Roadmap to Moderate Network Building - Part 5: Analysis and Conclusion

This is the last of the 5-part article. If you have not read the previous articles, I suggest reading the articles beforehand to establish a basis of discussion for this concluding article.

1. An Introduction to RAND Corporation
2. Lessons of the Cold War
3. Defining Contemporary Islam
4. Engaging the Muslim World.

As an introduction, it's best for us to begin by referring to Quranic texts as our scope of discussion and reference. The Quran clearly states: 

إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ بِالْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَلَا تُسْأَلُ عَنْ أَصْحَابِ الْجَحِيمِ * وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ لَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ 

Indeed, We have sent you, [O Muhammad], with the truth as a bringer of good tidings and a warner, and you will not be asked about the companions of Hellfire. 

And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, "Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance." If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper. (Al-Baqarah:119-120)

For the sound believer, these two sentences from Al-Baqarah need no proof of concept. It is a clear reminder to hold on fast to the rope of Allah, and never deviate. The firm believer also understands that there is no solution except that of which was exemplified by our prophets. Iblis; the sworn enemy of the Muslims, has vowed to led believers astray. Therefore the Mu'min is cautious and aware of Iblis' cunning deception. The media today is the black magic of yesterday's Firaun; a deception to the human eye. It is important that we study and discover what today's black magic looks like, and how it works. With proper understanding comes proper actions. Ignorance is not bliss.

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PDF Links: 

Building Moderate Muslim Networks | Civil Democratic Islam

This article is an analysis based on textual evidence provided by the reports by RAND Corporation, particularly "Building Moderate Muslim Networks" and "Civil Democratic Islam". It was written to illustrate the war of ideas that is currently happening, particularly with respect to local Malaysian demographics. 

I first heard about RAND Corporation in a talk on The War of Ideologies or Ghazwatul Fikr held by Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA). I then attended a talk by one of IKRAM's agencies, MISG which also mentioned the same thing. At first, I took it as a conspiracy theory, nothing but assumptions and speculations on what is happening in the Muslim World. Only in the past year have I decided to take an in depth look at it myself. 

Is it a conspiracy theory?

Depends on your definition of conspiracy. I look at the reports prepared by RAND as an ideologically imperialistic view of the Muslim World by the U.S; defining Radical and Moderate behavior based on the principles of liberal democracy. There is no religious/local context to its report which makes it very America-biased. Anything that is not parallel with America's idea of liberal democracy, was considered illegitimate. As a government think-tank, RAND provides policy suggestions to the US government and functions as an analytical organization; taking lessons from past strategies such as the strategies of the Cold War, and implementing it to combat "radical islamism" in this specific report.

Is it relevant to Malaysia?

The report; "Building Moderate Muslim Networks" was written mainly to address issues of Islamism in the Middle East. But the ideas on network building are global, and issues in South East Asia were also discussed in the report. It is perhaps necessary to note that some prominent Malaysian/Singaporean public figures were also involved in contributing to the drafting of this report; with honorable mentions put forth by the authors in the acknowledgments section, which makes this report much more relevant to be discussed in Malaysian context. Several Malaysian organizations were also mentioned in the report.

Moderate Network Building in Malaysia

First and foremost it is important to understand that the definitions of contemporary Islam put forth by RAND is only based on America's liberal democratic ideas. The concept of moderation or Wasatiyyah is widely misrepresented by RAND. As Muslims, the concept of Wasatiyyah urges us to act according to barriers of Islam, not to go to an extreme state of terrorism and violence, or be too lenient/passive by compromizing on certain aspects of Islam to an extent that we practice only of those which we find relevant/easy. RAND simplified the idea of moderate (wasatiyyah) into being tolerant by means of having tolerance with foreign ideas. According to RAND, a moderate Muslim is one that rejects "conservative interpretations of sharia" and accepts pluralistic ideas. RAND's generalized idea of radicalism is simply anything that does not agree with principles of liberal democracy. Much of its perception towards the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated agencies are of a radical perception; despite the MB's anti-terrorism policies as well as its democratic involvement in politics.

The main goal of the report is to outline a strategic approach to building a network of moderate Muslims that support the ideas of liberal democracy which is originated from the U.S. The strategy emphasises on the building of civil society institutions through enhancing current networks, encouraging growth of new networks, and fostering environments of pluralism and tolerance which are favorable to the growth of these networks. An institution called National Endowment of Democracy(NED) is in charge of openly providing funds towards these institutions. Below is the list of organizations funded by the NED as listed from its webpage.

