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| Dr. Timothy P. Daniels |
Antara respons saya kepada persoalan yang dikaji oleh Prof. Madya Daniels:
"...bahawa nilai-nilai Ubudiah dan Mas'uliah adalah merujuk arahan Allah, Yang Maha Suci dan Maha Tinggi, seperti maksud Surah An-Nisaa, ayat 58: Sesungguhnya Allah menyuruh kamu supaya menyerahkan segala jenis amanah kepada ahlinya (yang berhak menerimanya), dan apabila kamu menjalankan hukum di antara manusia, (Allah menyuruh) kamu menghukum dengan adil. Sesungguhnya Allah dengan (suruhanNya) itu memberi pengajaran yang sebaik-baiknya kepada kamu. Sesungguhnya Allah sentiasa Mendengar, lagi sentiasa Melihat.
"...bahawa penekanan kepada kemajuan kebendaan dalam pembangunan manusia adalah misi penting bajet Kerajaan Negeri (2011) yang berasal dari keyakinan apabila melaksanakan amanah Allah, ia akan mendapat berkat dari Allah.
"Selain itu, Allah SWT sedia menawarkan 'berkat dari seisi langit' yang berupa kemajuan dan kemakmuran seperti maksud Surah Al-A'raf ayat 96 dan Surah Saba ayat 39.
Kandungan tinjuan Dr. Daniels tersebut kemudian disiarkan dalam jurnal akademik universitinya yang boleh di baca atas talian: http://www.hofstra.edu/about/administration/provost/hofhrz/hofhrz_sp12_daniels.html
Di dalam penulisan Dr. Daniels itu, beliau merumuskan pandangan saya:
"...beliau menyatakan bahawa bajet ini "menunjukkan bahawa pembangunan negeri melibatkan bahan dan keperluan rohani dengan cara yang komprehensif" dan menguatkan prinsip negeri "Membangun Bersama Islam." Untuk pemimpin negeri Kelantan, ini "Bajet Berkebajikan" menjelma tanggungjawab dan akauntabiliti kerajaan kepada rakyat dengan mengagihkan sumber secara adil dan saksama. Di samping itu, sokongan kerajaan dalam memenuhi keperluan kerohanian, institusi agama diberi tugas bagi memberi kesedaran duniawi sebagai amal soleh, manakala ketaatan secara sedar kepada arahan ilahi merangkumi skema etika Islam yang soleh."
Tulisan penuh (edisi English) diperturunkan di sini:
Hofstra HORIZONS,
Spring 2012, pp. 22-27.
Economics and Ethics in Kelantan, Malaysia
By Timothy P. Daniels,
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, US.
Economics and ethics
are often intertwined in cultural schemas in particular social and historical
contexts. Max Weber’s classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
helps us understand that economic motives often gain their force from religious
ethics. My recent work attempts to extend this insight into an examination of
the economic policies of the leaders of Kelantan, one of the 13 states of the
Federation of Malaysia. The Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia),
winning successive state elections since 1990, has controlled the state
government of Kelantan for more than 20 years. Focusing on the last two
decades, this paper explores these leaders’ attempts to circulate Islamic
ethics within the economy of Kelantan. Similar to other contemporary
governments, the Kelantan state government collects and redistributes revenues
and initiates economic projects. Building upon the insights of cultural and
economic anthropologists about the cultural patterning of economic motives, I
avoid taking the motives of wealth accumulation, profit maximization, and
corporate privilege for granted and instead look toward local cultural ideas
and motives (Sapir 1951: 557; Gudeman 1986). In the context of ongoing economic
transformation and crises, our understanding of these cultural schemas, varying
as they do from our own, can help us reflect upon ourselves and the ethics
embedded in our economy.
Developing with
religious values
“Development needs to proceed because this world was made by
Allah for humans, not for angels or other creatures. However, development which
is spiritually empty is like a large tree with hideous and rotten roots. Even
the abundant leaves will not cover it for long; they will very easily fall
flat” (Nik Aziz, 2010, my translation). These are the words of Tuan Guru Nik
Abdul Aziz, chief minister of the state of Kelantan, at an event commemorating
the 20 years that the PAS has controlled the state government. He went on to
state that economic development should balance material and spiritual concerns,
ever mindful that this world is connected to the hereafter. As this statement
from the chief executive of Kelantan informs us, PAS Islamic scholars that lead
the party and state have tried to implement a pious form of development.
