GMM: Can democrat Islamists curb extremism?

Free Malaysia Today
November 14, 2014

Global Movement of Moderates hold roundtable discussion on the moderate approach of democracy versus war.

KUALA LUMPUR: Democrat Islamists can be a solution to curb extremism worldwide as they provide a moderate approach in today’s global world through the ballot box, said academicians and politicians.

International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) lecturer Dr Maszlee Malik said Democrat Islamists, made famous after the Arab Spring, allowed Muslims to control their fate through the ballot box rather than war or in the hands of leaders who were dictators, thus ending any grievances they might have had.

“The idea of democrat Islamists has existed for a long time. Radical groups emerge because they found there was no hope for Muslims to enjoy justice, human rights and good governance,” he said at a roundtable discussion on Democrat Islamists organised by the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) together with IIUM’s Fiqh Department.

Chairman of London-based Al-Hiwar TV channel Dr Azzam Tamimi, said that the success of the Arab Spring was a promising event that allowed for democracy in the Middle East and at the same time made the militant group Al Qaeda into an irrelevant movement.

“The success of the Arab Spring as we saw in Tunisia and Egypt was very promising, showing that this is the way forward. Some of the leaders of Al Qaeda were actually stressing fear that this model was succeeding, because it was proving them wrong,” he said.

Dr Azzam also stressed that Democrat Islamist’s definition still varies, depending on how people come into contact with the ideology and that the struggle for Democrat Islamists in the Middle East was still an ongoing process.

The GMM on its website stated that “Democrat Islamist” is a special term which refers to the new actors who seek to apply the Islamic principles to public policy within a democratic framework, including those in Morocco and Tunisia.

Meanwhile, PAS Research Centre Executive Director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad noted that although Westerners were a little cautious of the ideology, Democrat Islamists like that of PAS were successful and have managed to exist for 60 years in Malaysia.

But he noted that Democrat Islamists had problems of balancing between being democratic and upholding the true values of Islam in order to be relevant in a diverse country like Malaysia.

“The Democrat Islamist party needs to come up with universal proposals that can persuade the people, both Muslims and Non-Muslims. Thus it must engage with the public, allow for forum of differences and be less judgemental,” he said.

Morroco’s Party of Justice and Development (PJD) Member of the International Relations Committee, Dr Driss Bouanou, highlighted the success of Democrat Islamists in Morocco as the country had been practising democracy since its establishment.

He said that since Morocco was a democratic country, it was not affected by the Arab Spring.

“We have managed to work well with the monarchy and our political rival to maintain a prosperous Morocco.

“For what we have achieved in Morocco, nobody can say that the Democrat Islamists do not exist,” he said referrng to PJD, the ruling party of Morocco.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party President Dr Anis Matta said although Western countries seemed cynical towards the existence of Democrat Islamists, they were actually more concerned if it will jeopardise their interest in the Muslim countries.

“For example, although Saudi Arabia is not a democratic country, Western powers are not bothered about this as long as their interests are not jeopardised. The West actually do not care what the ideology of a particular country is,” he said.

The rountable discussion is aimed at exploring the role and contribution of Democrat Islamists in promoting moderation and combating extremism in the Muslim world.

GMM chief executive officer Saifuddin Abdullah said the roundtable discussion was a preparation for an international conference to be held by the GMM Foundation in the first quarter of next year.

“We are also planning for another roundtable on another issue to promote moderation in December this year and January 2015,” he said at a press conference.

Saifuddin said the international conference next year will discuss issues such as democracy and good governance and is expected to be officiated by Prime Minister Najib Razak who is also GMM patron.

– BERNAMA