The Irrelevance of Contemporary Malay Ulama Leadership

 Irrelevance of Contemporary Malay Ulama Leadership

M. Bakri Musa

 

The irrelevance of the leadership of contemporary Malay ulama was never more starkly demonstrated than at my recent experience of Hari Raya ‘Idilfitri prayer at Masjid Negara on April 10, 2024. The Imam had not yet finished uttering the customary “Assalamuallaikum” to signal the end of the first part of his service when many of the congregants began leaving. This also happened there at previous Hari Raya prayers.

 

            Muslim congregational prayers (as on Friday noon and Hari Raya) are truncated from the usual four raka’ats (units) to two, with the accompanying sermon considered an integral part and in lieu of the two skipped raka’ats. So imagine my horror at the exodus during the middle of the service.

 

            Those who left must have felt or had concluded through experience that those sermons were irrelevant or meaningless. Thus not worth listening to or even putting on any pretense of doing so even for the sake of civility and politeness. That distraction notwithstanding, I managed to stay for the whole khutba.

 

            Despite my best effort however, I could not make sense of the sermon. The acoustics were horrible, with the Imam oblivious of that. Whether his message was received, much less understood, apparently was not his concern for he blazed on, with the echoes reverberating. The ritual is the thing.

 

            It did not occur to him or his staff to have the sound system checked beforehand. Nor did they consider having monitor screens strategically placed for simultaneous language interpretation for the large number of Bangladeshis present, or for that matter a sign language translator for the hearing impaired.

 

            Masjid Negara is a national monument. I had intimations earlier that it had little relevance to the surrounding citizenry. On the contrary it impacts them in the most obtrusive and disruptive ways.

 

            I took the RapidKL transit to Central Market, the nearest stop to the mosque. While I could see it from the station, there were no directional signs. So I headed in the general direction, meandering among the many intervening structures, following the crowd whom I assumed knew their way.

 

            Alas, after many a detour and straddling barriers, we finally arrived at an empty multi-story city-owned parking lot to emerge on the other side onto a wide street in front of the mosque. Except that the street had now been turned into a massive parking lot. I shudder to think if any emergency vehicle had to pass through.

 

            Forewarned, I had worn cheap footwear so no one would steal it. I was also careful where I put it lest somebody would trip on it. I saw many trampling over scattered footwears at the entrance even though there were shoe racks. Accidents waiting to happen.

 

            When I arrived, the main hall was already full except for the bare, hard shiny linoleum floor of the surrounding annex. That too was fast filling up. There was not even the cheap Made-in-China rolled-up prayer mats. They could afford full air-conditioning but not those mats. I pity those with unforgiving knees.

 

            You expect the Imam of Masjid Negara to have some leadership skills. He should have noticed the dangerous traffic disruptions around the mosque. Common sense would have him make the necessary arrangements for free parking at the adjacent empty parking structure as well as assign someone to direct traffic. Likewise, the horrible acoustics. Summon the architect responsible for the renovation to inspect and remedy the horrible end result. Study the great cathedrals and learn how they do it.

 

            That those necessary elementary things were not done reflect how far detached our religious leaders are from the immediate problems facing their flock. By contrast, my Imam here in Silicon Valley once interrupted his sermon when he saw through the window a late comer who had parked his car blocking the driveway. He asked that gentleman to move his car right away. Our Imam knew his priorities. The temporal often must necessarily override the spiritual.

 

            Issues like atrocious acoustics, bad sound system, no prayer mats, and haphazard parking are not micromanagement. Instead they deal directly with concerns (or lack thereof) of your constituents. No point promising them Heaven in the Hereafter if you cannot at least help them remedy their current hellish experience.

 

            Services at Masjid Negara are usually attended by top dignitaries including the Agung and Prime Minister. As such those are opportunities for the Imam to apprise those leaders of citizens’ concerns. I once heard over Radio Indonesia Hamka in his Hari Raya sermon excoriating his nation’s leaders for failing their citizens. That is responsive and responsible leadership!

 

            Alas, that Masjid Negara Imam represents many contemporary Malay leaders, be they in government, politics, or academia, in being far detached from the problems of their constituents. That is the tragedy of today’s Malay leaders.

