Malaysia's Government Goes Islamic: Commentary

RealClearWorld :

In Malaysia's current political climate, it is no longer possible to distinguish Islamic radicals from Islamic moderates. Despite official boasting about the country's diverse population and commitment to pluralism, Islam and the government have essentially merged.

Read the whole story: RealClearWorld

Comments

[chedet]

I don't think malaysia is going islamic. More like it's going towards malay-ism (malay makes up the majority of the population). If it's going towards islamic then the chinese and india muslims wouldn't be treated like second class citizens.

Jamiso: singapore separated from malaysia mostly because of racial conflicts. Not so much because of the religion. Singapore didn't jump ship but instead was voted out by the Malaysian parliament.

[loki]

I dont know. I have a very good friend in Malaysia. and they are very much an Islamic society. She works in the government and only once in 22 years did she showed up without her hijab. Back then she was beat with a stick by her supervisor. I dont think they would do that anymore, that was almost 22 years ago, but they would sure let her know about it for a long time if she did it again. Many offices and all of the government agencies require women to dress traditional Islamic, but the men dont have to. Typical of many islamic based countries I think.

[chedet]

My friend works with the malaysian government. She wears traditional malay clothing but at the same time she wears suit too. What's traditional islamic clothing anyway? Hijab? As far as I'm concern women are free to choose if they want to wear it or not in malaysia. I don't see anything wrong if they want to become islamic. What's wrong if people want to be more religious? It's not for us to tell people how to dress, what religion to adopt etc. It's really becoming of us to be the moral champion. Very hypocritical really.

[jamiso]

so what else is new?
Malaysia started going down that path a long time ago, when it declared itself an islamic nation, and put the muslim population (around 60%) under islamic law.

One of many good reasons Singapore jumped ship.

[chedet]

I don't think malaysia calls itself an islamic nation as far as I'm concerned.

[sassafra]

well Malaysia, enjoy your little experiment in religious intolerence. let us know how it works out for you all after your country falls into a repressive unenlightened mess.