Puad Zarkashi makes laudable distinction

From Terence Netto

Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi should be lauded for castigating PAS for its compulsive tendency to denounce things they don’t like as colonialist legacies.

Puad voiced this criticism in response to the PAS Johor chapter describing the state’s decision to revert its weekend to Saturday and Sunday as a reversion to colonial practice.

He reminded PAS the Federal Constitution is an emanation of the Reid Commission findings but the document did not prevent Islam from developing within Malaysian polity.

The Federal Constitution is a product of colonisation, but has not prevented shariah and Islam from growing rapidly,

 argued Puad in a post on Facebook.

In admitting that the constitution is a product of colonisation, Puad seems to be relying on a piece of Malay wisdom that advises people to 

ambil yang jernih, buang yang keruh

This wisdom holds that one has to be open to what is good and gain from it, while discarding the bad.

In other words, one has to be constantly appraising developments so that the good in them is emulated, while the bad rejected.

In the same Facebook post, Puad termed PAS 

hypocritical

 in adopting many features of governance and administration that were colonial legacies in the states it ruled.

In admitting that the constitution is a colonialist legacy, Puad seemingly confirms PAS supremo Abdul Hadi Awang’s view that the document, from an Islamic standpoint, was tainted.

However, as Puad pointed out, the constitution had not hindered the development of Islam in Malaysia, and so could not be viewed as an inhibiting colonialist legacy.

In sum, Puad was saying that just because a practice has had a colonial origin, we should not look askance at it.

In describing the constitution as a colonialist legacy, Hadi wants to pave the way for its substitution with shariah law.

Unwilling to grapple with the ever-changing nature of problems, Hadi opts for the unchanging nature of doctrinaire solutions (shariah).

On the other hand, from the arguments Puad tends to espouse, he appears to counsel the adoption of the kind of appraising intelligence human beings are endowed with.

One path leads to autocracy, the other paves the way to democracy. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

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