Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 12 views

    HYPOCRISY

    Uploaded by

    ADHEERA BINTI MOHD SALMI (MOE)
    The document summarizes a book titled "Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics" by M. Kamal Hassan. The book addresses the issues of corruption and lack of ethics in Malay Muslim politics in Malaysia. It proposes embracing a transcendent Islamic worldview as the basis for moral-ethical transformation. It also outlines a framework called the "Theocentric Leadership Paradigm" to guide future Malay Muslim political leaders. The book emphasizes spiritual education and purification of the heart to nurture leaders with good character, piety, and humility. While critical of current issues, the book ultimately provides hope that with the correct vision and efforts, political and ethical reform can be achieved.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    HYPOCRISY

    Uploaded by

    ADHEERA BINTI MOHD SALMI (MOE)
    12 views4 pages
    The document summarizes a book titled "Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics" by M. Kamal Hassan. The book addresses the issues of corruption and lack of ethics in Malay Muslim politics in Malaysia. It proposes embracing a transcendent Islamic worldview as the basis for moral-ethical transformation. It also outlines a framework called the "Theocentric Leadership Paradigm" to guide future Malay Muslim political leaders. The book emphasizes spiritual education and purification of the heart to nurture leaders with good character, piety, and humility. While critical of current issues, the book ultimately provides hope that with the correct vision and efforts, political and ethical reform can be achieved.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document summarizes a book titled "Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics" by M. Kamal Hassan. The book addresses the issues of corruption and lack of ethics in Malay Muslim politics in Malaysia. It proposes embracing a transcendent Islamic worldview as the basis for moral-ethical transformation. It also outlines a framework called the "Theocentric Leadership Paradigm" to guide future Malay Muslim political leaders. The book emphasizes spiritual education and purification of the heart to nurture leaders with good character, piety, and humility. While critical of current issues, the book ultimately provides hope that with the correct vision and efforts, political and ethical reform can be achieved.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    12 views4 pages

    HYPOCRISY

    Uploaded by

    ADHEERA BINTI MOHD SALMI (MOE)
    The document summarizes a book titled "Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics" by M. Kamal Hassan. The book addresses the issues of corruption and lack of ethics in Malay Muslim politics in Malaysia. It proposes embracing a transcendent Islamic worldview as the basis for moral-ethical transformation. It also outlines a framework called the "Theocentric Leadership Paradigm" to guide future Malay Muslim political leaders. The book emphasizes spiritual education and purification of the heart to nurture leaders with good character, piety, and humility. While critical of current issues, the book ultimately provides hope that with the correct vision and efforts, political and ethical reform can be achieved.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    ASIATIC, VOLUME 16, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2022

    M. Kamal Hassan, Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics:


    The Urgency of Moral-Ethical Transformation. Kuala Lumpur: Emir
    Research, 2021. 276 pp. ISBN: 978-967-26316-0-6.

    Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics comes at a turbulent


    time in Malaysian politics – three years after the ruling party Barisan Nasional
    (BN) was ousted from power after ruling for over six decades. BN was replaced
    by the new opposing coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH), only to find the latter being
    toppled by a new temporary alliance called Perikatan Nasional (PN). The political
    situation continued to be vacillating as PN Prime Minister resigned to give way
    to a BN Prime Minister. BN is seen as making a return to be the dominant power
    in the government. This long suffering of political instability has complicated the
    lives of ordinary people, made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, fuelling the
    already devastating socio-psychological condition and the rise of fear, anxiety, and
    distress in society.
    As highlighted by M. Kamal Hassan, the venoms of hate-politics,
    defamation, slander, political assassination, and acts of treachery have dreadfully

    Asiatic, Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2022 165


    Khairil Husaini Bin Jamil

    polluted the political atmosphere during these few years. Nothing speaks more
    clearly of the author’s discontentment with the moral-ethical behaviour of,
    particularly the Malay-Muslim leaders, than the phrase of one of his chapter
    headings, “Enough is Enough!” Maintaining repeatedly his stature as an
    independent and non-partisan academic, and humbly describing himself as an
    armchair scholar despite all the contributions that led to his emeritus
    professorship and other recognitions, Kamal Hassan presents this book as his
    intellectual wasiat (last will and testament) to the younger generation of educated
    elites of the Muslim community in Malaysia – the future leaders of the ummah –
    in addition to fulfilling the religious obligation to speak against social evils and
    unethical phenomena in society.
    Going through the first few chapters of this book, one could not help
    but recall the issue raised in Chanakya’s Arthashastra (1915), one of the oldest
    studies on corruption penned. Chanakya was a fourth-century Indian polymath,
    philosopher, and royal advisor. He maintains: “Just as for the fish moving inside
    the water, it cannot be known as to when they are drinking water, similarly, for
    the officers appointed for carrying out works, it cannot be known as to when they
    are appropriating money (for their own interest) (p.94).” Corruption is something
    that is difficult to measure, and one may question here the urgency of the solution
    that Kamal Hassan proposes.
    Has the political situation in Malaysia worsened in the past years, or is it
    an outburst of the author’s personal frustration stemming from certain partisan
    inclinations? Kamal Hassan is quick to prove the shared concern of all citizens,
    including the monarchs, scholars, leaders, authors, and the public. The first three
    chapters bring together statements and expressions of concerns from numerous
    sources: newspapers, local and international books, and research papers. The
    emphasis on the graveness of the situation, examined from multiple viewpoints,
    may explain the unequal distribution of pages for the early chapters and their
    relatively small number compared to the remaining chapters of the book. The
    author seems to be saying that the problem is undeniably real, but we should not
    spend too much time in our assessment of the problem. Is there a workable,
    comprehensive solution?
    As expected from the author’s lifelong history of propagating the subject,
    Kamal Hassan immediately accentuates the crucial role of a transcendent
    worldview as the basis for a successful political and cultural transformation. He
    emphasises “a holistic and overarching ideology that is not based on valorisation
    of racial origin, ethnicity, or language (p.30).” Being truly dedicated to
    scholarship, he directs the readers to the works of other prominent scholars who
    have long systematised and elaborated in detail the worldview of Islam, namely
    Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas (1931-), Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah
    (HAMKA) (1908-1981), and Ismail Raji al-Faruqi (1921-1986).

