Welcome verdict by Turkish court, Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

Welcome verdict by Turkish court

All that has been avoided and the hope now must be that Prime Minister Erdogan can get on with more serious issues — the economy, the need for further reform, the bid to join the EU and terrorism. He himself says that he wants to reach out and heal divisions. That is a statesman-like and encouraging response. No one, however, should imagine that the ruling is a complete victory for him: This may not be the end of the story. In what must be seen as a compromise (several of the judges wanted the AKP banned), the Constitutional Court has acted like an old fashioned policeman who lets a suspect go free but with the warning that if caught again he will be arrested. The court evidently believes the AKP does have an Islamist agenda but for the sake of political stability has decided not to act now, but will keep an eye on it and move to block any policies it considers “Islamic” (it has already blocked the lifting of the ban on the hijab). That was clear in the warning from the court’s president, that the AKP study the ruling and “get the message.” The belief that the AKP is a nest of fundamentalists intent on turning Turkey into an Islamic state is, of course, ridiculous. As has been pointed out time and again, in any other Muslim country it would be seen as so moderate as to not be Islamic at all. What the AKP is a modernizing party that reflects the culture of the Turks, an overwhelmingly Muslim people who, despite 80 years of secularist onslaught, remain insolubly attached to their faith. Erdogan has lived to fight on, but the court ruling is going to make his job more difficult.

http://newageislam.com/welcome-verdict-by-turkish-court/islamic-ideology/d/392

Musharraf will be gone in days, but don't expect democracy to rush in: the military's habits die hard, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Musharraf will be gone in days, but don't expect democracy to rush in: the military's habits die hard

By Tariq Ali

Thursday August 14 2008

Washington followed suit. In Kayani they have a professional and loyal military leader, who they imagine will do their bidding. Earlier John Negroponte had wanted to retain Musharraf as long as Bush was in office, but they decided to let him go. Anne Patterson, the US ambassador, and a few British diplomats working under her, tried to negotiate a deal on behalf of Musharraf, but the politicians were no longer prepared to play ball. They insisted that he must leave the country. Sanctuaries in Manhattan, Texas and the Turkish island of Büyükada are being actively considered. The general would prefer a large estate in Pakistan, preferably near a golf course, but security considerations alone would make that unfeasible. There were three attempts on his life when he was in power and protecting him after he goes would require an expensive security presence. Had Musharraf departed peacefully when his constitutional term expired in November 2007 he would have won some respect. Instead he imposed a state of emergency and sacked the chief justice of the Supreme Court who was hearing a petition challenging Musharraf's position.

http://newageislam.com/musharraf-will-be-gone-in-days,-but-don-t-expect-democracy-to-rush-in--the-military-s-habits-die-hard/islam-and-politics/d/557

Malaysia’s political quagmire, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Malaysia’s political quagmire

By Bridget Welsh

22 July 2008

The headlines make any soap-opera pale in comparison. In a déjà vu of the political crisis of 1998, the former deputy prime minister and de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was the target of a highly suspicious legal report of sodomy which led him to take temporary refuge in the Turkish embassy. The report was filed by what appeared to be a plant in his office, a young man close to the incumbent Umno machinery who had met with the current deputy prime minister Najib Tun Razak before filing the damning document. Anwar, wearing a bullet-proof vest, was arrested after leaving the embassy and strip-searched while in custody. He is out of custody as the investigation continues.

The saga's intricacies continued when a crucial witness in the case of the murdered Mongolian model - namely, the private investigator - filed a statutory declaration of the alleged involvement of Najib. One day later the investigator retracted the declaration, and now he and his family are mysteriously missing. These elite attacks have been personal, and sordid. All understand that this saga has been a contest for political power which has pitted incumbents unwilling and unable to reform against those offering a new future for the country that moves its politics away from race-based parties, crony interests and less optimal governance.

http://newageislam.com/malaysia%E2%80%99s-political-quagmire/islam-and-politics/d/285