Malaysia Madani: a guiding framework or folly?

 

 

As with previous prime ministers, Anwar Ibrahim has come up with a slogan, “Malaysia Madani”, for his government.

Dr Mahathir Mohamed had his “Vision 2020” or “Wawasan 2020” which reflected his eagerness for development. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came up with “Islam Hadhari” as a reflection of his vision, which he even tried to export to other Islamic countries. Najib Razak used “1Malaysia” on everything from sundry stores to cash hand-outs. Ismail Sabri Yaakob had “Keluarga Malaysia”.

Slogans create a mini-industry for a few weeks. No doubt it will cost money for the government to rip down and reprint stationery. There will be the “Malaysia Madani” introductions and “Malaysia Madani” seminars and workshops to promote it as a new ideology.

What is “Malaysia Madani”?

The slogan was used by Anwar earlier this week in a 2023 budget dialogue meeting. The word has its roots in Arabic (which hasn’t gone unnoticed in non-Malay circles), meaning city, indirectly referring to the City of Medina.

According to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, “madani” means being developed in terms of thinking, spirituality and materiality.

Anwar has used the term “madani” to explain his vision of development. “Masyarakat Madani” was a concept Anwar espoused as a balance between individual liberties and social stability.

He has already laid the groundwork to put meaning behind the slogan, having published a book prior to the last general election outlining the philosophy.

Mao Zedong had his Red Book, Muammar Gaddafi had his Green Book and Anwar has Malaysia Madani. In Anwar’s mind, there should be some legacy here. We will soon see a number of academic papers from local universities applying Malaysia Madani to many issues and problems.

What is not clear is whether the Cabinet and component parties of the “unity coalition” have agreed to Malaysia Madani as the basis of all policy.

Institute Darul Ehsan executive director Ismail Yusop explains Malaysia Madani as a framework based upon six holistic and interconnected components, being a set of core values to live by and used as the foundation of a nation-state.

The values are: Sustainability, Wellbeing, Creativity and innovation, Respect, Confidence, and Courtesy.

This provides academics, along with consultants, with lots to work on.

Predictably, on social media, sceptics are having a field day. Comments like “another slogan”, “slogans don’t work” to the more crude “Mad Anwar Ibrahim” have been made.

The consensus is that it’s a good policy that people want to see. Let’s see where Malaysia Madani goes from here.

This could either be substantia (a replacement to the New Economic Policy) or it could be just another slogan following a long line of previous slogans. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.