Think tank says despite all the propaganda, its survey shows that only a minority of Malays polled feel liberalisation is bad.
PETALING JAYA: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) says those who don’t understand what liberalism is should just stop talking about it.
Drawing a parallel to religion, Ideas chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan said some Muslim scholars felt that those who weren’t knowledgeable in Islam should stop talking about the religion.
Similarly, those who do not understand what liberalism means, should refrain from making statements about it.
“They should practise what they preach, and if they don’t know about liberalism, then shut up,” he said.
Earlier, Ideas released the results of a survey which polled 1,207 Malaysians from all walks of life to gauge the level of public understanding and attitudes towards liberalism in politics, economics and social issues.
Speaking to reporters after a forum, Wan Saiful said he was glad that the survey had found only a “minority” of Malay-Muslims polled thought that liberalism was bad.
This was despite so much “propaganda” against liberalism, including in some Friday mosque sermons and by certain government agencies, he said.
“Malaysia is founded on liberal principles. Look at the proclamation of independence, it says the country will forever be based on principles of liberty and justice.
“We need to go back to these principles and make sure people know what they mean.”
Wan Saiful also said the survey results showed that the greatest opposition to economic liberalisation came from the Malay community, which was a hurdle in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s plan to implement the New Economic Model (NEM), which is market-driven.
He said he believed that when Najib came to power, he wanted to change society to become more liberal in social, political and economic terms. However, Najib faced great opposition in liberalising the economy, Wan Saiful said.
The Ideas chief said perhaps Najib focused too much on those who were supportive of economic liberalisation initiatives when the Umno president should have focused on educating his party members.
He added that if the NEM was to succeed, the idea of economic liberalisation must be “sold” more to the Malay community.
The NEM was introduced by Najib in 2010, with the goal of transforming Malaysia into a high-income nation. -FMT
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