Malaysia has become an Islamists’ paradise

Malaysia’s slide towards Islamic fundamentalism appears to be unstoppable.

In Terengganu, a state on the west coast governed by the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), two-year prison terms and fines of up to 3,000 ringgit (£527) are to be imposed on men who skip Friday prayers. The authority for these punishments comes from the Hadith, or sayings of Muhammed – a source of much of the Sharia law that governs Malaysia’s approximately 20million Muslims.

This new law is extreme even by Islamist standards. Not even theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia imprison and fine prayer-dodgers. The Taliban, which is the most oppressive Islamic regime in the world, limits the offence to government employees.

This turn towards radical Islam in Malaysia, a popular destination for Western tourists and long considered a moderate Muslim country, has been decades in the making. In the 1980s, Malaysia’s ‘Islamic Revival’ was led by its longest-serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad. Mahathir’s 1981 manifesto, ‘The Malay Dilemma’, merged nationalism with Islam, and emphasised the difference between native and Chinese Malays. He oversaw the Islamification of Malaysia’s politics and, critically, its education system.

Only now are we beginning to comprehend the impact of Mahathir’s reforms. In Malaysia today, prison sentences are enforced not only over missed prayers, but for eating during daylight hours in Ramadan. In 2019, a man was handed a 10-year prison sentence for ‘anti-religious activity’ online – effectively a blasphemy offence. Last year, a father of five was publicly caned at a mosque in Terengannu for the Sharia crime of ‘close proximity between unmarried couples’. Police in Kelantan – a state also governed by the PAS – arrested 20 men for hosting what the authorities described as a ‘gay party’ just last month.

It isn’t just sexual minorities under threat in Malaysia. Shia Muslims – of whom there are roughly 200,000 – were referred to as a ‘national security threat’ by a prominent Sunni cleric in 2018. Religious extremists have marched under banners that urge the government to ‘eradicate Shias from Malaysia’. A government fatwa that designates the sect as ‘deviant’ gives police the authority to harass and persecute Shias almost as they please.

Malaysia’s dual legal system, in which Muslims are governed by Sharia and the rest by a civil code, has perhaps never looked so under threat. Indeed, a 2023 Pew poll found that 86 per cent of Muslims favour the blanket imposition of Sharia. More disturbing is the fact that 39 per cent of Malaysian Muslims endorse the idea that violence in the name of Islam is justified.

The silent, largely unreported radicalisation of Malaysia has global ramifications. In recent years it has become a haven for terrorists. It’s easy to forget that the meeting during which the final plan for 9/11 was given the stamp of approval by al-Qaeda officials took place in the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

More recent reports suggest that jihadists from around the world, including Europe, see it as a safe base because of the government’s lax approach to Islamic extremism. A Bangladeshi ISIS network was exposed by security forces there earlier this year, further hinting at the extent to which Islamist terrorists are heading to Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Islamisation is not just a problem for the Malay themselves. It could soon be causing serious trouble throughout the world.

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid is a writer based in Pakistan.