Hidari Islam Lights the Way for Tolerance

Yesterday I did a radio interview with Kevin and Sue McCarthy about my trip to Borneo and Kuala Lumpur. Kevin reminded me of a term that I had forgotten that says a lot about Malaysians. It’s called Hidari Islam, and means their brand of the religion is cloaked with tolerance and understanding that it’s not the only way to go. I remember our guide talking about this and it was evident even way up north in the city of Kota Baru, which is called “The Islamic City.” It’s a good lesson for Americans to learn–that there are millions more muslims who practice Hidari style Islam than the fiery Wahabism that spawned 15 of the 9/11 hijackers.

I read an interview yesterday with Anwar Ibrahim, the main opposition leader and national hero of Malaysia. Eight years ago he was jailed amidst trumped up charges of sodomy, and the evidence then was tainted but despite this he spent half a decade in jail. When we were in Malaysia, all of the newspapers had stories about him, he’s again being railroaded and threatened with jailtime and treated like a criminal. Each story attacked him and defended the party in power. I didn’t realize then that the New Straits Times was a state-controlled newspaper, and that the real story about this national hero was not ever going to be told on their pages.

In the interview, Anwar spoke about the importance of the US developing alliances with Hidari muslims, since the populations of Malaysia, Indonesia and other nearby muslim countries is higher than the entire Middle East. He believes that Hidari holds a key to better world relations, and wants to encourage tourism, and trade. If he can get past the rough treatment by the current administration and onto the ballot he might be the next prime minister of Malaysia.