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Haroon Siddiqui talks to experts on the social trends that are shaping the region
KUALA LUMPURTo travel through South East Asia is to re-examine one's North American perceptions.
I came here with three notions about this region: It's crawling with Muslim terrorists, given the bombings in Bali and elsewhere; it's experiencing a rise in Islamism meaning, religious radicalism; and it's becoming less tolerant of the Chinese and Indian minorities in Malaysia and Indonesia.
What I found, instead, was that not only have there been no terrorist incidents for a long time, touch wood, but that security experts feel the situation is under control; that while religiosity is on the rise as it is among Christians, Jews, Hindus etc. elsewhere it does not necessarily mean more militancy; and that it is Muslim minorities in the region who are under stress.
In Singapore, where they do enjoy religious freedom, Muslims must live in political subservience. They dare not question the state's racist notion of Chinese demographic, political and cultural dominance.
In south Thailand, Muslims are embroiled in an increasingly vicious insurgency born of long-term grievances but made worse by recent oppression.
Non-Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia do face discrimination, as outlined in my last two columns, but not of the magnitude that the media or the Western embassies in the region make it out to be. The journalists and the diplomats seem fixated on the clichι that all Muslim societies are intolerant.
Neither the religion nor the culture of the Chinese and Indian minorities is under threat. In fact, the situation for the Indonesian Chinese has improved.
Most tellingly, the Indonesian and Malaysian Chinese, constituting 4 per cent and 30 per cent of the populations, respectively, continue to dominate the economies of both nations.
There's no Chinese exodus in the making, as there was from Hong Kong when China took over. The Malaysian and Indonesian Chinese are not about to pack up, say, for Canada.
As for Islamic resurgence, there are more hijabs, more people in mosques and more Qur'an on TV. And some clerics are indeed making outrageous statements. But it's difficult to tell whether their rhetroic represents a spike in extremism.
It may merely reflect the post-9/11 reality that any crazy thought by any silly Muslim anywhere is guaranteed front-page treatment.
Or, it could be a function of greater democracy here: "Views of all kinds are coming out; people are more confident there'll be no midnight knock on the door," says Malaysian writer Imran Yacob.
What is measurable is the Muslim intolerance of Muslims.
In Indonesia, there was an ugly spasm of violence against the Ahamadis, deemed by some to be non-Muslims. And throughout the region, there's a debate over who is a real Muslim, an Arabized one or the one who stays visibly and culturally Malay.
"Indonesians feel under attack not just from the West but also from the Arabs," says Ahmad Suaedy, an Islamic activist.
Some private Saudi money is coming but so is American and British funding for madrassas, notes Endy Bayuni, editor of the Jakarta Post. "The Wahhabi money and the American money can battle it out!"
In the trends that do count, the popular vote for the Islamist party in Malaysia has gone down in the last four years.
In Indonesia, a poll showed 60 per cent want democracy. About the same number also wants sharia, but without the stoning and amptutating of hands.
"They want an Islam compatible with democracy," says professor Jamhari Ma'ruf, an editor of the Journal for Islamic Studies, Jakarta. "They are attached to Islam as their identity."
Inter-marraiges are up; Muslim-Hindu in Malaysia, and Muslim-Christian in Indonesia.
"Multiculturalism in terms of lifestyle is irreversible," says Shad Faruqi, a professor of law in Kuala Lumpur.
Moderate voices are challenging the extremists. "Some years ago, the media would not have touched them but now these voices get space and air time," says editor Bayuni.
Astora Jabat, an Islamic scholar with a blog, argues that Malaysians "are now less conservative. We couldn't talk before. Now we do, about all sorts of subjects. I can take on the illiterate clerics."
Bayuni notes that some of the Islamic zealotry is phony.
"Some people exploit religious symbols for profits or politics. One group of radicals went and smashed a bar, having invited the TV cameras along, but they left all the other bars alone. Next day, they went around collecting protection money. It's a racket. "
The public is catching on.
A popular TV priest, with several businesses, lost all credibility and endorsements the moment it was revealed that he had taken a second wife.
Is anti-Americanism up?
Yes, says Bayuni, but "it's no different than the one in Europe. In fact, it is less so here.
"We still see American movies, eat MacDonald's and KFC, and drink Coke. And American companies are still making good profits here."
