Lay Sheng Yap

Our democracy is bereft of ideas.

As Tariq Ramadan has commented, the popularity of Islamist movement of the Arab Spring “lies far more in their persistence in opposition than in their capacity to develop credible proposals for the future”.

The fear that the new Islamic-leaning party Gabungan Harapan Baru (GHB) will be another religious party advocating theocracy is unfounded. There is a tendency amongst secularists to resort to fear-mongering to skew the direction of national politics. The story is a familiar one - the participation of the religious political parties will pave the way for the degeneration of our democracy into a religious theocracy.