mahathir mohammad, prime minister of malaysia, is the islamic version, albeit with extreme discretion, of the late singaporean leader lee kuan yew. mahathir was born in 1925 and became prime minister of malaysia in 1981 and remained in office until 2003, during which he nurtured the rise of malaysia and pushed it forward towards civilization, industrial and humanitarian progress. at a forum held in kuala lumpur in november 2014 to discuss the issue of thought and civilization, especially the civil state, mah a t h i r ’ s s p e e c h was wider a n g i n g , as if he were talking about our countries and aware of its flaws. he also described the effective remedy for crises in the arab society. the emirati academician sulaiman al-jassim summarized mahathir’s points as follows: first: making concessions is the road to stability. the multiplicity of races, religions and cultures of any country requires its parties to agree on mutual concessions so that stability and development can be settled. secondly: it is necessary to control the compass by directing efforts and energies to the real files in societies and peoples: poverty, unemployment, hunger, ignorance, lack of concern with ideology and attempts to dominate society and impose cultural and intellectual agendas on it. this may lead to more tension and conflict. muslims have spent great time and effort in historic battles such as the sunni-shiite conflict and other old battles. thirdly: the fatwas will not solve the problems of muslims, the leadership of muslim societies and their movements should not be subject to the hegemony of the fatwas of scholars and preachers. the muslim societies have been greatly controlled by religious opinions and perceptions incompatible with the movement of progress of history. the fact that many scholars have said that their fatwas are sufficient to achieve progress and development have had a negative effect on the society and led to reduction in the number of scientists in physics, chemistry, engineering and medicine, not to mention that some of the religious writings forbid preoccupation with these sciences. fourth: the help of god is not bestowed on extremists and god does not help those who cannot help themselves. we, muslims, have divided ourselves into groups, sects to kill each other in cold blood. our energy wasted on the culture of revenge and retaliation which the fanatics are keen to spread throughout the nation by all means and with excessive enthusiasm, and then after all we ask god to have mercy on us and pray for peace and stability. “we in malaysia have decided to move forward with the participation of all ethnic, religious and cultural components without paying attention to the sufferings and battles of the past. “today, we and the sons of a united malaysia live under one roof and we all have the right to enjoy the fruits of this nation”, mahathir mohammad said. this was in 2014, but now the situation in malaysia has changed a lot in the last few years. it has renounced tolerance and has returned to religious militancy against the rest of the nation. even the use of the word ‘allah’ has been limited, by judicial decree, to muslims only. the government has also recently banned religious books calling for a more tolerant islam with other components of society, with a warning of a threeyear jail to anyone who is dealing with the book. the government has become more sensitive to works of art or literature which include even a simple reference to religious themes, or calls for tolerance. here we welcome malaysia’s return to its sisters.
