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Southeast Asia
Malaysia political foes unite to bash Islamists
2003-11-13
And there’s nothing we like more than a good Islamist bash:
Malaysia’s mainstream political groups have denounced an opposition party’s blueprint for an Islamic state, saying it will scare off foreign investors and undermine the foundations of the state. Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), the biggest threat to the ruling coalition, has unveiled plans to make sharia law, including stoning adulterers and amputating the limbs of thieves, the supreme law of the country.
Thereby instituting enlightenment and civilization, to be followed by years of progress... Sorry. Progress is un-Islamic, isn't it?
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ruling coalition said such laws could scare off foreign investors, block economic progress and destabilise the multi-racial country.
Not all Malaysians are Malays, nor are all of them Muslims...
Other opposition parties were quick to distance themselves from PAS, including its former electoral ally, the mainly Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP). "Instead of rule by Malaysians over Malaysians, there will be the rule of Muslims over non-Muslims," DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said.
See, he gets it.
That's because he doesn't own a turban...
Making sharia law supreme to the Constitution, which was drawn up with the help of former colonial ruler Britain, would undermine the country’s foundation, Lim said. The 1957 Constitution states that Malaysia is a democratic, multi-religious nation, and while Islam is the official religion, the country is not an Islamic state. Abdullah, a religious scholar who succeeded long-serving Mahathir Mohamad last month, described the PAS move on Thursday as a stunt to fish for votes. Leaders of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second largest party of the 14-member ruling coalition, warned against Islamic extremism. "The PAS version of an Islamic state goes to prove that the party has never accepted Malaysia as a multi-ethnic society," said party vice-president Fong Chan Onn.
They never do.
Islamic law would be compulsory for Muslims. But PAS promised Malaysia’s non-Muslims, who make up about 40 percent of the country’s population of 25 million, they would have the choice of being judged by Islamic law or the existing secular ones.
Nobody believes you
Abdullah, 63, who is widely expected to hold elections in early 2004, faces his biggest electoral test in countering PAS’s appeal to the rural poor. PAS is one of Malaysia’s oldest and largest political parties. In the two economically backward states PAS rules, gambling is banned as is dancing and public consumption of liquor by non-Muslims. Men and women are required to use separate checkouts at supermarkets.
In the two economically backward states PAS rules - sounds like cause and effect to me.
Posted by:Steve

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