By Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune (Web Edition)
November 15, 2006

Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said Wednesday that frayed relations between the country's religious and racial groups had reached a "worrying" level and warned that the government would not hesitate to crack down to preserve peace between them.

"Freedom has its limits," Abdullah said in a nationally televised speech to his party that serves as an annual state of the union address for the country. "I would like to warn those who abuse this freedom that I will not for a moment hesitate to use the law against them."

Abdullah's threats were a marked shift in tone for a prime minister who previously portrayed himself as more conciliatory and compassionate than his predecessor, Mahathir bin Mohamad.

At a time of both political and ethnic tensions, a number of recent incidents and court cases have soured relations between Malay Muslims and the rest of the country's 25 million population: Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others.


The head of a Christian evangelical group said in an interview Wednesday that tensions between communities were higher than at any time in recent decades.

"I think generally there is a feeling by Muslims of being under siege by Western civilization as well as people of other faiths - they feel that they are being cornered," said the Christian leader, Wong Kim Kong, secretary general of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship in Malaysia.

"Political tension, religious tension and racial tension have culminated at the same time."

With such a diverse population Malaysia has long been seen as a barometer of racial relations in multiethnic Southeast Asia. One particularly contentious case involves an appeal to Malaysia's highest court by a Malay Muslim woman, Lina Joy, who converted to Christianity but has been banned from officially changing her religion on her identity card.

But the broader context of Abdullah's warning is economic and political, analysts say. The Malay Muslim majority is under pressure to scale back economic privileges they enjoy under an affirmative action program introduced more than three decades ago to dilute Chinese control over the economy.

Malaysians are locked in a divisive debate over the fate of the program following a recent report that said Malays had surpassed their ownership target of 30 percent of companies in the country. On Wednesday, Abdullah said the report was "grossly incorrect" and sought to end the discussion by warning that failure to trust the government's calculations, which show much lower ownership levels, would be the "same as accusing the government of lying."

Opposition leaders say Abdullah is using national security as a pretext to quash debate on the issue.

"More and more issues are being categorized as sensitive and now there's this threat of an iron fist," Lim Kit Siang, the leader of the opposition, in an interview. "There should be room for rational discussions."

Lim also accused members of Abdullah's party, the United Malays National Organization, of hypocrisy on the question of race relations.

"They are telling people not to play the race card while they are playing it to the hilt," Lim said.

Members of Abdullah's party have been particularly strident and explicit in their criticism of Chinese and Indian parties, with whom they share a coalition, at the party's general assembly, which is being held this week.

One party member, Ramli Simbok, was quoted in the local press as having said, "When we, the Malays, are weak, the Chinese will take advantage."

Another party member, Azimi Daim, warned Chinese and Indians to stop questioning the special rights of Malays.

"When tension rises, the blood of Malay warriors will run in our veins," Azimi said.

The prime minister has been under attack from Mahathir, his predecessor, over many issues ranging from management of the economy to corruption and nepotism within government.

Even though Mahathir was not present - he suffered a minor heart attack last week and is resting on doctor's orders - analysts said his presence could be detected in Abdullah's often defensive tone.

"Internally they are being assaulted by their former president. This has weakened the party," said Hishamuddin Rais, a political columnist for several Web sites. Mahathir was party president and prime minister from 1981 until 2003, when Abdullah succeeded him.

Abdullah's party "in a time of internal crisis is always looking out for foreign enemies," Hishamuddin said.

In his speech Abdullah responded to much of Mahathir's recent criticism.

He said he was aware that economic sentiment was soft but said reining in government spending had been necessary to reduce the budget deficit from 5.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2003 to 3.5 percent today.

"We are now in a better position to spend," he said.

In response to accusations that Abdullah had lowered the country's profile compared to Mahathir, whose acerbic often anti-Western comments kept the country in the news, Abdullah said he preferred "artful diplomacy."

THE National Library's efforts to retrieve invaluable Malay manuscripts are being hampered by high fees some foreign countries, institutions and individuals are imposing for them.

The library's Malaysiana Services director, Siti Mariani S.M. Omar, who oversees the library's Malay manuscript centre, said some of the manuscripts cost more than RM100,000 each.

The library has been engaged with manuscript acquisition since 1984.

"Normally, after evaluating the documents, we would proceed with price negotiations. Recently, we bought an old 19th century Quran from Australia that cost RM1,070," Siti Mariam said, adding that those who possessed such items usually would not give them up for free.

She said they had acquired many manuscripts from Sri Lanka, Aceh, Thailand and remote locations in Kelantan and Terengganu.

One of the manuscripts was even acquired at Sotheby's - the world's second oldest international auction house in London.

"It was one of the first few manuscripts containing Malay syair (poems). We bought it in 1984. We received a catalogue and told a representative there to bid for us," she said. However, she refused to disclose the cost.

Siti Mariani said there were manuscripts found in foreign countries that were not allowed to be brought home. Therefore, a microfilm copy had to be made.

"These people love our heritage, so they didn't want to part with the original. Some also claim the manuscripts to be theirs," she said.

"We would send people abroad every year to trace the manuscripts and document them for safe return.

"I have been to religious missions in Paris in 1990 and documented 18th century works like Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka and Cerita Panji.

"These documents are usually traced through social networks with local researchers liaising with academicians and historians abroad who have deep knowledge of Malay matters," she said.

Recognising its contribution to national heritage, the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry (now Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry) is making an effort to bring the manuscripts back.

Siti Mariam said the ministry provided an yearly allocation to bring back the manuscripts but more funds were needed as the research and acquisition costs are high.

Currently, researchers from the library and academicians from Universiti Malaya are in Pulau Butson, Indonesia, to document some Malay manuscripts there.

The library is next looking at doing research and acquiring some items in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

FRANCIS R. Bradley cuts a distinctive figure in the Malay manuscript centre. Look closely at what he has on his desk - Malay manuscripts written in old Jawi.

The researcher, from University of Wisconsin in United States, was studying an old Kitab Sembahyang (prayer book) and Collection of Hadith at the National Library recently.

Bradley, who speaks fluent Malay, has been to Malaysia a few times to conduct research.

He is studying old manuscripts written in the 18th century by an Islamic scholar from Pattani, Thailand.

Works of Syeikh Daud Abdullah Al-Pattani on legal treatises and Sufism, written in Mecca, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, can easily be found here.

"I went to Pattani in 2006 but people told me to come to Malaysia. It has been overwhelming here.

"I found about 700 manuscripts on Syeikh Daud in the library and 300 more in the Islamic Arts Museum."

He added that the manuscripts were also in good condition although they were about 200 years old.

The manuscripts in the library are stored in a strong room at a temperature between 20oC and 22oC for preservation purposes.

Bradley said he was interested in the scholar's work as Syeikh Daud was the "Ulama Besar" and was portrayed as a father figure by Pattani folk.

He said Syeikh Daud was also important to the idea of Pattani as a place.

Bradley's interest in Islamic culture began when he went to Istanbul with his wife for their honeymoon.

He initially studied the Turkish language and decided to study Southeast Asian history on his professor's recommendation.

In 2004, he studied Bahasa Indonesia and learned Jawi language in the Language and Cultures of Asia Department in his university. He chose to focus on Pattani history as it was under studied.

Bradley is currently pursuing his PhD in History and visits the library daily to conduct his research before he returns to the United States later this month.

"I never expected to find this much information. I'm really grateful that this place offers convenient research facilities," he said.