Three different people from three different backgrounds - a mufti, an MP and a royalty did something recently making one wonder whether the wind of change is blowing to our shores at long last.

First, enter Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin, the mufti of Perlis. He had stated that the ulamas or the priestly class of Islamic adherents in this country have been too overzealous in driving the country towards religious totalitarianism. He did not quite say it this way of course, but the message is similar to this.

Then Bernard Dompok, the MP, resigned as chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity essentially citing conflict of interest between him as PSC chairperson and loyalty to his party.

Raja Nazrin, the enlightened prince from Perak, then came up with the earnest wish for all expenses for his marriage to comely Zara Salim Davidson be underwritten personally by him and not by the state.

These three separate happenings are lauded. They represent in however minute way some shift of thinking in the Malaysian landscape.

Asri the mufti has made the statement that his peers have been too elitist and autocratic as to be erratic in propagating and protecting religion. As for Dompok he stands on principle. He could not play a double game on the one hand promoting integrity while on the other hand the political (and governmental) party he belongs to plays havoc with it. The prince might have felt royally agitated over the possible wasteful and feudalistic sense of pomp and ceremony on the part of state officials.

Shift of thinking

These three events are separate and isolated. But I have an interpretation linking them into one. To me they represent a shift of thinking and attitudes from the static status quo to something new, different or even unknown before.

In this way, Asri ushers the idea that religion or more accurately faith is more a case of an individual having a direct link between him and God under the simple and clear concept of Al-Din (usually pronounced as Addin). But his peers, the other muftis and ulamas, have been rather ardently overenthusiastic in their self-appointed role as protectors, promoters and propagators of Islam. In the event they think and behave as though they own the souls of each and every individual Muslim in the country. So they put themselves wholeheartedly as interlopers between man and God.

Dompok, in turn, ushers the idea that individual conscience and principle can and should be stronger and more meaningful than loyalty and solidarity to group-induced wisdom. When the two poles conflict and collide, a person will have to pick one and not hang hypocritically on to both.

His Royal Highness in the meanwhile expresses the statement that while the institution of royalty has dignity it also carries the element of integrity. There must be a line where the upholding (and financing) of royal dignity matches with the element of integrity on the two parties involved in this case, the royalty per se and the feudalistic state officials.

The single acts made separately by these three august personalities should trigger some form of soul searching on all parties concerned. More muftis, MPs and members of the royalty should be aware of the soundness and even virtuousness of these single acts. They carry substantive amounts of the progressive spirit while demolishing conservatism and conformity. They centre on the need for individuals (all individuals, be they muftis, ulamas, MPs, princes and sultans, plus all other individuals not covered by these labels) to listen to their inner voice, their inner thoughts; to the principles they hold dear.

They should not to rigidly follow whatever the status quo demands and dictates. After all time moves on and change is very much part of life. And social scientists have identified this individual spirit as the prime driving force in pushing human civilization forward.

Others should follow

More and more of the country's leaders should get into this desirable bandwagon of changing mindsets. More and more of all of them together should be echoing "How and where can I too demonstrate my principled progressive and enlightened spirit, my integrity and virtuosity?" If the soul is willing there can be countless thousands of ways indeed.

In fact, the trend might have started already. Witness the exploits of the two MPs Mohd Said Yusof and Bung Mokhtar Radin. They were using some uncomplimentary words in Parliament against another MP Fong Po Kuan who happens to be female and belongs to the rival DAP party. They apparently have said that although the Parliamentary roof was leaking so is the lady MP and every month at that.

But Fong, the target of the rather rude jokes did not quite see it that way at all. A parliamentary roof leaking a mere two years after a hefty RM90 million repair work is really is not a joke and comparing it with a woman's monthly problem if at all a joke is a very sick one. She demanded for an apology.

Such colourful usage of words was unfortunate. MP Azmi Aziz tried to cool it down by saying that such expressions were more or less standard usage and normal within the confines of the august parliament. The stance was that the MPs on the government side must be partisan at all times; they support the dignity of the party irrespective of the subject or issues under active debate. Indeed protecting party solidarity overrides all other issues, and doing so with any language is very acceptable.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak lent his support by saying that such words were uttered in jest. In the event whatever has happened to the government's programme of telling the people to sopan santun and budi bahasa or to be mannerly, gentle and kind when their MPs are showing anything but?

In the end the matter was resolved with the two MPs apologizing, not so profusely at that. To some people the apology was a master case of hypocrisy for the tone was not at all sincere ("I had to do it, you see, to support my party .") or not sincere enough. But the point has been made. Trite remarks similar to this could and would have gone their merry way in the past and nobody is the wiser. But not this time around the jesters at least had to apologize. Perhaps we budi bahasa and sopan santun citizens should be thankful for small mercies. Perhaps these can prove to be the early harbingers of bigger things to come.

I might adopt a negative stance and say that at the end of the day nothing might come out of these flashes in the pan. People do forget and forgetting easily; let the sun rise and shine tomorrow and today's happening no matter how momentous can be easily forgotten.

But I am an incurable optimist. I do know that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And in this world of flux, these few acts of wisdom and vagaries of human foibles could be the crucial few steps the country might be taking in its journey of a thousand miles.

AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. In his free time, he loves to read, travel and play golf (although his game could be better).