep a lid on by its use of gerrymandering, creation of instant citizens, racial/religious fear-mongering and of course the handout culture. Ironically, these are the very measures that would break the camel's back in the eventual class struggle that would spill onto the streets in the near future.”
Just recently, instead of sanctioning the genocidal rhetoric of the Pahang mufti, Najib, who portrays himself as a PM for the people, said, “we cannot compromise on the Islamic struggle in this blessed land. We reject those who dislike Islam and know who they are and their collaborators.”
Of course, DAP was in Najib’s crosshairs but the underlying subtext were “other” Muslims who were collaborating with the “enemy”. These other Muslims, a disparate group made up of Najib refuseniks, splinter PAS groups and a host of anti-Najib cadres, reflect a threat not to Malay hegemony but to the Najib regime.
Najib in an attempt to shore up Malay support will do what his nemesis former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would never do - make an alliance with PAS by sharing power with this Muslim sect...
“Terrorism works better as a tactic for dictatorships, or for would-be dictators, than for revolutionaries.”
- Christopher Hitchens
In a series of articles describing the US-Malaysian efforts to combat IS terrorism in the region, online magazine The Diplomat highlighted the Najib Abdul Razak regime’s (so far) observer status in the US-led Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.
As detailed in the article, “Malaysia has determined that it would do best within the counter-messaging group - currently co-led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Put simply, counter-messaging seeks to erode ISIL’s appeal by exposing the group’s message of hate and violence while presenting an alternative and inclusive vision of hope for a better future. The idea, the then-special presidential envoy for the coalition General John R Allen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, is to ‘defeat ISIL as an idea’.”
What we have to keep in mind is that cooperation of these sorts (especially with so-called ‘friendly’ Muslim nations) involves complicated inducements like the visa waiver programme for information gathering and sharing processes.
Malaysian intelligence operatives (current and former) and foreign observers (who most likely owe allegiance to Langley) tell me that all this is part of the larger scheme to combat Islamic terrorism in the region.
The former reminding me of the tightrope walking nature of moderate Islamic regimes who have to balance their precarious hold on power with commitments from the so-called enemies of Islam like the US, according to the narratives of Islamic groups like IS. The latter cognisant of the reality that Islamic regimes of this sort are riddled with corruption and excess that make it easy for groups like IS to recruit the disenfranchised into their ranks.
The Diplomat quoting US president Barack Obama, said, “Malaysia is part of the coalition to fight (Islamic State) and can be extraordinarily helpful on issues like countering the destructive and perverse narrative that’s developed.”
Unifying gambit
Controlling narratives has served Umno well long before the calamity that is our current prime minister, Najib. Umno prime ministers have always attempted to use Islam as a unifying gambit in an attempt to homogenise the Malay community.
The destruction of the Malay left, the decimation of the civil service, the erosion of secular values in public education, the propaganda of government agencies like Biro Tatanegara (BTN) and mainstream Umno propaganda media outlets, have created classes within the Malay/Muslim community, with elites having free reign and the average Malay subjected to the harsh glare of Arab-influenced Islam.
Three years ago, I continued the narrative of class tensions within the Malay community. I wrote of the then-recently-concluded elections: “However, it all goes back to the simmering class tensions within the Malay community that Umno has managed to keep a lid on by its use of gerrymandering, creation of instant citizens, racial/religious fear-mongering and of course the handout culture. Ironically, these are the very measures that would break the camel's back in the eventual class struggle that would spill onto the streets in the near future.”
Just recently, instead of sanctioning the genocidal rhetoric of the Pahang mufti, Najib, who portrays himself as a PM for the people, said, “we cannot compromise on the Islamic struggle in this blessed land. We reject those who dislike Islam and know who they are and their collaborators.”
Of course, DAP was in Najib’s crosshairs but the underlying subtext were “other” Muslims who were collaborating with the “enemy”. These other Muslims, a disparate group made up of Najib refuseniks, splinter PAS groups and a host of anti-Najib cadres, reflect a threat not to Malay hegemony but to the Najib regime.
Najib in an attempt to shore up Malay support will do what his nemesis former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would never do - make an alliance with PAS by sharing power with this Muslim sect.
When Najib talks about a moderate Islam and says something like "it is our obligation as Muslims to strive for authentic Islam, the real Islam which is not extreme or liberal, a moderate Islam," I suggest that ‘moderate’ Islam is defined by the IS’ treatment of its non-Muslim citizens.
There is nothing moderate about the Islam practiced in this country. Muslims are brainwashed by government agencies. Muslims are at the mercy of state religious departments. Muslims are subjected to the whims of the syariah courts. Of course, this is also class dialectic. Muslims elites do not face the kind of Islamic music that their average, less economically advantaged brethren get.
But what about the treatment of non-Muslims? This is where the ‘moderate’ part comes in. So far we have limited freedom of worship and speech - confined to the Internet mostly - but we do not face the kind of mistreatment that other minorities face in so-called Islamic paradises.
Non-Muslims are collateral damage
However, things are changing. The further this regime slips into its excesses, the more virulent the public face of Islam becomes. We have seen our religious rights eroded during the Najib tenure. We have seen that the Umno state security apparatus will do nothing when it comes to the rights of non-Muslims against Muslims even when it comes to judicial decisions.
Non-Muslims are collateral damage in the Umno state’s war against other Malay Muslims. However, there are Muslims out there who have very real designs about setting up IS branches in this country.
The Umno state security apparatuses have acknowledged that IS sympathisers could emerge from anywhere, even from Umno’s bureaucracy, which has for years sustained an anti-non-Muslim sentiment for political reasons.
Umno’s response has been ineffectual because they are not really fighting a war against Islamic extremists. They have been too busy fighting a war to remain in power by using the rhetoric of Islamic extremists to galvanise a Malay voting base, terrified of losing power to non-Muslims.
However, when the soft methods fail, harder options are considered. This is what the National Security Council legislation is all about.
Writing about a militarised Umno, I said, “before I go any further, I would just like to remind Malaysians, that it is not that we have become a militarised society but rather Umno has become a militarised political party. We may scoff at the outsourced thugs of Umno who stir racial sentiments in the pretence of upholding race and religion - but something deeper and darker has emerged from the long Umno watch.”
In addition, this is why Najib’s Islamic state is so vulnerable to the real extremists out there. These extremists are not those who use religion to sustain power, but those who use religion because they truly believe that genocide will lead them to paradise. These are the real enemies of Malaysia.
However, so long as the Najib regime keeps stoking the Islamic fire at home to remain politically relevant, they think themselves safe from the Islamic enemies abroad. They are blind to the fact that the enemy is within and they are created by the policies of Najib’s Islamic State.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
