Is Muslim The New Queer?

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Hanna Ingber Win

Posted October 11, 2008 | 12:32 PM (EST)

The U.S. presidential election has led to fairly significant debate on black-white race issues as well as gender politics. This campaign has triggered passionate hatred for Muslims and Arabs in this country, and yet that form of racism and prejudice has barely been discussed.

Just yesterday an elderly woman at a campaign event with John McCain rambled into the microphone about how she doesn't trust Barack Obama and then said, as if it were her kicker, "HE'S ARAB."

McCain took the microphone back, shook his head, and acting like he is suddenly better than gutter politics, said something along the lines of, "No, no, mam. He's a decent, family man."

What?! That old lady did not say Obama is a terrorist. She did not say he is a murderer or a rapist or a drug dealer to little children. She said he is "Arab." And yet, McCain automatically understood her point and equated "Arab" with "bad man."

Similar things have been happening on a regular basis throughout this campaign. Every time people spread emails and rumors that Obama is Muslim, they are not trying to inform voters of the man's religion. They are saying, Don't vote for him because he is Muslim. Every time some religious-right radio talkshow host uses Obama's middle name of Hussein, he is saying, Don't vote for Obama because he is Muslim.

Obama has on occasion said that it shouldn't matter if he were Muslim or not. But he has not done that enough. Usually, he just denies it, as if being called Muslim were an accusation. Wouldn't someone who wants to run on a mantle of hope and bring this country forward on race relations say over and over again, "There is nothing wrong with being Muslim. Muslims have the right to run for office. Muslims are not all terrorists."

When people accuse Obama of being Arab, he should similarly say, "There is nothing wrong with being Arab. We have many allies in the Arab world."

Step back a moment and think again about that old lady at the McCain event yesterday. Imagine her instead saying that she doesn't trust Obama and.... "HE"S JEWISH." Or she doesn't trust Obama and ... "HE'S CHRISTIAN." Or she doesn't trust Obama and .... "HE'S POLISH."

And then, imagine the man running on the Republican Party ticket to be president of the United States say, "No, no, man. He's a decent, family man."

Yes, of course, there is still plenty of hatred against Jews out there in the world. But a Republican presidential candidate would never say that because there would be a backlash from the Jewish community, and probably (hopefully) from many other communities.

So where's the backlash now? We hear a lot about this election getting "uglier" and politics getting "dirtier." We discuss those voters in the South or rural PA who say they'd never vote for a black man. So why don't we hear about the ongoing racism against Muslims and Arabs that has been coming out in this campaign?

I am Jewish and grew up learning about the Holocaust and the apocryphal story of the Danish king who wore the Star of David when the Nazis tried to round up the Jews. As the story goes, all the Danes then wore the Star of David, thereby protecting the real Jews from being sent to concentration camps. I grew up hearing stories about the German families who risked everything to hide Jews in their basement. And, of course, about the families who stood by and did nothing. To them, we said Never Again.

Now, in post-9/11 America, it is the Muslims and Arabs who are the object of racism. While there are so many Americans who are quick to correct the facts and make sure the public knows that Obama is not Arab or Muslim, where are the people speaking up and saying that the Arabs and Muslims are not evil, bad people? How come now almost nobody is saying it's not OK to hate?

Rather than correcting these lies by proving that Obama is Christian, we should be denouncing them. And, like the story of the Danish king, we should all be willing to say, I am Arab, I am Muslim.

*** Write for OffTheBus this weekend about this issue. Go out into your community and talk to Muslims about how this election has affected their view of the candidates and the United States. Visit local mosques and ask Muslim leaders what they think of the election. Which candidate do they support and why? How do they want McCain and Obama to respond to these slurs? Has this changed how they view this country? Do they feel targeted? What do they want the next president to do to address this form of racism in our society? Send your story (and headshot and brief bio) to campaigntrail@huffingtonpost.com by midnight on Tuesday, October 14.

