The cross and the deep-Salafi state

Once again, Malaysians are deeply bothered by a ‘cross on a building’. The most recent issue of cross-shaped lights on a condominium facade in Penang is reminiscence of the “Allah controversy”  and the “Christianophobia seminar in UITM” I wrote about a few years ago.

I believe that as long as our educational and cultural institutions do not address the issue of the “deep Salafi state” in our social midst, we will continue to see the waves of radical Islamism hitting our multiculturalist shores, ending perhaps one fine day in a generation or so, a tsunami of race-religious inevitability. 

The “evil cross” as semiotics of hate?

Given the mass-paranoia following the sight of the cross-lit building in Penang, imagine what the next agenda of the paranoids would be.

I had a series of humorous speculations I posted on social media, concerning the shape of the cross. I thought that soon, those fearful folks would warn their children about the blasphemy and danger of looking at anything that resembles a cross - KLIA seen from above. Window panes. A child’s bicycle seen from 10th, floor of the building. Hot-cross buns.

Or, even the small letter “t” of our alphabet. Imagine these extremist-Islamist parents one day banning kids from reading or writing the letter “t”? I thought of how I’d survive in a city where all the ’t’s are gone. Replaced with, say, the letter “l” because it no longer looks like a cross.

Imagine the mega-change: Tanjung (old name for Penang) becomes “Tanlung”. Butterworth becomes “Bullerworth”. Tun Mahathir becomes “Lun Mahalhir”. No more Tamil people but Lamils as a new race. The Malay boy “Atan” becomes “Alan” an American. Tok Kong becomes “Lok Kong”.

Fatty Crab Ketam becomes “Fally Crab Kelam”. Lontong becomes “Lonlong”. Kuey Teow to Kuey Leow. Batu Ferringgi becomes Balu Ferriggi, The Widow of Feringgi. What about going to the “merkit” (market) in Bagan or Tanjung. To buy fish. Talapia = Lalapia. Terubuk = Lerubuk. Temekong =Lemekong. Tamban= Lamban. Tongkol becomes “Longkol”.

What about opening speeches? “Luan Luan dan Puan Puan. Lelima kasih. Lolong duduk. Jangan lari!”. Imagine Malay proverbs. “Seperti kalak bawah lempurung”. There will be no Ketuanan Melayu but “Keluanan Melayu”, whatever that means. No more controversy, at least, we hope.

It is ridiculous, seriously. But we must, as Voltaire the great French social critic once said, in our prayers ask God to make our enemy look ridiculous.

Because it is a ridiculous situation with a deeply serious underlying principle - the continuous growth of the “deep-Wahabi-Salafi-Islamic-State” school of thought that has been permeating this multicultural, liberal and religiously tolerant nation, since the Islamisation Agenda of the Mahathir-Anwar Era, which was inspired by the political-ideological repercussions of the rise of the Egyptian Brotherhood, the Ikwanul Muslim and of course the birth of the first Islamic Republic, after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

This is the butterfly effects of things, exacerbated by the Internet, and fuelled by the drive to make the world and every living thing be under one “Islamic State” ruled by this one “Khalifah”.

Though this seems reductionistic an analysis, one ought to study deeply the role of the “deep state” in Malaysia – of Malay-Muslim fundamentalist-separatist movement – to understand issues such as paranoia over the cross.

It is pervasive, especially at a time when the old regime of Barisan Nasional, dominated by the Malays who too destroyed the Malays economically and cognitively, is desperate to regain power by using the strategy it knows best: creating a fear of other religion and other races, claiming that it is the sole protector and racial-warrior of the Malay Muslims.

This is their strategy that necessitates the manufacturing of crises, through the unleashing of this and that, NGO championing for this and that. But, it is incomprehensible and even appalling to enlightened Malays, who refused to be represented by the band of ridiculous self-proclaimed patriots and all that nonsense.

The Wahabi-Salafi-deep state

We need to start developing a defence system of national resilience, albeit a spiritual one, against the threats of radical interpretation, implementation and institutionalisation of Islam, in the case of contemporary Malaysia.

Arabism has destroyed the old culture within society and become a tool of control by dominating not just the national narratives but also daily life practices.

