COMMENT Friends and others who have followed my writing have noted my concern about Islamisation in the country. Unlike the great majority of non-Muslim Malaysians, instead of mourning and groaning about it in private or in the coffeeshop, I have tried to write and speak about it openly. I have also tried to provide tangible support to my progressive Muslim colleagues fighting in the political arena

The help I have provided is due to recognition that our more multi-racially liberal Muslim citizenry need all the support possible to keep their cause of an open, tolerant and inclusive Islamic society alive. This support can come in various forms.

One is in the form of material and financial assistance to the newly established Islamic party, Parti Amanah Negara. Whichever way one looks at it, Amanah has a huge task ahead in fighting against the two giants, Umno and PAS, that have so far dominated Malay and Islamic politics and society.

In trying to bring about change in Malay and Muslim society and among the voters, the party is starting from a point of zero in terms of party machinery, party resources, media outreach, and all the other prerequisites needed to make an impact in Malaysian politics.

Now is the time for non-Muslims, especially the Chinese, to show more than goodwill. This is the time to lend a hand and to make sure that Amanah does not die out but can grow from strength to strength.

The important point which the Chinese and other non-Muslim communities should realise is that Malaysia is increasingly a majority Muslim nation. The clock cannot be turned back to the good old days when there was a population balance and we could count on Umno to be a big brother to all races and religions.

Today the reality is that Umno has become a party that allegedly has become power mad and drunk from the increasing Malay demographic and voting dominance. Hence it talks from both sides of the mouth on major issues of race and religion.

But when it comes to the crunch and to action on hard issues such as the Low Yat Plaza incident, the ‘Allah’ case or the most recent child custody case involving S Deepa and her ex-husband Izwan Abdullah, there are no prizes for guessing which race or religion Umno will favour.

In fact, this increasingly chauvinistic character of Umno and its members - from top to grassroots leadership - is the big change that has occurred in Malaysian politics in the past 20 years.

Let’s face the truth - the big brother has become an arrogant big bully. Check with the leaders of MIC, MCA, Gerakan and other Barisan Nasional parties such as Koh Tsu Koon who have fallen foul of Umno’s gangster-like division chiefs.

Check on the lack of respect that Umno’s leaders have for their Barisan Nasional partners whom they sneer at as ‘pendatang’ or ‘orang asing’, while they embrace new Muslim migrants from South Asia or from Indonesia and the Asean region and welcome them as ‘saudara baru’.

Maybe there will be a change of mindset in Umno. Maybe the big bully which has changed the constitution, redrawn the electoral constituencies, appointed party loyalists in the civil service with high positions, and allegedly rewarded business cronies with multi-billion dollar sweetheart deals can suddenly become a reformed, clean, magnanimous and trustworthy big brother.

But who in the country and among the voters will think that such a makeover is possible?

I don’t!

The case for supporting Amanah

I am helping Amanah. I know from personal friendships that Amanah has very good people in it. They are not the extremist, close-minded or hypocritical elements which have given Islam a bad name among non-Muslims. They are also - I hope that I am correct - not intent on pushing for a Wahhabi or Arabic model of development for Malaysia. This will be tantamount to putting us under a new form of colonialism.

We have to give them a chance at bringing a clean, inclusive, open-minded and liberal Islam into the political system.

We have to avoid the road taken by Brunei and Saudi Arabia, where they are supposed to practise Islamic laws. But in fact, these harsh hudud laws are intended for the general public. Has there yet been a case of the Saudi and Brunei royalty or even their upper class being punished for breaking any Islamic law despite their leading a lifestyle that, according to many media reports, is based on debauchery and excess?

If we want to avoid the PAS or Umno bankrupt road of development, we have to open up our wallets and put our money where our mouth is. A few ringgit from every non-Muslim will add up to a modest but crucial sum of resources to help them build their party infrastructure.

By way of comparison to the meager resources that Amanah has at its disposal, everybody knows about the RM2.6 billion that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak allegedly received from an unknown member of the Saudi royalty. Apparently this is not scammed monies from 1MDB but ‘legitimate’ funds to help our prime minister in his fight for certain Islamic causes.

What is clear and indisputable is that Umno and its new ally PAS now have a huge war chest for the coming elections. And their main objective is to kill off Amanah.

So fellow Malaysians, do your bit now for Amanah while there is still time for change!

KOON YEW YIN, a retired chartered engineer, is a philanthropist.