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hanna-ingber-win/is-muslim-the-new-queer_b_133870.html

How a Pakistani protest song is redefining Islam as anti-terrorist

More than 60 million people have responded to an Islamic protest song. By Photini Philippidou

Friday, 12 September 2008

Pakistani singer Ali Zafar, left with Bollywood actress Lara Dutta

In a country where religion is capable of suspending war – Pakistan's security forces declared a ceasefire with the Taliban for the holy month of Ramadan – it might also have the power to stop it. That's what the stars behind the song "Ye Hum Naheen" were thinking in their quest to redefine Islam as anti-terrorist.

The song triggered a world-record-breaking petition in which 62.8 million Pakistanis united behind its title-message – Urdu for "This is Not Us". Over the course of five weeks this July and August they have by email, SMS, signature or thumbprint sent an impassioned missive declaring that true Muslims do not support terrorism.

The song's success is largely down to the following of its eight celebrity singers – among them the band Strings, composer Shuja Hyder, pop-diva Hadiqa Kiani and Pakistan's prince of pop, singer Ali Zafar. Their backing propelled it to top spot on MTV Asia and the Pakistani charts within a month of its release in April last year. Then, aided by an all-star video on YouTube, it smashed into the British Asian charts, where demand was so great that Pakistanis and British Asians donated 120 rupees (roughly £1) and £2 respectively and prompted the song's re-release this June. This time, it popularised a petition urging Pakistanis everywhere to sign up to the message.

"The reality is, a few people are distorting Islam to their own agendas, but now, finally, the masses are standing up," declares the campaign's founder, Waseem Mahmood, with a cut-glass English accent, as befits an ex-BBC journalist and a man with an OBE (he was awarded it for his post-war work in 2005 for setting up Radio Kabul and the programme Good Morning Afghanistan).

We're speaking from the opulence of a five-star hotel in Karachi. It's a far cry from the cacophony of beggars and street-children tapping on car windows six storeys below. It's an even further cry from the slums on the edge of Karachi, where a third of the city's population live in abject poverty. But the campaign's overwhelming success could never have been achieved without the support of the poor and the terrorised; almost half of the Pakistan's population have now subscribed to its message. "If we have 60 million plus people, twice as many as voted in the last elections, then how can Pakistan be seen as a nation of extremists?" Mahmood asks.

The campaign was inspired by his children, who, growing up as teenagers in Birmingham, were accused of being un-Islamic for wearing Western clothes and eating Western food. "They wanted me to do something because they were concerned about how the West was stereotyping Muslims, and, more importantly, about how young Muslims were interpreting it." The message had to begin at home in Pakistan, he resolved.

"We felt it was important to put our own house in order first before we could tell the world," he says. "Foreign intervention is a valid reason for why all this is happening," he concedes, "but, at the end of the day, it is a Pakistani who will strap on a vest and will go and blow himself up. We can't alleviate poverty or change foreign policy – that's the job of the politicians – our job is to stop the man in the street from getting involved."

The anti-terror anthem comes at a time when continual power-shifts and the threat of terrorist attack has given way to confusion. "It's now the case that a lot of Pakistanis are frightened of one another," says Mahmood. The song's message plays a crucial role in capturing the fears of a post-September 11 Islamic generation. "As with the coming of night one loses one's way/ We are scared of the dark so much that we are burning our own home/ What is this rising all around us/ The stories that are being spread in our names are lies/ This is not us, this is not us," go the lyrics.

On its relaunch this June, the song was underpinned by the petition carried through every terrestrial, cable and satellite channel in Pakistan. This time it was accompanied by commentary from the country's glitterati, and matched with a new video which used real news footage from 8 December last year, when gunmen stormed into Benazir Bhutto's PPP headquarters on their first, failed, assassination attempt.

So when teams comprising 6,000 razakars (volunteers) took to the streets across 14 regions in Pakistan last month – including Loralai in the North, and rural areas of Bahawalpur and Malakand – the message had already preceded them. Signatures were gathered with lightning speed – the most overwhelming response coming from Peshawar on the North West Frontier, a renowned trouble spot for terrorist activity.

