The Muslim world is suffering from a democratic deficit as many of these countries fail to live up to Islam's stand on freedom, tolerance and respect for pluralism, said renowned Malaysian academic Dr Farish A Noor today.

According to him, this is clearly evident in many Muslim societies whose political climate is infused with the culture of violence, force, power, despotic leaders and poor economic policies.

"...the political climate of many Muslim societies reflects an obvious bias in favour of a culture of violence, force and power; a cult of leadership centred around either despotic leaders or theological elites; ever widening gaps of income and uneven development; and a host of other ills associated with the developing world," he said when presenting a paper at the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) business forum in Putrajaya.

Farish said while the criticism from Muslim leaders and the media on the hypocrisy and double standards of Western powers are valid, they will only carry weight if they come from "credible sources that are balanced and objective enough to look at the moral, economic and political failings of the Muslim world as well".

Undemocratic laws

He stressed that Muslim leaders must extend such criticism to their peers as well, especially those who enforce undemocratic laws that allow for detention without trial and the persecution of legitimate opposition movements.

These leaders, he added, must also possess the courage to condemn Muslim governments that use the same 'war against terror' excuse to demonise Islamist movements and parties in their own countries.

Otherwise, he said there is no reason for anyone to believe that the Muslims are different than the Western powers that they so harshly criticise.

"Muslim elites have yet to learn the vital lesson that in the battle for hearts and minds it is credibility that counts the most.

"The most advanced and impressive communications technology will still not be able to capture a loyal audience as long as the message it is trying to communicate is seen as filtered, manipulated or biased," he added.

Farish, a former malaysiakini columnist, has also contributed to various other publications including New Straits Times , Sin Chew Daily,

Far Eastern Economic Review and Newsweek .

He also authored the books Terrorising the Truth: The Demonisation of Islam and Muslims in Global Media and New Voices of Islam.

His articles for malaysiakini have been compiled in a book called The Other Malaysia , which was also the name of his column.

He is currently attached with the Centre for Modern Orient Studies in Berlin, Germany.