Kelantan State in Malaysia Sucks Again

Kelantan State in Malaysia Sucks Again
By Tommy(Tommy)
In a previous post in my Malaysia Sucks* series, I referred to an
article from the BBC about the state of Kelantan in Malaysia, where the
ruling Islamist party is requiring the segregation of the sexes at
supermarket checkout counters. ...
<http://anexerciseinfutility.blogspot.com/2008/07/kelantan-state-in-malaysia-sucks-again.html>
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Kelantan State in Malaysia Sucks Again

In a previous post in my Malaysia Sucks* series, I referred to an article from
the BBC about the state of Kelantan in Malaysia, where the ruling Islamist party
is requiring the segregation of the sexes at supermarket checkout counters.



Now, from the Associated Press, via The Jakarta Post, the Kelantan state
government "plans to compel Muslim government workers to pray five times a day
as required by their religion, an official said Tuesday."


The article quotes "Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the chief minister of northeastern
Kelantan state, [who] said Muslims who shirk their prayer obligations "'are not
fearful of Allah and are susceptible to committing bribery and other sins.'"


But hold on there Tommy, how do you know Nik Nak isn't right? Maybe forcing
Kelantan's civil servants to pray five times a day will make them more honest
and efficient!

Okay, fine, let us examine the evidence then. Here is a link to Transparency
International's annual Corruption Perception Index for 2007. From its web site,
"Transparency International (TI) seeks to provide reliable quantitative
diagnostic tools regarding levels of transparency and corruption, both at global
and local levels." According to TI, "[t]he CPI ranks more than 150 countries in
terms of perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and
opinion surveys."


Now, assuming that TI's methodologies are accurate, we should expect that the
least corrupt countries in its ranking system will be deeply conservative Muslim
countries. However, when you click on the link above to the CPI for 2007, the
ten least corrupt countries in the Index are: Denmark, Finland, New Zealand,
Singapore, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Norway.
Not a single Muslim country appears in the top ten list. Heck, even the United
States only ranks number 20. The best ranked Muslim country is Qatar, which
comes in at number 32. As for Malaysia, its ranking is 43.

Interesting then that the top ten countries in terms of honesty and transparency
are secular countries that are not Muslim majority. So, Nik Nak, maybe instead
of forcing your civil servants to pray five times a day, maybe you need to look
into more meaningful ideas for reform, like perhaps better salaries and
education requirements? Maybe even send a fact finding team to Denmark, that
country you hate because of those stupid cartoons, to find out how they manage
to have an honest civil service without bowing to Mecca five times a day.

* To my Malaysian readers who might have stumbled upon this blog by googling
"Malaysia Sucks", please note that I am not saying Malaysia sucks in its
entirety. I have no doubt that Malaysia is a beautiful country filled with
wonderful people. My criticism of Malaysia in these posts is limited to a narrow
focus on issues of religious pluralism and womens' rights. As a Muslim majority
country with a not insubstantial minority of Chinese and Indian non-Muslims,
Malaysia serves as an important barometer for how well a Muslim majority country
can protect and promote democracy and pluralism. I want Malaysia to be a
successful country, and my barbs are aimed at those persons and forces in the
country that seek to turn it away from the path of a tolerant and prosperous
nation.

Labels: Malaysia Sucks


posted by Tommy @ 10:03 PM 0 comments

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