Malaysia’s Increasing Islamization Will Trigger Mass Hijrah
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
In his recent blog “Hijrah To London,” Datuk Zaid Ibrahim
wrote on the Erasmus Forum lecture he attended celebrating Martin Luther. Zaid
highlighted the exemplary humanist qualities of both great Christian leaders.
He went on to make a short side comment urging young Malays to emigrate.
He had a
torrent of responses, not on Erasmus or Luther, the focus of his essay, rather
his side commentary, which was more an expression of his despair and frustration
over the increasing role of Islamist extremists in Malaysia, as well as Malay (and
thus Muslim) leaders’ egregious corruption and mindboggling incompetence. Zaid
urged young Malays not to repeat his mistake in not undertaking Hijrah (emigrating).
For Muslims,
following the seerah (the Prophet’s
sayings and practices) is the highest expression of faith. Malay men already
ape it with gusto in such areas as having long beards and multiple wives. So
why not hijrah?
Zaid is no
ordinary Malay, Malaysian, or mortal. After qualifying at a local MARA institution,
he went on to London University to get an additional
law degree. He later founded Malaysia’s largest law firm, and the first to have
foreign branches. He is also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Zaid remains
unique in that he is the only Malaysian minister to have resigned on a matter
of principle. To be historically meticulous, Dr. Ismail did too, but he was ailing
and had contemplated retiring. More telling, Zaid’s reputation soared with his
resignation. No minister or even prime minister could claim either point.
Boundaries
are meaningless in today’s globalized world. In practice however, that’s true for
only two groups. First are the poor, destitute, and desperate. For them,
survival comes ahead of visas and passports, or political boundaries, as
Western Europe now discovers. Second are gems like Zaid. With their wealth, language
fluency, entrepreneurial flair, and social graces, they are welcomed in London,
Sydney, and New York, or even Dubai and Bahrein.
Most Malays,
young or old, male or female, are not like Zaid. Most lack skills, could speak
only the local kampung dialect, and have minimal entrepreneurial desires. The Rempits,
both Mat and Minah, are more typical. No country would want them. Even Malaysia
would be better off without them. At least the Minah Rempits could work abroad as
maids, a la the Filipinos and Indonesians.
The Mat Rempits are but a road menace.
After over
sixty years of Malay rule, with the sultans, prime ministers and most ministers
being Malays, and public institutions in Malay control, how come we produce a glut
of Rempits and scant few of Zaids? If you leave things alone, simple momentum
would dictate that the Zaids would grow in number, his sterling success
inspiring others.
It would
not be far wrong to suggest that it is not incompetence, stupidity, or even dereliction
of duty by Malay leaders that we are inundated with the Rempits and not blessed
with the Zaids, rather a deliberate policy, the willful intent of Malay leaders,
incredulous as that may sound.
In mid 1960s
in Canada, I met a Malay graduate student from Brunei who would later become his
country’s top educator. I remarked on the splendid educational opportunities afforded
young Canadians and added that wouldn’t it be wonderful if a rich country like
Brunei were to do likewise for its young. Then Brunei could again assume its pivotal
role in Malay civilization.
I was
stunned when he disagreed, and with atypical Malay forcefulness. Educating them
would only make them uppity, dissatisfied, and rebel, he thundered. Brunei had
then gone through a near-successful coup with Ahmad Azahari sending the sultan
scooting off to Singapore. He would have remained there if not for the Gurkhas.
Such a sentiment
was also shared by my kampung folks. Educate your children, especially daughters,
and they will marry someone from outside the village and never return. Who would
then take care of you in your old age?
I was
tangentially associated with Universiti Kebangsaan in 1976. I suggested then that
it drop its proposed MMed program and instead have its trainees sit for the FRCS
and MRCP. Those learned Malay professors, all from English-medium universities,
disagreed. They would then migrate, one academic sniffed. He was no different
from my fellow villagers or that Brunei guy.
Perhaps UKM
was traumatized when its first Professor of Surgery, one Hussein Salleh, absconded
to Australia the moment his received his professorship.
The language
nationalist Nik Safiah Karim, also the product of English education right up to
her doctorate, asserted that Malaysia needs no more than five percent of her population
to be English-fluent. Rest assured that her
children and grandchildren would be in that select group.
Tun Razak too
exhorted the masses to support Malay schools, but then sent his to England! His
children, today’s leaders, and others like Khairy Jamaluddin, are doing likewise.
Hypocrisy is a now the norm with Malay leaders.
Those Malay
leaders remind me of the ancient Chinese who bound the feet of their infant daughters
so when they later got married, they could not run away from their husbands.
Trapping by handicapping!
While I share
Zaid’s concerns, I have a contrarian take. Let the likes of Zakir Naik, Hadi
Awang, and that Perak Mufti loose. Their zeal would force Malays, young and old,
and especially the Mat and Minah Rempits, to grab the nearest sampan to escape Malaysia.
Millions of
Muslims today are forced to undertake their Hijrah not by the crusaders and
atheists invading but by their own leaders. Millions are forced out of Syria not
by the Israelis or Americans but by Islamic radicals.
Zaid is on
to something profound. Ironically, the current frenzy of Islamization may just
be the tipping point for a Malay mass hijrah.
Anticipating
that, young Malays should prepare themselves for the global stage; the old kampung
panggung won’t take you far. Learn another
language, acquire some skills, and go beyond mere tolerating to embracing the
differences we have with others.
To non-Malays,
encourage Malays to be consumed with hadith and revealed knowledge. The fewer of
them pursuing STEM, the less the competition for you. Support them when they
want to build more Tahfiz schools, introduce hudud, or ban modern banking and finance.
Not only would that make you a hero to Malays, you would also make tons of money.
Malaysia’s increasing Islamization is not a crisis but an opportunity, and a
very lucrative one.
