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Comment by nafey | Hacker News Reader

If any Malaysians can answer: Recently Malaysia has been in news for increased religious extremism/fundamentalism. Can any improvement on this front be expected by the new government?

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N.B. ‘Malays’ is an ethnic group (the supposedly-native ”people of the land” (bumiputra) Muslim majority); nationality of Malaysia is fairly mixed including Malays, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Indians, and even orang asli (”original people”). The correct term for this aggregate is Malaysians.

I stand corrected. Thank you

Correct. Just a minor typo at the end: it should be Malaysians.

Thanks, corrected.

From my observation as a Malaysian Malay, I do not think that this change of government will stop the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. This Arabicization of Malaysia was started by Mr. Anwar Ibrahim who was imprisoned by Mr. Mahathir Mohamad and now became good friends and partners. Mr. Anwar is the de facto leader of the coalition that won the election.

Seems like a step in the right direction though? If BN had won in coalition with PAS, they would have had to bend over regarding sharia, hudud, etc.

Acronym decoder:

BN = Barisan Nasional = old ruling coalition

PAS = Parti Islam Se-Malaysia = take a wild guess :)

Yes it can.

Some objectives includes true da'wah. An effort to demonstrate a kind, tolerant and true Islam. Best example you can see today is the atmosphere of the election itself. Near non-existent violent / provocation or mass street demonstration has occurred. This is arguably the most peaceful turnaround of power ever in history of democracy. And we even accepted a 92-year old as our President.

I am not living in Malaysia anymore, so I haven't followed the news lately. But wasn't part of this coalition, strong especially in east coast, very conservative party that wants to bring some very lethal punishments for petty crime (like chopping hands) as part of their agenda?

No, the Islamic party split with the coalition a few years ago over an attempt to bring the bill on implementing hudud laws to parliament

The conservative party you mentioned are no longer in coalition with the new government.

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