Islam and Democracy-Anwar Ibrahim shows that majority rule can be ignored

The recently concluded elections in Malaysia for both state and federal parliamentary seats have provided some insight into how the Westminster system is practised in a Muslim state.

The state of Perak saw a Chinese majority party, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) win 18 of the 59 seats contested.
The Muslim party PAS won 6, and the PKR, effectively led by the leading apologist for Islam and its compatibility with western democratic principles, Anwar Ibrahim, won 7.
All three parties are members of a loose coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim that campaigned against the ruling Barisan Nasional.Hence as a coalition, they held a majority 31 seats, the majority of which were won by the DAP.
The DAP's majority should have meant that the state's chief minister would come from that party, but this was not to be for the Constitution of that state requires that the chief minsiter be a Malay Muslim.
Hence,the position of chief minsiter has gone to PAS's Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin,
despite PAS winning only 6 of the 31 seats.

The appointment of the chief minister requires the consent of the sultan, whose constitutional duties include defending the Malay race and the Islamic faith. The constitution allows for the sultan to waive the provision , but the sultan, acting via his regent refused to do so.


The sultan is what westerners like to refer to as a "moderate" Muslim. He is a barrister trained in the UK, and prior to becoming sultan,served in the Malaysian judiciary, rising to the most senior position of Lord President of the Federal Court of Malaysia (http://www.perak.gov.my/sultan/english/azlan.htm).
More comfortable in English than in Malay, he ensured that all his children , both sons and daughters, received the best in education. His son, the regent, holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. His research interests are in the area of economic and political development in southeast and northeast Asia, historical national income accounting and economic growth in developing countries. He has written articles and spoken on a wide range of issues including the role of constitutional monarchy in Malaysia, education, Islam, ethnic relations and economic development.(http://www.perak.gov.my/sultan/english/nazrin.htm)

Yet,despite all this, the sultan did not see it possible to uphold normal democratic principles. Neither did Anwar Ibrahim, whose party not only supported the principle that the chief minister should be a Malay Muslim, but also objected to the DAP having the majority of seats in the state's executive council.
Clearly, the practise of democracy in Islam is nothing like what Anwar Ibrahim has made it out to be :
Notwithstanding the current malaise of
authoritarianism plaguing the Muslim world, there can be no question that
several crucial elements of constitutional democracy and civil society are
also moral imperatives in Islam—freedom of conscience, freedom of expression,
and the sanctity of life and property—as demonstrated very clearly
by the Koran, as well as by the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, perhaps
most succinctly and eloquently in his farewell address.
(http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Ibrahim-17-3.pdf)

Perhaps now westerners can awake to the fact that nowhere in his speeches about Islam and democracy has Anwar said anything about the rule of the majority.