One of the volunteers responsible was 40-year-old mother Jamela Barveen, who for weeks quietly gathered signatures on a corner in one of the city's mid-range shopping districts.

"I tell them I come from a society which is fighting terrorism and if you agree this shouldn't be happening please sign," she says, clutching the petition, with a pen for those are literate enough to sign and an inkpot for those whose thumbprint will suffice.

Go to www.yehhumnaheen.org for free download and petition

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/how-a-pakistani-protest-song-is-redefining-islam-as-antiterrorist-926665.html

Indonesia: Young moderate Muslims declare war on extremists

[...comment...]
its good to see that the religious and secular Indonesians are working together to defeat the extremist fringe in their society. This kind of mobilization by the civil society is really heartening as it will go a long way towards strengthening the pluralistic identity of Indonesia and at the same time have some spill over effect in other Muslim countries. I think the neo-cons in Muslim societies need to get over their insecurities about Muslim communities like the Ahmadis and those following the Bahai faith. Most progressive Muslim scholars propagate a pluralistic society in Muslim countries where the state has no say in matters of personal faith of its citizens.
[...comment...]

» 06/03/2008 16:42
by Benteng Reges
Following an attack by members of the Islamic Defender Front against Muslims demonstrating in favour of religious freedom, some youth groups say there are ready to join the police against the Front. The government is now weighing its options on whether and how to dissolve the dangerous extremist group.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The youth wings of some moderate Islamic organisations have declared war against the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) after some of their activists were attacked by FPI militants last Sunday during a demonstration in favour of religious freedom in Jakarta.

Following the provocations by the FPI, which is up in arms against the Ahmadi Muslim community it deems heretical, clashes took place with members of the National Alliance for Religious Freedom (AKKBB) who were also present at the rally at Indonesia’s National Monument. About 30 people were hurt in the incidents. The police in the meantime has come in for criticism for failing to appropriately respond to the situation.

The AKKBB includes members from the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest moderate Muslim organisation headed by former President Abdurrahman Wahid, as well as Christians and Ahmadis. For its part the NU claims a membership of about 60 million.

Today the Gerakan Pemuda Ansor and Banser, two youth groups affiliated with the NU, and the Garda Bangsa, a similar group affiliated with the National Awakening Party (PKB), had harsh words for FPI “gangsters”.

Garda Bangsa leader Husni Muchsin said that his group “was ready to deploy 5,000 people” should the police need assistance, and should the latter fail to deal with the situation “we shall take the law in our own hands”, which might have already started last night when at least 100 unidentified men attacked the FPI headquarters in Yogyakarta.

Civil society leaders, lawmakers, intellectuals and Muslim scholars have criticised the government for turning a blind eye to FPI activities and want the group dissolved.

However, legal procedures to dismantle such organisations are notoriously long and the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is currently evaluating demands to that effect as well as ways to carry them out.

Today 40 lawmakers from the PKB and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) signed a petition against the Islamic Defender Front.

By contrast, no one from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a radical but more moderate Islamic party close to the FPI, signed.

URL: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12413&size=A

‘Pakistan gets less than half of what it spends’: Anti-terror efforts

[...comment...]
The US administration needs to learn from its mistakes and realize that the unjustifiable extent of pressure that they had applied on Musharraf is showing its recoil effect in the hurried peace agreements being signed by the current government. The lack of appreciation shown by members of the Congress for the immense sacrifices of the soldiers in the Pakistan army has added to the pressure on the current government. In order for any military operation in the troubled areas to succeed and have long lasting impact, the US administration needs to show a sustained level of trust and economic support for the Pakistan government.
[...comment...]

‘Pakistan gets less than half of what it spends’: Anti-terror efforts

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, May 27: What Pakistan gets as reimbursement for its efforts to combat militants along the Afghan border is less than half of what it spends, diplomatic sources say.

Under a programme known as the Coalition Support Fund, the US military reimburses Pakistan for terrorism-related operations, particularly by the army and the air force.