The Malaysian Malaise Excerpt # 2: Mahathir and His Trail of Corrupt, Rotten, and Incompetent Successors

 The Malaysian Malaise:  Corrupt Leadership, Failing Institutions, And Intolerant Islamism

M. Bakri Musa

 

Excerpt #2: Mahathir And His Trail of Corrupt, Rotten, and Incompetent Successors

 

Mahathir’s second tenure as Prime Minister began in a benign way and with all the best intentions. After first serving from 1981 to 2003 (the longest serving), he came out of retirement to help defeat the corrupt Najib Razak and his band of bandits in Barisan Nasional during the 2018 14^th General Elections. Mahathir went beyond. He claimed the major if not sole credit for ousting Najib’s coalition. With that he convinced Malaysians that he was indeed the nation’s savior.

 

            The world too was impressed; a nonagenarian making a spectacular political comeback! There was indeed hope for other ageing global leaders; they too became emboldened if not inspired to hang on to their positions. As such Mahathir spent much of his first year being lauded as a geriatric celebrity of sorts, flying to various major capitals to be interviewed by other oldies in the media, think tank, and global institutions like the International Monetary Fund. Even venerable Oxford University got in on the act! At home, he convened a panel of five-member Council of Eminent Persons. Such was Mahathir’s newly acquired aura that even his earlier severe critics like the eminent economist K S Jomo and the hard-nosed sugar mogul Roberk Kuok gladly agreed to be co-opted into that august super select body.

 

            At age 93, the understanding was that he would retire in two years to make way for Anwar Ibrahim who was then still in prison on trumped up charges of sodomy (the second such charge). Yes, unlike the rest of the modern world, Malaysia still has such archaic statutes in her books! Even Singapore had chucked away those medieval legal relics.

 

            With the new coalition’s victory in 2018, its acknowledged leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was expected to be pardoned and thus able to return to active politics to assume leadership of the nation, as was agreed upon by leaders of the victorious coalition, including Mahathir.

 

            Then with unexpected suddenness, in February 2020 Mahathir resigned. By right, then Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azzizah should have taken over. Fearful that she would give way to her husband Anwar Ibrahim, who by now had been pardoned and subsequently elected to Parliament, Mahathir executed what he thought was a shrewd move. He concocted a back door scheme, dubbed the Sheraton Move (named after the hotel where the political horse trading took place), that would have the Agung appoint the cancer-stricken Muhyiddin Yassin to take over. Mahathir himself was not at that infamous conspiratorial meeting, but again his fingerprints were very much evident.

 

            Thus Mahathir willfully and negligently failed Malaysia. That is unpardonable. He cannot escape history’s condemnation for his pivotal role in subsequently plunging Malaysia into an unneeded period of political turmoil, and coming during the critical Covid-19 pandemic.

 

            Others too share in this critical culpability, specifically the then Agung. He was satisfied (or was made to feel thus) with that extra constitutional maneuver where a parade of MPs was summoned to the Palace with their Statutory Declarations in hand, purportedly expressing their support for Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister. The Agung took that to have met the statutory requirement that the Prime Minister be someone who commanded (or could command) the majority in Parliament. In fact that statutory requirement had been circumvented, or more correctly, manipulated and subverted.

 

            The Agung (and his advisors) was confused, ignorant, or purposely chose to ignore the obvious reality that decisions made in private, statutory declarations in hand notwithstanding, cannot replace or be predictable from one taken following an open robust parliamentary debate. That should have been the proper procedure. Group dynamics can and do affect decisions quickly and dramatically right to the last minute.

 

            Like all backroom deals, this Sheraton Move did not last long. Barely twenty-two months later Muhyiddin was outmaneuvered by yet another dark backroom scheming, to be replaced by that clueless character, UMNO’s Ismail Sabri. Thankfully his Administration too was short-lived, booted out in the election of November 2022. The irony was not lost; that election was prematurely called by Ismail himself.

 

            Meanwhile the Malaysian malaise and downward spiral continued. Using the ringgit as a surrogate indicator, it fell to its lowest level ever vis a vis the US dollar, trading on October 13, 2022 at RM4.70, lower than during the Asian economic crisis of 1998. I wonder what happened to those five “Eminent Council” members tasked with advising Mahathir!

 

            Ever the schemer, Mahathir was not yet finished. Leading yet another splinter party, Gerakan Tanah Air (lit. Motherland Action Party), and not content with the wreckage he had already inflicted upon Malaysia, he again offered himself to be Prime Minister, without blushing or any trace of embarrassment. That is, if Malaysians were to let him.

