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162 Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid and Che Hamdan Che Mohd Razali

mobilization on the part of Malay-Muslim ethnocrats from both UMNO and
PAS to galvanize the Malay masses into defending what they perceive as their
inalienable birthright (Harakah Daily 2018; Malaysiakini 2018c; Syed Jaymal
2018). ose pressures make it all the more important that PH tread its path
carefully and nd new ways to promote its civic-nationalist vision without
stoking Malay-Muslims’ fears, lest concerned Malaysians’ hard-earned GE14
triumph be derailed when it has still yet barely begun.

Notes
1 is study is based on interviews and participant-observation of campaigning
during GE14. e discussion is restricted to Peninsular Malaysia and excludes Sabah
and Sarawak due to the limited resources available to the researchers. We presented
preliminary ndings at seminars at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies
(IKMAS) and the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
on 16 May 2018 and 1 June 2018, respectively.
2 is term refers to the puritanical stream pioneered by Muhammad ibn Abd al-
Wahhab (1703–92) of Nejd in the Arabian Peninsula. e school’s advent in Malaysia
is fairly recent, powered by Saudi petro-dollars amassed following the Organisation
of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ oil crises of 1973–74—a period coinciding with
the rudimentary phases of Islamic revival in Malaysia. Historically, reform-oriented
Malay-Muslims have been more familiar with the version of Sala sm imported from
the Al-Manar school of Egypt, as expounded by Jamal al-din Al-Afghani (1838–97),
Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) and Rasyid Rida (1865–1935). But expanding Saudi
in uence in the Muslim world has brought a marriage of sorts between Sala sm in
general and its more rigid Wahhabi version, including in Malaysia. For details, see
Ahmad Fauzi 2016 and Maszlee 2017b.
3 Literally meaning ‘limits’, hudud are scripturally mandated criminal punishments
following convictions in sharia courts. Examples are amputation of the hand for thieves,
eighty lashes’ ogging for libel and one hundred lashes for fornication, and stoning to
death for adultery.
4 Malaysia has nine hereditary Malay Rulers who rotate among themselves every ve
years to become the Yang diPertuan Agong, the federation’s constitutional monarch. e
Rulers are themselves sultans of their respective states. Each of the remaining four states
without Rulers—Penang, Malacca, Sabah, and Sarawak—has a Yang diPertua Negeri,
or governor, as its titular head. Together, the thirteen heads of state make up the Majlis
Raja-raja (Conference of Rulers).
5 A few months later, in May 2017, Kamarul Zaman lodged a police report against
Selangor state assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh of DAP for allegedly propagating
Christianity through her book, Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey (Sinar Harian
2017).
6 Interview with Dato’ Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, Kuala Lumpur, 25 March 2017.

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