They have created an Islamic ethical schema by combining
core religious doctrines with several related notions and populist ideological
formulations of an activist Islamic party committed to the establishment of a
national Islamic state with extensive implementation of sharia (religious
values and norms). Kelantan state officials draw upon textually based Islamic
belief in an absolutely sovereign God who decides the ultimate cosmic fate of
all his creatures. Individuals do not know whether they will be saved or
condemned to punishment in the hereafter. However, this ultimate Judgment
depends upon the balance of good and bad deeds over the course of one’s
lifetime. God will cast people into different levels of heaven and hell corresponding
to different gradations of good deeds and minor and major sins. Psychological
tension generated by the uncertainty of a works-based salvation drives pious
Muslims to perform meritorious acts and avoid sinful acts. The Kelantan Islamic
scholar-administrators connected these core Islamic beliefs with their
interpretations of Islamic notions ubudiyyah, mas’uliyyah, and itqan (UMI) —
related to proper belief, action, and ethics — framing them as the basis of
their state administration. I found these ideas widely promulgated in
government newsletters and bulletins. The concept ubudiyyah is connected to
aqidah, or religious belief, and reminds the administrators of their position
as servants of Allah. Their main goal of administering the state should be to make
it a form of ibadah, or worship. The concept mas’uliyya is connected to amal
(good works) and sharia, directing them to be cognizant of the responsibility
bestowed upon them by Allah and the goals of acting as just and responsible
authorities, as khalifah (caliph). Finally, the concept itqan is connected to
piety and ethics, reminding civil servants to perform quality work, with skill,
concentration, and sincerity (Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, 2007:23). State
government civil servants and employees in state agencies I interviewed
expressed strong commitment to UMI. They have attempted to infuse this ethical
schema into consumption and distribution practices.
Soon after regaining control of Kelantan in 1990, PAS
leaders implemented policies aimed at cleaning up “sinful” activities (maksiat)
in the entertainment service sector. Although there were many Islamic schools
and institutions, there were also many centers of “sinful” activities. Many of
my local interlocutors informed me that before PAS came to power, there was an
area in the middle of town with numerous nightclubs, billiard halls, movie
theaters, gambling dens and prostitution. They report that PAS immediately, and
triumphantly in their opinion, eliminated these venues from the local urban
landscape. Nowadays, one can walk through the streets of Kota Bharu under the
piercing morning and midday heat, passing rows of commercial enterprises,
including McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and A&W outlets, the Parkson
Mall and Siti Khadijah traditional market, without encountering any of these
entertainment venues. State authorities refused to issue licenses for
businesses engaging in these sorts of entertainment activities. The sale of
alcohol in public places, including hotels and restaurants, was restricted.
Some limited circulation of alcoholic beverages is allowed in the Chinese
non-Muslim community. Of course, there is a gap between the state-promoted
pious ideals and local people’s everyday practices. Although I discovered
occasional reports of “sinful” behaviors, most of the local people I observed
and interviewed in Kota Bharu expressed and embodied a strong sense of
religiosity.
In addition, state government officials promoted the
reduction of “wasteful” consumption and tried to embody this in their
practices. Government officials accepted lower salaries and avoided extravagant
events. In contrast to the forms of “proper” Malay middle class consumption
promoted by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)-led federal
government, PAS leaders advocated more modest and restrained consumption. These
moderate values appear to resonate with many middle class residents in Kuala
Lumpur (see Fischer, 2008:90). From this pious Muslim perspective, “wasteful”
consumption and use of God-gifted resources is associated with Syaitan and is
therefore unethical behavior. My local interlocutors often referred to the
widely adored Kelantan Chief Minister Tuan Guru Nik Aziz as an example of “proper”
Islamic consumption. Despite having been chief minister for 20 years, he still
lives in the same village house he lived in before he took office. His
long-term residence in a village house, a popular symbol of continuity with the
Malay rural past, casts him as a common man rather than part of the “New Malay”
elite. They also proudly note that he still wears baju melayu, traditional
Malay Muslim attire, with a turban like he did years ago, in stark contrast to
the exquisite business suits and dress shirts of UMNO leaders. The Kelantan
state government’s Developing With Islam project, anti-“sinful”activities
campaign, and exemplary consumption practices, remind and motivate people to
live according to the straight path predicated upon sharia rules and principles.
