Malaysia’s Mahathir calls for 'good governance' inspired by Islamic teachings

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Muslim countries should focus on good governance and science and innovations, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Sunday.

Mahathir said Islamic teachings were full of “good governance” principles and should be tailored to modern governance models.

“The issue of governance, i.e., good governance, is how we govern our nations (for) the well-being of our citizens,” he told the sixth edition of the Kuala Lumpur Forum, which was held in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul.

In his virtual address to the participants, Mahathir, 97, said the governance of any nation is “tailored according to provisions of (its) constitution, laws, conventions, high degree of culture and customs.”

As long as leaders govern according to this set tradition, he said, “they will be regarded as having delivered good governance.”

Mahathir said that most nations have accepted democracy as their preferred system of governance and many of them have “their systems tailored to their local conventions and customs and culture.”

“However, (with) the emergence of human rights as an essential component of democracy, even if it is advocated by a minority, the expectation is that governments must uphold human rights.

“Even if there is no persecution of the minority, the will of the minority must be given consideration most of the time. Otherwise, it will be considered persecution of the minority,” he added.

He said regime changes and the Arab Spring were triggered by the issue of governance.

“Muslim leaders were toppled and replaced by Western candidates for failing to govern well, persecuting the minorities…and being undemocratic,” he said.

However, “we can discover that their (toppled leaders) main crime was actually because they refused to toe the line drawn by the Western world,” he said.

“Otherwise, how do we explain…when they can arm and empower a whole nation like Israel that commits genocide, apartheid and willful crimes against humanity and all the atrocities against humanity that are even beyond our imagination,” he said.

“Simply put, good governance is not about how the Muslim world governs its people, but rather how it pleases the Western powers,” said Mahathir.

He said Muslim nations and leaders should also look within and “accept that some of us are not the best of leaders and governments.”

“Some level of degeneration, stagnation and difficulties in achieving a civilizational revival had manifested in poor levels of education and a depleted period of innovation, a lack of human resources development, (while) widespread negligence, lack of awareness and laziness are at unprecedented levels,” he said.

Mahathir said Muslim nations are full of human resources, including scholars and “great minds,” but nevertheless are “among the worst” countries.

“The greatest indicator of the failure (of Muslim nations) is the migration of these same minds,” he said, adding it was terrible to see Muslims dying at sea while attempting to migrate to other countries.

Striking an optimistic note, Mahathir said Muslims had a “golden” age. “However, we cannot live in past glory.”

“Islam and all its teachings are for good governance,” he said, referring to various Quranic commandments.

“Justice is repeatedly narrated in the Quran, as are honesty, trustworthiness, incorruptibility, good values and ethics. They are constant and even better than the values and principles provided in democracy.”

“Our pursuance of Islamic teachings should actually be a benchmark of good governance and not the other way round,” he said.

Urging Muslim leaders and nations to take inspiration from the holy texts, Mahathir said good governance is the key to prosperity and resilience but it must be adapted to new and imagined realities.
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- ‘Muslim world should return to consultation process’

Pointing to various crises, conflicts and wars that plague the Muslim world, Numan Kurtulmus, deputy chairman of Türkiye’s Justice and Development (AK) Party, said consultation among Muslim nations was the need of the hour.

“The Muslim world is undergoing a change, but we should have our responses ready,” Kurtulmus said.

With new ideas and new solutions, the veteran Turkish politician said “the Muslim world should put forward its message in a strong way.”

“There should be consultation…Islamic countries should return to the consultation processes and take the best of the results of these consultations,” he said.

Emphasizing developing capacities in management, administration and of institutions, he suggested that democratic processes should be allowed to nurture.

Deploring the internal crises in the Muslim world, Kurtulmus said “we have to be good to each other and let democratic views of people be expressed…In this way, we will get rid of radicalism.”

Alluding to the Daesh/ISIS and PKK terrorist groups, Kurtulmus said “proxy wars” are imposed on Muslim nations “to prevent their peoples from getting an education.”

The AKP vice-chairman said the current times were in need of new perspectives for peace and development.

“We should have new proposals to make change and replace the current chaos with a new international system based on justice,” Kurtulmus said, referring to the “World is Bigger Than Five” slogan of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.