A US Government Accountability Office report issued last week said that of $5.8 billion in US support for anti-terrorism efforts in the Fata between 2002 and 2007, about 96 per cent had gone towards reimbursing the Pakistani military, three per cent on border security and one per cent on development aid projects.

Talking to Dawn, sources said the $5.8 billion Pakistan received from the CSF was reimbursement of what the country had already spent.

“It is not easy to deploy 100,000 troops in a troubled area,” said one diplomatic source. “Look, how the Americans are spending billions of dollars on maintaining troops in Iraq. If the Americans feel that the Iraq war is draining their resources, imagine how it affects Pakistan.”

Noting that Pakistan has lost almost 1,000 soldiers in the fight, sources complained that the CSF does not compensate for the loss of life. There is no provision for supporting the families of the slain soldiers either.

“The life of every human being is precious,” said a diplomatic observer. “But the death of a Pakistani soldier gets no mention in the international media and that’s why people in the West feel that Pakistan is not doing enough.”

The CSF does not cover depreciation of equipment either, such as the Cobra helicopters used to monitor the Pak-Afghan border. The Pakistanis, however, are compensated for the money they spend on the soldiers, for fuel, ammunition and for flying sorties. Responding to the claim in the official US report that Pakistan was not spending the money it received from the CSF on development, a source said that this money was not meant for development.

“It is reimbursement and the Pakistanis are at liberty to use it for whatever they want to use it for,” the source said. “But the $750 million Pakistan is going to receive now is for the development of the Fata and the Americans will have every right to hold Pakistan accountable for that.”

Sources said that the continued criticism of the US reimbursement policy has forced the Bush administration to place new restriction on the disbursement of funds. “Payments have been delayed. Pakistan has not yet been reimbursed for some of the money it spent last year,” a source said.

Although put on the defensive by the US media and Congress, some Bush administration officials have recently pointed out that it was wrong to ask Pakistan to explain how they use the reimbursements.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a recent congressional hearing that what Pakistanis receive from the CSF is their money and the US cannot tell them how to use it.

But the GAO notes that the Bush administration has stepped up its oversight of the direct security assistance in recent months.

From 2004 to early 2007, it deferred or rejected an average of just over 2 per cent of Pakistan’s reimbursement claims. But for the most recent set of claims, between March and June of 2007, that amount jumped to 20 per cent.

URL: http://dawn.com/2008/05/28/top4.htm

Vandals Desecrate Muslim Military Graves in Northern France

[...comment...]

Anti-Islamism today is reaching similar levels as the pre-Holocaust anti-Semitism in Europe. It calls for constructive engagement in society by all concerned citizens to tackle this menace.

[...comment...]

By VOA News 06 April 2008

A grave of a Muslim World War I soldier, defaced with a swastika, is seen in the cemetery at Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, northern France, 06 Apr 2008

French police say vandals have desecrated nearly 150 Muslim grave sites at a World War I military cemetery in northern France.

Authorities say headstones were inscribed Saturday night with anti-Islamic slogans and graffiti deriding Justice Minister Rachida Dati, who is of North African origin. A pig's head was found hanging from one grave marker.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the vandalism a form of "unacceptable racism." He said he shares the pain of his country's Muslim community - the largest in Europe.

The desecration came less than a year after youths painted Nazi inscriptions and swastikas on Muslim tombs in the same cemetery.

Police arrested two suspects in the 2007 vandalism. Both were convicted and sentenced to one-year prison terms.

From 1914 to 1917, France mobilized about 600,000 colonial subjects, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia. Seventy-eight thousand of those conscripts were killed.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

URL: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-06-voa17.cfm

Pakistan Could Become Cash Magnet If New Government Passes Some Tests

Foreign Investors
Waiting, Seeing;
Budget Challenge

By NIRAJ SHETH
April 2, 2008; Page C5

NEW DELHI -- Pakistan's largely peaceful elections and swearing-in of a new prime minister have brought it some stability. But foreign capital -- which stopped coming in because of the nation's political turmoil -- is still sitting on the sidelines.

