Mariam Mokhtar makes a scathing criticism of Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani agenda. While I completely agree with her in terms of the ideals of the liberal democratic nation-state, I must point out that the liberal secular state is not the only legitimate outcome of the democratic process. Generally, a liberal democracy will exhibit the following characteristics – governance based on a constitution, universal suffrage, regular elections, multiple political parties, the separation of powers, the rule of law, the freedom of information, and the equal protection of human rights for all members of the nation. There is a further expectation of a liberal democracy to exhibit these additional traits, it should be a market economy, enshrine private property and practice secularism. While I believe that Malaysia must remain a democracy, and while I personally would prefer that we tend towards the ‘liberal’ form of governance, there are many variations of democracy in the world. These forms tend towards diverse poles including collectivism, ethnocentricity, and theocracy. We might wish for a more liberal democracy, but we must, nevertheless, acknowledge that even a less liberal democracy can still fulfill the essential requirements of that form of governance. Indeed, I believe that demographic trends and the consequential machinations of opportunistic party politics will likely conspire to take Malaysia towards more exotic forms of government in the future. However, in the meantime, Anwar should heed Mariam’s list of criticisms –

1. Non-Malays fear the Green Wave, so they will fully support Anwar Ibrahim but he has not bothered to hide his Islamic credentials.

2. Anwar claims he is a reformer but there have been no reforms, especially in the areas of the cost-of-living crisis and religious extremism.

3. Anwar will have been a disappointment if he delays reforms.

4. The Hadith Module will impinge on non-Muslim students and even Muslims will loose out in terms of time for science, technology an IT.

5. Anwar himself has said he would focus on needs-based rather than race-based quotas for University entrance and so he should be more respectful of those who raise questions on this matter.

6. The Malay population is badly divided in terms of access to the purported Malay privilege, particularly in the area of education.

7. Madani, Hadhari and all other forms of political Islam, particularly the more extreme versions of PAS and Perikatan Nasional are empty slogans that confuse the people and fail to further a true Islam.

8.Contrary to his purported liberal and multicultural agenda, Anwar has given more money to JAKIM and wants them to be involved in policy.

9. Anwar’s bid to harmonize sharia and civil law is troubling as constitutionally, Sharia law only relates to “family matters” for Muslims.

10 Freedom of speech is being restricted blatantly, as when the Minister of Communications issued a threat that the police would knock on our doors if we criticized the administration.

11. When a bumiputera company fails, taxpayers should not have to bail them out.

12. Anwar has been slow to criticize PAS for their outrageous claim that Muslims must vote for PAS, or else they will go to hell.