UNIVERSALISM VS RATIONALISM:

The political revival of Malaysia's Anwar (Chin Huat Wong, 5/10/07, Asia Times)

Anwar Ibrahim] has recently emerged as Malaysia's most visible opposition politician by campaigning on a racial-inclusion card - a message that elicited cheers in the majority-Chinese village of Machap Baru, a traditional stronghold for the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) political party currently represented in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

The United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysia's largest political party and founder of the BN, has ruled the country uninterrupted since it achieved independence in 1957. Since 1970, UMNO has perpetuated the affirmative-action New Economic Policy (NEP), which grants preferential status in equity, employment and education to ethnic Malays and other indigenous groups known collectively as bumiputera. Although the policy ended officially in 1990, its pro-Malay measures remain in place.

Minority Chinese and Indians, who combined account for more than 33% of Malaysia's total population, have long carped about UMNO's race-based policies and contend that unequal treatment has led to the chronic brain drain of Malaysia's best and brightest to Western countries or neighboring Singapore. [...]

If Anwar has his way, Malaysia's next general election - which is due by May 2009 but many expect to be held either this year or in early 2008 - will be a de facto referendum on UMNO's unwavering support for the NEP, particularly in urban areas where Anwar apparently aims to swing the Chinese, Indians and progressive Malays to vote for his party.

Hardly surprising to see a mature Islamist offer a transcendental politics.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2007 12:00 AM