Source: http://www.ned.org/where-we-work/asia/malaysia

MalaysiaKini, Merdeka Center and Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) are some of the institutions funded by the NED; all of which has played a big role in encouraging the growth of pluralistic ideologies. IRF is an organization that is keen on advocating the ideas of the separation of religion and state. It broadcasts the idea of pluralistic democracy to young social media users through an appealing platform called "Projek Dialog".

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6H812KqQ_M

Lawyers for Liberty, is an organization that also broadcasts the same message of pluralistic democracy. It has been active in opposing the use of the word 'Allah' in Malay bibles, criticizing Islamic institutions such as JAIS, and promoting the ideas of Malaysia as a secular state. 

source: http://bit.ly/1bpGNkg

Besides the NED, the Asia Foundation plays an important role in engaging with projects related to democracy promotion in South East Asia. Sisters in Islam is one of Asia Foundation's notable projects in 2007. A complete list of Asia Foundation's projects can be viewed here.

All in all, these organizations have managed to create a network of moderate Muslims as described in the report. It's message has been widely amplified through social networks and alternative medias, and the organizations have managed to collaborate on many instances to bring new ideas of so called 'Moderate' Islam that are parallel to America's ideas of liberal democracy. The most recent form of collaborative effort by the organizations include the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (COMANGO).

Social Conditioning: Promoting Conditions of Pluralism and Tolerance

RAND's strategy is the epitome of social conditioning. Little by little, slowly but surely, the ideas of liberal democracy are being promoted and amplified through the networks of institutions that is supported by RAND, and those that are parallel to RAND's ideas. Similar to democracy building during the Cold War period, today's strategy utilizes journalists, writers, poltical parties as well as prominent public figures of influence as mediums of broadcast. The report specified the importance of supporting key Islamic scholars as a means of influence. RAND understands that direct broadcast of liberal democratic ideas in an anti-American demographic would result in immediate rejection, thus there is a need for mediators in order to gain trust and break the cultural/religious ideological taboos and barriers.

source: http://bit.ly/1jyD2vy

source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/252239

Lately there has been an increasing promotion of the ideas of 'Moderate' Islam. Alternative medias such as Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider are becoming increasingly active in portraying 'Moderate' Muslims as the 'heroes' of modern day Islam. Anything that opposes that idea, will be considered 'radical' or 'extreme', and in some cases, the idea of 'radicalism' is usually closely tied to the 'undemocratic' Muslim Brotherhood. 

source: http://bit.ly/1hdiBUw

source: http://bit.ly/1lECBOm

If we take a quick look on the past decade, there has been an immense difference in public perception on the issues of tolerance towards pluralism and secularism in Malaysia. During the court trial of Lina Joy in 2007, there was a clear voice representing the Muslim community on the disapproval towards the case. ABIM, JIM, YADIM, as well as NGOs under ACCIN, PEMBELA and Badan Anti-IFC (BADAI) were united in the case. The Moderate networks were silent and unable to surface as a result of this unity.

source: bit.ly/1omqlo3

However on the recent case of the word 'Allah' controversy, NGOs were divided on what stance they should take. Some organizations lean towards a more compromizing stance, some remained under the radar while others were very vocal about it. This shows an immense change in public perception towards pluralism and tolerance in 2007 compared to 2013. If the same case were to surface in 2007, I doubt that there will be such conflicts in opinions and stance. Moderate organizations will be inclined to deem this situation as progressive. 

The IFC was a very popular topic a few years back. I remember hearing a lot of negative reactions from Muslim NGOs across the country. IFC's ideas of a pluralistic nation was a clear threat to Sharia and as a result, it received widespread rejection from the majority of the Muslim community. A hot topic that was discussed back then was the 14 demands of the IFC:

1. A child born of Muslim parents should not automatically be a Muslim;
2. A non-Muslim who converted to Islam should be given the liberty to return to his original religion and should not be hit by any legal action;
3. Any case of religious conversion of a Muslim to non-Islam should not be handled by the Syariah Court but the Civil Court;
4. It is not necessary that the identity card of any Muslim stating his/her religion as Islam.
5. Non-Muslim should not be required to convert to Islam if they wish to marry a Muslim. Muslim should be allowed to leave Islam (murtad) if they wish to marry a non-Muslim without be imposed any legal action.
6. A person or a couple who change their religion by embracing Islam should not be given the right to be guardians of the children.
7. Non-Muslims who have family link with a person who embrace Islam should be given the right to demand their inheritance after their death.
8. The government should provide enough funds to build and maintain houses of worship of non-Muslims as provided to the mosques.
9. Non-Muslims should be allowed and cannot be stopped from using holy words of Islam in their conversation and so forth.
10. Bible in Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesia should be allowed in public places.
11. Non-Islamic religious class should be taught in all schools.
12. Islamic Programme in the mother tongue of a community should be done away with. Dakwah programmes other than Islam should be allowed in their respective mother tongue.
13. Muslims who pay zakat should not be exempted from paying income tax and the zakat should also be used by non-Muslims.
14. Islam should not be mentioned as first choice of Malaysian society like in the case of Islamic dress of school children

There was a consensus of rejection towards these demands in the past. Although the IFC was not successful as a result of the strong opposition that it received, the demands of the IFC continue to be propagated through various issues by various organizations. Slowly but surely, the majority of Malaysian Muslim community are accepting these demands one-by-one. What else can I say, this is social conditioning at its best.

Islamists: To Engage or Not to Engage?

RAND acknowledges that there are two types of Islamists; Moderate Islamists, and Radical Islamists. They decided that opposition towards Islamists should only be done:

1. When Islamists represent the only viable alternative to current authoritarian regimes, such as the case of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
2. When Islamists have evolved to support multi-religious democracy, women's rights and etc.
3. When Islamists are more likely to be successful in silencing terrorists.

However, three arguments for the support of 'Moderate Islamists' (less 'radical' Islamists) are:

1. RAND does not know whether Moderate Islamists are lowering its radical discourse as a strategy or tactical shift. If they have changed their discourse, do they now agree on separation of state and religion? This criteria requires extra caution.
2. An issue with supporting Islamists is official recognition and support would enhance their credibility and enable their message to be amplified in the community. Thus, it is important to decide based on the third point.
3. Since moderates are small in number and organization, blending in together in robust Islamist networks would amplify the message of liberals and moderates, broaden their appeal, and enable them to compete more effectively with (other more radical) Islamist groups.

Although Islamists have differed opinions on the stance towards supporting or opposing these Moderate Networks, it is fundamental for Islamist organizations to understand how network building works. Moderate organizations do not agree with the ideas of political Islam, which is the main goal of Islamist organizations. They will only accept Islamists as a viable partner IF it would broaden their appeal and amplify their message to the public. And since Islamists are very influential, particularly to the Muslim crowd, enable the Moderate Networks to compete more effectively with 'radical' networks, and thus successfully propagate ideas of liberal democracy.

Because of Islamists' influence in an Islamic country like Malaysia, Islamists should form their own network of organizations and institutions. One which acts as an academic platform to convey clear guidelines of Islam to the public. The public is in great confusion as of which is 'moderate', and which is 'radical'. Ideas of secularizing the nation are being more and more accepted by the Muslim public. It is time that Islamist organizations work together to form a robust network to inform the public of the ideas of political Islam, and how it will solve the problems in Malaysia.

Conclusion: Lessons from Moderate Network Building

1. It is important to understand that not all of these institutions 'work' for RAND Corp or NED. However, partners of the moderate networks are formed based on inclinations toward similar ideas of liberal democracy. We should acknowledge that there are individuals or institutions that are sincere in advocating Islam, but are trapped in these networks as their ideologies are parallel if not the same to that of RAND's.
2. Read and research. The Malaysian public should make informed decisions based on readings and research. Reports such as one drafted by RAND are available online for those who proactively seek to read.
3. The concepts of democracy should be understood in the contexts of Islam. There are barriers towards freedom of religion and expression in Islam which should be highlighted by Muslim 'ulama and Islamist organizations.
4. Islamists should clarify and educate the public on the clear definitions of "wasatiyyah", "dakwah bil hikmah", "rahmatan lil alamin", and their scope and limitations, as to not be confused with foreign understanding of these terms.
5. There is a need for Islamists organizations to resort to independent media as a defensive act to escape content manipulation from current alternative medias.
6. Collaboration and support in issues regarding Islam should transcend political barriers. The Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs (ACCIN), and MuslimUPRO are great examples of collaborative efforts.
7. There should be a focus on improving the quality of Islamic institutions, rather than degrading them, as that will only amplify the message of secularism.
8. Lastly, it is up to each individual to spread this information and do dakwah.

May this be a beneficial read..

Wallahu'alam..