Investors say they are eager to start putting money back into the country, one of the few emerging markets performing well this year. (The Karachi 100 Stock Exchange 100 Index is up about 8% in 2008.)

However, they are waiting to see whether the new government will restart privatization moves halted last year and take other measures to repair an economy plagued by a budget shortfall, a staggering current-account deficit and inflation.

For years prior to 2007, foreign investment in Pakistan rose steadily. For the fiscal year that ended in June, the country received $5.2 billion in foreign direct investment and $1.8 billion in portfolio investment.

But that was a high-water mark, followed by a temporary state of emergency, riots and the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Investors turned sour; in the eight months that ended in February, foreign investment was just two-thirds what it was in the same period one year earlier.

At Pakistan's stock market, the numbers look surprisingly good. Even with the turbulence of 2007's last months, the Karachi 100 index was still up 40% for the year. And its performance so far in 2008 compares favorably not just with Western markets, but with the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index, which has dropped 23%.

Still, the Pakistani market's performance hasn't been enough to tempt people to invest further. "We're not ready yet to put in a lot more," says Slim Feriani of Progressive Asset Management, a London-based emerging markets fund that has invested $3.2 million in Pakistan. "We just want to let the dust settle a bit."

This is despite the peaceful transition of power that appears to be under way after nine years of President Pervez Musharraf's military-backed rule. In February's democratic parliamentary elections, which Mr. Musharraf ushered in, his supporters were roundly defeated. The new government has been formed by two opposition parties, including Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

Investors and analysts point to a few areas where the new government needs to prove itself before the foreign capital comes back. One is the stalled process of privatizing the banking sector. Many credit the sale of shares in United Bank in 2002 as the trigger for five years of strong capital inflows. But the past eight months have seen little activity in a sector heavily favored by foreign investors keen on trying to tap Pakistan's growing consumer base.

The new government's first test is coming up. Last year, Pakistan announced plans to sell stakes in the National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank through global depositary receipts, or GDRs, on the London Stock Exchange. As political storm clouds gathered, the sales -- expected to be for a 23% stake in NBP and a 7.5% stake in Habib Bank -- didn't materialize.

"What everyone is hoping is that the government will resume the GDR process," says Salman Ali, head of research in Pakistan for Citigroup. "It has very little choice if it wants to send the signal that it's business as usual."

Investors say they would also like to see more privatization in the oil sector, which also draws a large share of foreign capital. But unlike in banking, the Musharraf-led government made no promises to open up oil exploration to further private investment.

A bigger, potentially thornier task for policy makers still lies ahead. Pakistan is facing a large budget shortfall and a current-account deficit equivalent to 5.3% of its gross domestic product. Skyrocketing oil costs threaten to lead to energy shortages for much of the country. And climbing food prices could raise inflation to as high as 9%, the central bank said last week. In February, inflation was 8.4% on an annual basis.

Investors are asking if the new government, formed by parties that have promoted populist policies, can take the measures needed to avert an economic crisis. "Let's not skirt around the issue that these guys have been in power in the past and they've had a pretty bad track record in governance and also dealing with foreign investors," says Sakib Sherani, an economist with ABN Amro Bank in Pakistan.

In spite of the economic woes, some observers expect the Karachi market to gain 20% to 25% in 2008, in line with growth in corporate earnings. The expectations are based on the idea that some sectors of the economy, such as real estate, are undervalued, and on the continuing attractive valuation of Pakistani stocks. By some estimates, stocks in Pakistan have a historic average price-earnings ratio of 11.

The prospect of a significant U.S. recession, which worries investors in most countries, doesn't seem to be on many radar screens in Pakistan. Unlike India, Pakistan isn't a large trade partner of the U.S. "It goes in our favor that because of our low level of exports, we are insulated from global developments," says Khurram Shehzad, who manages a $500 million equities fund at Karachi-based National Fullerton Asset Management.

