Translating Democracy
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On October 11th, Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressed a Stanford audience regarding his beliefs on the prospects for democracy in the Muslim world. Anwar speaks with authority given that he has suffered the ill effects of the deficiency of democratic principles in the Muslim world. He spent his time from 1998 to 2004 reading the complete works of Shakespeare a few times over, while in solitary confinement in a Malaysian prison for his political activism.
He introduced his presentation by asserting that there is no question of incompatibility between democracy and the Muslim world. He provided as examples that Indonesia and Iran during the 1950’s were full-fledged democracies, and Pakistan was born with the vision of a democratic state for those Muslims who had lacked their freedom under British rule.
Furthermore, “we have to debunk and reject the notion that to support democracy and freedom is an American agenda. Democracy is a universal construct, men and women are born free.” He explained that if the works of Thomas Jefferson were translated into Arabic with an Arabic name as the author, Jefferson’s philosophies would be much more highly regarded in the Arab world. In fact, the five pillars of Islam include freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, human dignity, and gender equality—all values that would support a democratic system. Democracy has not failed to take root in the Muslim world because it is inherently incompatible with Islam; democracy has failed because Muslim leaders have found it convenient to rule without its constraints on their power.
Anwar went on to advocate that the West strengthen its efforts to support Muslim regimes in their peaceful transition to democracy, without force or external intervention. He argued that to do so, the West must also accept the outcome of those elections, even if it is to put Hamas in power. He reasoned that the West could do more to advance democracy in the Muslim world by maintaining dialogue than by boycotting such groups. Instead of calling it “democracy,” use the Indonesian term that means “coming together,” as Muslims will understand democracy better in terms that reflect their system of beliefs. He also recommended that the West set the example for democratic principles, and criticized the suspension in the U.S. of the writ of habeas corpus for cases regarding potential terrorists.
One of the biggest struggles in the Muslim world is that the general masses will remain ignorant as long as the government controls the media. He closed the lecture portion of his presentation by pointing out that there are no famines in India where the media is free, but that this is not the case in China—and that is the power of democracy.
Anwar unravels the troubled extremism facing the Muslim world. His ideology and leadership are rare, but provide a glimmer of hope. If more leaders of his line can rise to prominence, a real translation will ultimately manifest.
