KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Putrajaya’s brand of moderation is rooted in Islamic law and does not include liberal or pluralistic ideologies, Datuk Seri Najib Razak explained.
The prime minister maintained that anything his administration does must be based on Islam as this was part of the principles of leading an Islamic country.
“Maybe there are those who misunderstand or intentionally misunderstand. Moderation does not mean we support liberalism and pluralism,” the Umno president said in an interview with Mingguan Malaysia today.
“I have said many times that we do not condone ideologies that are overly liberal or pluralistic and such.”
In the portion of the interview that touched on moderation and racial ties, Najib said he was attempting to position Umno as a centrist party that was not extreme or excessive.
Often vaguely defined or completely undefined, liberalism and pluralism have become the catchphrase used by Islamic authorities to target ideologies, organisations and individuals that departed from the sanctioned religious narrative.
Malaysia’s religious authorities have long derided liberalism and pluralism, with Friday sermons nationwide claiming a conspiracy by “enemies of Islam” to manipulate Muslims through ideas like secularism, socialism, feminism and positivism, in addition to the two.
Recently, the Selangor Fatwa Committee issued a religious edict against Sisters in Islam (SIS), declaring the Muslim women’s rights group had deviating from Islam because it was purportedly promoting liberalism and religious pluralism — concepts which the conservative committee has yet to identify.
SIS has since filed for a judicial review of the fatwa that was gazetted last July in Selangor, triggering backlash from the Malay-Muslim communities.