Furthermore, the public absence of maksiat, such as alcohol consumption,
prostitution and gambling, and the simple, corruptionfree lifestyle of the
Kelantan chief minister are signs of the Islamic path to salvation.
Islamic ethical
schema in distribution and redistribution
Interest-free banking was a national Muslim concern prior to
the PAS electoral victory in 1990. Malaysian Muslim scholars shared a consensus
that paying or receiving interest was prohibited according to sharia. The
UMNO-led federal government had already embraced interest-free banking as part
of its Islamization program, establishing Malaysia’s first Islamic bank, the
Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, in 1983. Nevertheless, PAS, galvanized with the UMI
notions, propelled a further Islamization of that paying or receiving interest
was prohibited according to sharia. The UMNO-led federal government had already
embraced interest-free banking as part of its Islamization program,
establishing Malaysia’s first Islamic bank, the Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, in
1983. Nevertheless, PAS, galvanized with the UMI notions, propelled a further
Islamization of banking institutions. State leaders refused to store government
funds in banks without interest-free counters, eventually spurring most banks
to offer such services. They also established programs offering interest-free
loans to civil servants and students.
Furthermore, PAS, unlike UMNO, established the principle of
separating state funds into halal (permitted) and non-halal accounts based on the
sources of the funds. If funds originated from interest, gambling or alcohol,
for instance, they were separated from funds made via “morally clean” sources
(halal), such as agriculture and trade in permitted products. In 1991 the state
government established an innovative fund called Tabung Serambi Mekah (TSM),
which included money from halal and non-halal or haram (proscribed) sources,
held in separate accounts used for different purposes. PAS ulama explained that
this fund provides an opportunity for people with money from haram sources to
put it to good use in support of public works. According to the deputy chief
minister’s records, only halal funds were distributed to needy segments of the
population — the poor and victims of natural disasters — whereas funds from
haram sources were used for infrastructural projects or building nonMuslim
religious institutions. Through October 2010, more than RM 2.5 million was
spent from the TSM fund on fixing houses, medical care, help for fire and flood
victims, and other forms of assistance for the fiscal year.
In a fashion similar to that witnessed with the popular TSM
fund, the state government has collected and centralized revenues, sometimes
within the Kelantan Chief Minister’s Corporation, and then redistributed them
to particular segments of the population. The state government collects funds
from land, water and forest concession taxes, leases, permits, service
payments, low-cost housing rents, business profits, repayment of loans and so
forth. Officials and civil servants also encourage people who can afford to
donate money to the state to do so. Cik Wan Azhar, a manager of a state agency,
said that one of their main ideas in Kelantan is “to make money to help
others.” The idea of ubudiyyah and mas’uliyya comes in, he stated, “when Tuan
Guru agreed to pay people higher wages, but these people must pay zakat and
must distribute the money, and these people with high pay brackets must
remember that not all the money belongs to you. Some of it belongs to others.”
The government emphasizes redistributing funds to the needy, including the
elderly, disabled, women and the poor, and to religious institutions, such as
Islamic schools and colleges. One popular program is the Skim Takaful Kifaalah,
which distributes money to the elderly population, aged 60 and above, from all
ethnic and religious backgrounds. Another is the Rumah Dhuafat program, which
builds homes for those who are poor, infirm and orang kurang upaya (OKU),
physically challenged. State funds are also redistributed to agricultural and
livestock farmers in the form of subsidies. Notably, funds for industrial
development are absent from the budget. There are also several state programs
that provide education grants and scholarships to poor students. Thus, the
state leaders integrate a pious Islamic ethical schema — mindful of the
hereafter and performing good works — motivating responsible acts of justice
for the needy and weak into redistribution processes. This serves to make
Kelantan into a sort of “Islamic social welfare state.” Moreover, this friendly
and helpful style of PAS leaders endears them with the rural poor and
strengthens them against the constant attempts by UMNO to regain control of the
state government.
The Islamic social welfare character of the Kelantan state
is also evident in the framing, discursive presentation, and pattern of
redistribution of its 2011 state budget. The budget was labeled the
“compassionate” and “friendly” budget, and framed as emerging from the
cooperation between the state government, donors and the people. Wan Nik,
political secretary of the Kelantan chief minister, explained in an interview
that the budget is called “compassionate” and “friendly” because it focuses
upon improving the living conditions of the needy, who are the majority of
people in Kelantan. He added that their use of the Kelantanese term cakna means
“that the government and people as permanent friends work together to develop.”