The uncertain fate of Mr. Musharraf also doesn't seem to bother investors. While he was elected in November for another five-year term, officials in the new government have vowed to remove him from power. Most investors say Mr. Musharraf's defeat in the February polls, and his reduced standing with parliamentary democracy restored, make him a less important factor in Pakistan's future. "He's no longer as relevant," Mr. Sherani says.

URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120706936540680715.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

Obama's not a Muslim, but why should it matter?

Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist

Barack Obama is not a Muslim.

We know this because he has told us so.

We know it because there is no credible evidence to suggest otherwise.

We know it despite a campaign of lies and whispers from various bloggers, pundits and head cases.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim. But, what if he were?

Same guy, same charisma, same inspirational idealism. But also, a Muslim. Not a crazy Muslim. Not a guy prone to strapping bombs to his chest in hopes of meeting virgins in heaven. A Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-type Muslim. A Dave Chappelle, Ahmad Rashad, Shaquille O'Neal-type Muslim. A guy you like and admire who just happened to be, you know ... Muslim.

Would it matter? Should it?

The question bears answering because of the creepy, are-you-now-or-have-you-ever-been attitude toward Islam that seems to be seeping into the public dialogue lately. As in that campaign of lies and whispers that keeps showing up in my inbox — claims that Obama won't salute the flag, took his oath of office on a Quran, belongs to a terror cell and other assorted idiocy.

NBC News anchor Brian Williams has apparently been getting the same e-mails. In moderating a recent Democratic debate, he asked Obama about rumors "that you are trying to hide the fact that you're a Muslim ... "

The senator laughed a heard-that-a-few-times-before laugh. Then he replied that he is a Christian, that he is a victim of Internet rumor, and that he trusts the American people to "sort out the lies from the truth."

What bothered me is that, by its phrasing, Williams' question presupposed there is something wrong with being a Muslim. And Obama's answer left the presupposition unaddressed.

What if he were a Muslim? What then?

A 2007 Pew Research Center survey found that 43 percent of us have a favorable opinion of Muslims (make it Muslim Americans and the number rises to 53 percent). Which may sound not so bad, except when you compare it with favorable ratings of other religious groups. Jews, for instance, are at 76 percent. Even evangelical Christians manage 60. And that ranking for Muslims represents a 5-point drop since 2004.

It's no mystery why the nation's opinion of Muslims is becoming less favorable. In a word, terrorism. And, frankly, Americans are right to fear Muslim fanatics who embrace violence as a means of getting what they want.

But see, the key word there is not Muslim. It's fanatic. Yet some of us still think Muslim is the brand name for crazy. Me, I think the only difference between religious fanatics here and in the Middle East is that Middle Eastern nations tend to be theocratic (i.e., the word of the holy book has the force of law) and to be intolerant — sometimes, violently so — of dissent. So no one dares tell them no.

But if Pat Robertson, to name an American Christian fanatic not quite at random, had the force of law behind him and the ability to silence those who disagree, don't you think he would be as scary as the scariest ayatollah in Iran?

I do. That's why I would never want him to be president. Which is not quite the same as saying I'd never want a Christian to be president. I just prefer my presidents — regardless of their religion — reasonable. And sane. That seems a fair standard.

Yet it's a standard some of us now discard. The ongoing whisper campaign against Barack Obama, against his very American-ness, is a shameful appeal to ignorance and fear. Against that, I offer a simple statement the world's most famous and well-loved follower of Islam made just after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I am a Muslim," said Muhammad Ali. "I am an American."

That says it all. Or at least, it should.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: lpitts@herald.com

2008, The Miami Herald

URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004145663_pitts27.html

Prime Minister Badawi's Progressive Blend of Islam and a High-Growth Economy

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb 27, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- On Wednesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi takes his re-election campaign to the conservative Muslim heartland in the north of the country, an area that has benefitted from the government's high-growth and pro-investment economic policies.

