Khaldunian Mahathirism: Malaysia as a new al-andalus

Abstract

In contemporary Malaysia, we can find a developed and industrialized country that is looking into the future as a successful nation. The original internal divisions between races and classes, and the environmental :framework of neo-colonialism by terms of economy, now seem to be a passed affair, and Malaysia appears as a high- developed country with social stability and continuous economic growth. Before arriving to this situation, there was a need for a clear political vision and ability to design a half-term policy on the basis of several issues, especially regarding national unity to fulfil a national aspiration: to achieve wide prosperity. This political vision, reconciling Malays and ·Non-Malays-(Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera), secularism and Islamization, capitalism and protectionism, Nationalism and cosmopolitanism, is what has been called the "Paradoxes of Mahathirismafter the Prime Minister made it reality: Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. The independence of Malaysia as a sovereign country (1959) did not mean the fulfilment of the dignity of the Malaysians as a people. Several problems, both internal and external, remained as the population was under a certain level of subjection and exclusion. In the economic level, the country had nothing to follow on after the independence more than to ask for economic support: "But supposing you gain the independence and you have nothing, nothing in that independent country, you are still having to serve other people, then independence would be quite meaningless to the indigenous people" .