We need a spiritual remedy to it, by way of seeing Islam in a new way, befitting its pragmatic existence and functioning in a multicultural society. Muslims need to promote Tawhidic (oneness) Islam as an inclusive, all-accepting-all-embracing worldview of Islam pragmatic in its utility in a multicultural society. Something in the magnitude of a (Thomas) ‘Jeffersonian’ Islam as conceived in a secular-humanistic country such as the United States.

First things first. One must begin to study the interlocking ideological directorates and the Wahabbi-Theological Complex, politics, and the political-economy of knowledge-production in Malaysia.

One must study the rise of the Wahabbi-inspired “Deep-Salafi State”, understand the “hows” of it to understand the “what and what-next” of the spread of fundamental-violence-inspired Islamism and take note on the meaning of “violence and jihadism”.

Structural violence runs deep into mind, society, consciousness. For example, a teacher in school promoting rules against the concept of “schools are free from ideological and theological assessment” - forced wearing of the hijab, banning of musical performances, excessive deployment of religious instructions viz-a-viz teaching and learning time allotted by the curriculum as well as shaping and institutionalising of the “Islamic-only” culture in public spheres and institutions.

These are the mechanisms and machination of a massive meanderings of the millinearistic movements of the “Islamic-ummahtic-deep state” in hypermodern and multicultural Malaysia.

In Indonesia, that deep theological state is a threat to the Pancasila. In Malaysia, to the Rukunegara. How do we dismantle this system and work towards peaceful co-existence?

Crusade long over

I do not think the Christians and Catholics in Malaysia appreciate being bullied endlessly nor do they want to be branded as “evil people trying to spread false and dangerous message threatening Islam”.

I do not think they need to be associated with the Crusade War a thousand over years ago, or even linked to the brutality of the Christian-imperialist army who were chanting “guns, guts, god, and glory” before annexing cultures and massacring the natives of Latin America, Africa, Asian, and even Northern America – so that the Crusaders carrying the order of the European monarchs can build churches while sucking the blood, sweat, and tears of the natives they enslave.

I don’t think the Christians and Catholics in Malaysia want to be known as inheritors and carriers of those sins. They just want to live, work, and worship in peace and be assured of their safety in a majority Malay-Muslim country.

If Muslims in predominantly Christian nations such as the United States, Canada, and Australia, can help protect the safety of Muslims from Christian extremists-wannabe-terrorists, why can’t Malaysia do similarly by not allowing conferences, talks, preaching that promote hate to be fed to the public?

Why not encourage education for peace and conflict resolution? Why not teach empathy through ongoing good dialogue amongst Malaysians of different faiths? Why warn them of the “dangers of Christianisation” and not expect some lunatic fundamentalist groups to take the warning one step further and translate it into violent action, sanctioned and legitimised by the authorities?

Look at what is happening to a state as small as Perlis: the struggle between the Salafi, Sunni, and Shia Muslims. A rural state that could not resist from falling in love with a Deeply Salafi Mumbai preacher, well-protected even by the current regime.

Our challenge

Today’s Islam in Malaysia is about the struggle for ideological control, anathema to the spirit of the Rukunegara, and the noble concept of being Malaysian. Let alone to the true meaning of Islam.

It is about the Arabisation of Education, the contradictions in political evolution, the use and abuse of Islamic influence by political groups, mass indoctrination through the Quran-memorisation schools and of the pervasive control of the “Deep Wahabbi-Salafi State” in the area of appointments and political positioning of people to the locations and microbial nodes of power.

These are the stories we are not being told - of hegemony and utopianism in a deep-Salafi state.

If there is an image of a 10- or 20-year challenge in Malaysia, it is the rapidly changing nature of how the Sanskritised-Malay culture is being colonised and expunged by the Arabised-Malay ideological structure, in a country wherein more than 60 percent of the population are Malay-Muslims. And some of them will want to pull down any symbol deemed “threatening to Islam.”

What then must we do, to get out of the matrix – of the new deep state? Can we even trust the new regime to protect us – when many of its members too are sympathisers, or even silent strategists, of the deep state?

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AZLY RAHMAN is an educator, academic, international columnist, and author of seven books available here. He grew up in Johor Bahru and holds a doctorate in international education development and Master’s degrees in six areas: education, international affairs, peace studies communication, fiction and non-fiction writing. He is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education. Twitter @azlyrahman. More writings here. - Mkini