Likewise, Wan Nik writes in the Harakah (22-25, November 2010) that the
“compassionate budget implements the act of sharing and giving, which will
raise the future effectiveness of distribution efforts.”
The state budget totals just over RM 464 million for 2011.
Out of that total, more than RM 80 million – 17.30 percent – is allocated for
“services and support.” In addition, approximately RM 57 million or 71 percent
of the “services and support” funds are distributed to the poor, orang asli
(indigenous), women, youth, elderly, orphans, disabled individuals, and
farmers, including RM 12.691 million for the Department of Social Services, RM
5 million for the Skim Kifaalah, RM 4.7 million for Rumah Dhuafaat, and RM 1.5
million in rice to poor families. Around the same amount, RM 61 million, is
allocated to the Yayasan Islam Kelantan and to developing Islamic religious
education (Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, 2010; Harakah 22-25, November 2010).
Kelantan government officials present this “compassionate
and friendly budget” as an implementation of the amanah, or trust the
government holds for the people, and an expression of takwah (piety), ever
mindful of blessings from God. Wan Nik (ibid) states that “the values of
ubudiah and mas’uliah are based in the command from Allah, The Glorified and
Most High,” and quotes a Malay interpretation of Qur’anic verse 58 of Surah
An-Nisãa:
Allah doth command you To render back your Trusts To
those to whom they are due; And when ye judge Between people That ye judge with
justice: Verily how excellent Is the teaching which He giveth you! For Allah is
He Who heareth And seeth all things. (Q4:58)
Wan Nik, providing a further interpretation, states that it
“therefore follows, the emphasis upon material advancement within human
development is an important mission of this budget which originates from the
deep conviction of obtaining the abundance of blessings from Allah.” Moreover,
he offers interpretations of Surah Al-A’rãf verse 96 and Surah Sabã verse 39
and relates them to fulfilling the role of a religious administration and the
gratitude of all layers of society for receiving resources from Allah. In
conclusion, he notes that this budget “demonstrates that state development
involves material and spiritual needs in a comprehensive manner” and
strengthens the state principle of “Developing
With Islam.” For Kelantan state leaders, this “compassionate” budget
manifests their responsibility and accountability to the people in distributing
resources in a just and equitable manner. In addition, their support for
material needs and religious institutions expresses a pious worldly
consciousness, while their conscious obedience to divine directives embodies a
pious Islamic ethical schema.
Infusing religious
and/or secular humanist ethics in the United States
The PAS-led Kelantan state government has broadly instilled
the ethical cultural schema, notions of ubudiyya, masuliyya, and itqan, and the
pious worldly consciousness they constitute into consumption and distribution
processes. They have contributed to the explosion of interest-free banking and
provided people with financial avenues to aid the general welfare while ridding
themselves of haram money. Through innovative funds and “compassionate” state
budgets, they have managed, with limited revenues, to construct a mode of
redistribution of resources to the needy segments of the population. This
wide-ranging implantation of their pious Islamic ethical schema indicates that
religious humanist ethics is stimulating commercial development and a more
equitable distribution of resources.
Finally, the Kelantan state government’s mode of
redistribution offers a significant and viable alternative to neoliberal
capitalist policies that are dominant in other parts of Malaysia and the world.
For instance, in the United States, after the government bailed out banks in
2007-2008 and prolonged tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans in 2010,
workers’ collective bargaining rights came under assault and national budgets
were proposed that threatened to eliminate many programs for needy segments of
the population. The wealthiest echelon of U.S. society, the “super citizens” of
neoliberal capitalism, would do well to be reminded of what Tuan Guru Nik Aziz
said to the highly paid in Kelantan, that is, that some of the wealth they have
accumulated is not for them, it is for others. This example, consonant with
some current secular humanist discourses in the United States, holds some
potential for correcting the course of economic turmoil in American society.
U.S. students, workers and homeowners could really use interest-free loans and
“friendly” national budgets that prioritize common people. Given the religious
diversity, history of secularism, and deep split between conservative and
liberal religious schemas in U.S. society, the ethical values we so sorely need
to resuscitate our economy are most likely to be found in secular humanism.
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