 

            Alas, mortals may plan, but God (as represented by the ummah, citizens) decides. In the November 2022 elections, not one of Mahathir’s 158 candidates (115 parliamentary and 43 states) including Mahathir was successful. The humiliation did not end there. All, Mahathir included, lost their deposits. What a humiliation, and well deserved too! Mahathir’s latest delusion of his delivering another ‘miracle’ was punctured, and I hope for Malaysia’s sake, for good.

 

Next:  Excerpt #3–Poster Boy For Term Limits

 Book Review:  Rozhan Othman’s  Strategic Leadership of Muhammad, s.a.w.

M. Bakri Musa

 

Ilham Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2024. Indexed with references, 197 pp RM60.00

 

I have tremendous respect for Syed Naquib Al Attas as a scholar. However, I am less enamored with his “Islamization of Knowledge” fad that he had initiated in the 1970s. Thus imagine my joy on reading in the very first few pages of Rozhan Othman’s Strategic Leadership of Muhammad, s.a.w., this:

 

       “I am ... reluctant to attach the prefix “Islamic” to management and leadership.... [B]oth … fall within the realm of mu`amalat [worldly activities in contrast to spiritual ibadat] and are thus governed by the maxim ... [that] everything is permissible unless there is clear evidence prohibiting it…. The use of the term “Islamic” to certain versions of management and leadership implies that other forms … are not …. This is erroneous and misleading.”

 

            All knowledge comes from Allah. That He chose to dispense the concept of zero to a Hindu, insights on gravity to an Englishman, or secrets of the polio virus to a Jew is not for us to question but to learn and leverage them to benefit mankind. That is Islamic.

 

            There is a glut of books on the Prophet’s leadership. Most, as with the voluminous ancient texts, are heavy on the prophet’s mythical if not superhuman capabilities as to almost deify him. In relating the Prophet’s many victories, they invariably invoke Allah being on his side. Rozhan Othman’s rendition is a pleasant departure. He uses established management principles and leadership insights to analyze the prophet’s tactics and strategies, off and on the battlefields. Thus:

 

          “The relationship between effort and outcome is a part of the universal rule of Allah. We cannot neglect the necessary efforts and yet expect to gain the desired outcomes …. Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w., was also subjected to this rule ….”

 

            Over two-thirds of the book deals with the prophet’s military leadership, the rest his leading the first Muslim community in Medina. To me, the latter best demonstrated the prophet’s leadership genius. His Medina Compact was an exemplary blueprint for state leadership and operational management, bar none. Indeed, sculpted in the US Supreme Court lobby is a depiction of the Prophet, s.a.w. as one of the “great lawgivers of history.”

 

            Ancient Medina offers many relevant lessons, more so for Malaysia. It was diverse with Muslims, Christians, Jews, and pagans all in one valley and often (far too often) at odds with one another. Sounds familiar? For another, they embraced a pendatang (muhajirun–immigrant) rather than an ansar (native) to be their leader! Hope for non-Malays?

 

            In first building a mosque and a marketplace in Medina, the Prophet, s.a.w, recognized that once people begin trading or otherwise engaged in commercial interactions with one another, peace would likely ensue. Traders and entrepreneurs view others less as “them versus us” or native versus pendatang, rather more as potential clients, customers, and partners. That prompts a far different response and very positive perspective as well as attitude.

 

            There is a fundamental difference between leadership on the battlefield versus during peacetime. The former is a zero-sum endeavor; only one side can win. Rarely, a stalemate with both sides cutting their losses. Not so with peacetime leadership or in commerce. IBM does not have to collapse for Apple to succeed. As such, state and business leaders have much to learn from the Prophet’s leadership at Medina.

 

            The Prophet, s.a.w., did not depend entirely on wahyu (revelations) to guide him, as much traditional accounts would have it. He listened to his wise subordinates. That was another of his attributes–choosing smart people to be around him. Following the victorious Battle of Khaybar (described in some detail in the book) the Prophet, s.a.w., adopted the suggestion of his chief lieutenant Omar in letting the vanquished owners continue operating their fertile fields. Thus was born the concept of waqaf. As Benedikt Koehler intimated in his Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism (2014), later Europeans would develop waqaf into modern trusts and limited liability corporations.