    Asiatic, Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2022 166


    Corruption and Hypocrisy in Malay Muslim Politics: The Urgency of Moral-Ethical Transformation

    Kamal Hassan also takes this opportunity to present his own elucidation
    of key concepts and principles of a transcendent worldview which he calls the
    worldview of tawḥīd. Concepts such as tawḥīd, Divine attributes, the nature and
    ontology of human being, khilāfah (vicegerency), amānah (trusteeship), raḥmatan li
    al-ʿālamīn (compassion and mercy for All the Worlds), raḥmaniyyah al-Islam (the
    compassion of Islam), insāniyyah al-Islam (the humanistic teaching of Islam),
    ummah (nationhood), wasaṭiyyah (just-best-balanced community), riʿāyah
    (responsible leadership), iṣlāḥ dhāt al-bayn (reconciliation between people), etc.,
    are given serious, adequate attention in some of the chapters of the book.
    Amongst the aims he underlines are nurturing the “politics as ʿibādah paradigm”
    and having, in course of time, “new breed of ethical and multi-racial Muslim
    leaders” (p.38-40). The author does not only provide theoretical guidance, but he
    also makes the best effort to offer a practical framework for this vision. Indeed,
    he sincerely admits that the current Muslim political leaders should have learned
    from the example of British Members of Parliament and the office of the Speaker
    of House of Common in terms of political accountability, maturity, decency,
    rationality, civility, and etiquette. He also alludes to the excellence of honesty of
    the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (1954-), and to her superior political and
    ethical conduct. In so doing, Kamal Hassan reminds Muslim readers that
    “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer, let him claim it wherever he finds
    it.” Ultimately, he proposes a framework which he calls as ‘Theocentric
    Leadership Paradigm (TLP)’ to be embodied by the current and future Malay
    Muslim political leaders.
    Towards the end of the book, Kamal Hassan sticks to his elsewhere
    idiomatic expression of the condition of the society, “the heart of the problems
    boils down to the problems of the heart.” He dedicates three chapters to address
    the subject of the heart which are “The Necessity of Tarbiyah Rūḥiyyah (Spiritual
    Education) as the Core of the Theocentric Leadership Paradigm,” “Absolute
    Necessity of Qalb Purification Programme as the Foundation of the Theocentric
    Leadership Paradigm,” and “Dhikru’llāh (Remembrance of Allah) as a
    Fundamental Habit of Muslim Leaders and Followers.” For him, it is of utmost
    importance that Muslim leaders adorn themselves with ḥusn al-khulq (good
    character). Two main constituents of good character are taqwā (God-
    consciousness) and the sense of rasa malu (shamefulness, bashfulness, and
    humility before God). Kamal Hassan’s repetition of the crucial import of rasa
    malu is perhaps a response to the neglect or loss of ḥayāʾ (malu) prevalent amongst
    the current generation, as manifested particularly on social media. Without the
    sense of ḥayāʿ before God, political leaders will be more palpable to commit
    corruption and exhibit hypocrisy in running public affairs.
    In a nutshell, the book provides a detailed guidance for Muslim society
    to undertake a moral-ethical transformation and to keep itself ready in facing the

    Asiatic, Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2022 167


    Khairil Husaini Bin Jamil

    future of uncertainties, turbulence, trials, and tribulations. Nevertheless, Kamal


    Hassan as an academic also proposes purely research ideas pertaining to Malay
    Muslim politics amid his discussion of the conduct of the current political parties
    (p.25-26). Some may question the fact that the book is written in English though
    the lower- and middle-class Malaysians are the majority electorate of the country.
    One possible reason why the author has written the book in English is that most
    leaders from the elites and the intelligentsia are educated in English and exposed
    to political philosophies written in that language. They are often exposed to
    philosophies that contravene the worldview of tawḥīd or Islamic monotheism.
    These groups of people are perhaps the primary audience of the book.
    Nonetheless, the book is replete with Arabic verses of the Qurʾan and the Sunnah
    (Prophetic tradition). Despite the critical condition of the society portrayed by
    the author, the book ultimately leaves us with hope. It promises that with the
    embodiment of the correct worldview and the honest endeavour in spiritual
    education, political and ethical transformation of the Malay Muslims can be
    realised, and victories are possible in the fight against corruption.

    Khairil Husaini Bin Jamil


    International Islamic University Malaysia
    Email: husaini@iium.edu.my

    Asiatic, Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2022 168

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy