Making civil society a reality, finally

At long last, anwar launches ‘masyarakat madani’ which strives for a more humane and fair Malaysia.

IT would not be wrong to say that of all the prime ministers that we have had, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is probably the one who is most philosophical.

He has taken more than 20 years to officially launch a vision that he has always talked about.

The Malaysia Madani concept has now become government policy, but Anwar first spoke about these values at the Festival Istiqlal Jakarta in 1995.

That was when he proposed the idea of “masyarakat madani” (civil society), or mujtama al-madani in Arabic, following the stream of awareness and revival of Islam in Southeast Asia.

Historian Syed Muhammad Naguib Al-attas, who pioneered the concept of Islamisation and knowledge, has been credited for introducing the term mujtama madani.

But the discussions by Anwar, as the then president of Angkatan Belia Islam (Abim), began in the 1980s with Malaysian and Indonesian thinkers.

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris academician Dr Norazlan Hadi Yaacob shed more light on this in his paper “Muslim Intellectuals and the Idea of Madani (Civil) Society Formation in Indonesia and Malaysia 1990s-2000s”.

Following Anwar’s Jakarta visit, the idea was given a more thorough follow-up at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, where the then deputy prime minister provided more details.

Fast forward to 2023, Anwar has given a fresh perspective to the concept, where he envisages a Malaysia that believes in humanity and values like fairness, justice and effective governance.

He spoke of an equitable economy as well as good governance, where core values of ethics and morality are accepted and propagated by all religions.

The six core values of the Malaysia Madani policy are sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust and compassion.

To put it in simpler terms, these are shared values and commonalities across all major religions.

The contentious element in Malaysia is when religious figures prefer to talk about the opposing and differing ideas of each religion instead of talking about common ideals.

One scholar rightly said that “the application of Islam in Malaysian politics and its implementation is not thorough and for political polemics only”.

Islamic politics in the eyes of Malaysians, especially from PAS, seems to be confined to only forms such as dressing, gender, rituals and strict morality.

Unfortunately, controversial statements by politicians and ulama often overshadow more substantive matters.

The reality is that Islam will remain a matter of utmost importance, as the fight for the predominantly Malay votes is already taking shape and will become more intense in the years to come.

Anwar has sent a message to the Malay voters – his Malaysia Madani is more encompassing, universal, holistic and integrated.

There is also a balance between those who feel that Western secular political practices must be retained, while the opposite side wishes to push a hard-line Islamist way without considering that Malaysia is a multi-racial country.

In a paper titled “Concept of Madani Society as A Manifestation of Human Rights In Islamic Life” by Indonesian scholars Ahmad Mukri Aji, Havis Aravik and Nur Rohim Yunus, they wrote that a Madani society referred to the society built by the Prophet Muhammad located in the Medina city and that “this society has become the best example of the fulfilment of human rights”.

The Prophet Muhammad had also formulated the Medina Charter, which equitably binds all communities across groups, religions, ethnicities, races and skin colour.

Anwar’s challenge will be to put into practice this policy and that it does not merely remain another slogan put up by every PM that comes into power, only to be thrown out and forgotten once a new one comes along.

Malaysia Madani has to be put in simple words that ordinary Malaysians can understand and feel that it is relevant to their daily lives.

It has no meaning and is a waste of public funds if they are merely confined to intellectual discourses in campuses and self-serving forums.

But perhaps finally, Malaysians get to hear a Prime Minister talking about the spirit of freedom, self-independence and restoring the value of humanity, while striving to actually make it a reality.