 

            Rozhan is both scholar and later, practitioner in his discipline. A product of modern American liberal education, he holds a doctorate in his field from the University College, Dublin. He once led the Malaysian Muslim Study Group in America.

 

            This book should be distributed and read widely, in particular among the political and religious establishments. At RM$60 it is affordable, what with the recent civil service pay hikes. Nonetheless, publishers should try reducing the price of books. Having a soft cover, as this one, is a solution; reducing page numbers without compromising content and readability, another. Having a two-column index and references in smaller fonts without double spacing would achieve this.

 

            Rozihan Othman’s perceptive observations are a refreshing take on an already widely covered topic.

The Malaysian Malaise: Political Crises At The Worst Possible Time

  

The Malaysian Malaise:  Corrupt Leadership; Failing Institutions; And Intolerant Islamism

M. Bakri Musa

 

Next: Excerpt #1:  Prologue–Political Crisis At The Worst Possible Time

 

When the virulent Covid-19 virus broke out beyond Wuhan, China, in January 2020, the whole world was consumed in an unprecedented giant effort to contain the pandemic. The whole world that is, but not Malaysia. Then as if that public health threat was not lethal enough, Malaysia was (and still is) one of those self-destructive if not downright dysfunctional countries that brought upon itself additional unneeded and self-inflicted series of political crises. That is the Malaysian malaise. It is the consequence of long standing corrupt incompetent leadership, failing ineffective institutions, and rising intolerant Islamism. Each amplifies the corrosive and destructive effects of the other two.

 

            The Covid-19 pandemic is now manageable, thanks to better understanding of the virus and consequent development of effective vaccines together with improved public health measures and novel effective therapeutic interventions. However, the political and other major components of the Malaysian malaise are still very much there and fast deteriorating. The tragedy is that those other non-Covid related challenges are all potentially preventable and readily solvable if only Malaysian leaders were to have a modicum of smarts and a sense of dedication. And most of all, not corrupt.

 

            Stripped to its most elemental level, all these political and other crises are traceable to the inflated personal ego and endless sinister scheming of one conniving character, its former long-time Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. From entrenched corruption and incompetent leadership to deteriorating institutions and escalating intolerant Islamism, they all bear his trademark scheming fingerprints. In modern management parlance, Mahathir is the root cause of the Malaysian malaise.

 

            As leader, Mahathir demonstrated all those three foundational malignant defects, and more. Worse than an incompetent leader is one who thinks he or she is otherwise. Likewise a corrupt leader who thinks he is honest, or the pious one who has a perverted version of humanity. Mahathir is all that.

 

            In late November 2022, like the regular miracle in the southern hemisphere, the metaphorical sun emerged in Malaysia with the defeat of the governing party in the 15^th General Elections. Though no coalition or party won an outright majority, the then Agung gave Anwar Ibrahim (his coalition having won the most number of seats and the highest percentage of the popular votes) first crack at forming a new government. Thanks to his considerable political skills, Anwar crafted a coalition that won a two-third majority in the new Parliament at its first seating a month later. There were no dissenting voices in Parliament.

 

            Perversely and in an almost psychotic disconnect from reality, old Mahathir still sees himself as the nation’s savior. As late as September 2022 he had the temerity, and without any trace of embarrassment, to proclaim himself ready to assume the nation’s leadership once again, and for the third time. In a pean to humility, he did add “if people were to insist on it and the insistence incessant.” Then he would serve for only one year. Such modesty! At least that was an improvement over his previous two-year limitation he had imposed upon himself when he assumed the position for the second time in May 2018. And what a mess he created then, with Malaysians still paying the price.

 

            The man was finally rebuked and disabused of his delusion of leadership genius. In the general elections a few weeks later, he suffered total political humiliation and rejection. The yet another new coalition he led failed to win a single seat and the man himself lost his electoral deposit. Anyone else would have gotten the message and retreat quietly into the wilderness. Not Mahathir however.

 

            What a legacy! Those are in addition to the now near-irreversible degradation of Malaysia that is the direct consequence of his earlier and much longer first tenure of nearly 23 years back in the last two decades of the last century. In case the point is missed, and the man never fails to remind us, that was also the duration of Muhammad’s prophethood.

 

Next:  Excerpt # 2–Mahathir And His Trail of Corrupt, Rotten, and Incompetent Successors