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Women in Malaysian Islamist Politics 171

new and more progressive Islamist party. Together with my research assistant,
Nabillah Hijazu, I follow her campaign for a few days. Dr Mariah, one
could say, epitomizes Amanah. A medical doctor and university lecturer by
profession, she was recruited as a PAS committee member, a stepping stone
toward the higher echelons of the party leadership, in the late 1990s. At that
time, PAS was ratcheting up its attempts, started earlier in the 1980s, to shake
o its image as a party for rural folk led by traditional religious scholars. It did
so by attracting leaders and active cadres with secular, or mixed religious and
secular, educations, pedigrees, and outward styles. After Amanah’s founding,
Dr Mariah became the head of the new party’s women’s wing. She has played
a prominent role in public debates about women, women’s issues, and public
morality, often taking relatively liberal positions that di er markedly from the
increasingly conservative outlook of PAS. 2
A mixed-gender audience of some 30 to 40 people has gathered for the
speech. Since this is a new constituency for Dr Mariah, she takes time to
introduce herself, explaining her professional background and the unfolding of
her career. She emphasizes her experience and track record as a parliamentary
representative for the semi-urban, relatively poor, and ethnically diverse district
of Kota Raja. is is followed by an outline of the major election promises of
the opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope, PH), of which
Amanah is part, including the ght against corruption and the abolishment
of GST. She proceeds with a note on identity politics. Dr Mariah raises her
voice as she criticizes what she sees as the dividing emphasis on race and
scaremongering of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and
PAS. ‘ ey say that the [ethnic] Chinese will rule over Malaysia and that Islam
is under threat. In fact, Malay rights are safeguarded in the Constitution and
the fatwas to protect Islam are all there’. She concludes by acknowledging the
classed and gendered composition of her audience. She draws a murmur of
approval among the women around me as she announces the PH plan of a
support programme for single mothers, then adds that ‘we will have to think
of the fact that there are single fathers as well’.
Ati is impressed. She would have voted for the opposition anyway, out of
frustration with the government, the economic situation, and the corruption
scandal revolving around Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, but she feels
grateful that Dr Mariah has come to compete in her constituency. Her style
pleases Ati. Dr Mariah seems ‘warm and friendly’ (mesra). And she is clearly
very knowledgeable (berpengetahuan): ‘She is a doctor and a lecturer. She knows
what she is talking about.’ In an era of rising populism, with politicians around
the world stressing, acting as if, or imagining that they are ‘of the people’, such

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