Mr. Badawi will be calling for enhanced efforts to foster Malaysia's uniquely successful blend of progressive and modern Islam together with economic and social development, the results of which today saw economic growth figures for the fourth quarter produce a 7.3 percent jump in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2007, the highest growth quarter since he won his first election in 2004. For all of 2007, growth in Malaysia was 6.3 percent, against 5.9 percent growth in 2006.

Speaking whilst on the campaign trail in the state of Kedah, located in the northwestern part of the Malaysian peninsula, the prime minister spoke of the critical importance of "developing human capital" through investment in education and vocational skills programmes and special incentives for companies that bring job-creating investment to the region and the nation.

The most high-profile initiatives he has introduced in recent years are a series of Special Economic Zones, known in Malaysia as "development corridors," that have already begun to produce billions of dollars of new capital flows from international investors in Asia, the Middle East and the United States.

Among these is the Iskandar Development Region in the South of Malaysia, adjacent to Singapore and covering nearly 2,200 square kilometers, which has already attracted high-profile investments such as a US$1.2bn project from a consortium of sovereign wealth funds and others in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Dubai, and new investments from General Electric of the United States. The Iskandar project has already raised US$10bn over the past year, about ten percent of total aims. Other zones include one in the Eastern states and involve 112bn Malaysian ringgit (US$35bn) over the next 12 years in sectors as varied as tourism, oil and gas, petrochemicals and manufacturing.

The Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), which is expected to boost economic growth and income levels in Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Northern Perak and to transform the region into a major logistics, food-processing and tourism powerhouse by 2025, with the creation of over 1 million new jobs and a subsequent projected increase in the region's GDP from 52.7bn ringgits (US$16.5bn) in 2005 to 214bn ringgits (US$66.9bn) by 2025.

"Through the growth and expansion of the NCER we plan to improve education, reduce unemployment, eradicate the already low poverty levels completely and give people the tools with which they can lead prosperous, fulfilled lives," said Mr. Badawi.

This approach is very much in keeping with Prime Minister Badawi's belief in Islam Hadhari, a set of principles aimed at underscoring the notion that economic and social progress, modernisation, and education are compatible with the teachings of the Koran. The development corridor strategy is thus consistent with his broader strategy of ensuring development and economic progress go hand in hand with Islam.

"But we don't just want to keep the benefits to ourselves," the prime minister noted, adding that "if we can help our fellow Muslim nations, and learn from them in turn, then we can all profit from this shared success."

The idea of developing human capital has been at the heart of Malaysia's chairmanship in recent years of the Organisation for the Islamic Conference (OIC), and Mr. Badawi has devoted considerable time and energy to his ambitious plans to encourage the Muslim world to unite to help tackle the root causes of poverty and even social unrest and extremism by putting an economic face on the OIC. His creation of the World Islamic Economic Forum has helped to highlight the need to foster programmes to combat poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

The Muslim world with its population of 1.2 billion people has a disproportionately high level of poverty when compared to other societies. Of the 57 countries that make up the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), some 31 are classified as among the world's least developed. Together they account for some 20 percent of the world's population but only five percent of global GDP.

As Prime Minister has said, "Alienation and disenchantment must be addressed by removing its causes not just addressing its effects. We have to tackle the economic roots of poverty, ignorance and unemployment because these are the real threats to Muslim societies around the world. It is urgent and vital that the prosperous and moderate nations of the Muslim world unite to provide self-help solutions to tackle the economic causes of poverty."

At home in Malaysia, Mr. Badawi's progressive Islamic agenda has already produced strong economic success. His campaign pledge of "security, peace and prosperity" means that in order to provide these opportunities it is essential to maintain a stable and growing economy at home. That is why among Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's highest priorities -- as set out in the Barisan Nasional manifesto on Monday -- is making sure Malaysia remains a high-growth economy that is competitive enough to make it attractive to international investors and to continue fostering Malaysia's role as one of the most stable and successful economies in the ten-nation ASEAN block of nations.

URL: http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/prime-minister-badawis-progressive-blend-islam-highgrowth-economy_496605_1.html