It is commendable indeed that some sections of Malaysian society have begun to raise the question of how religion has been abused for political reasons.

After the Bali bombings and the recent attacks in Jakarta, so worried have the authorities become that they have even launched a televised series on the dangers of religious militancy, aired on the television channels of the country.

The message is simple and to the point: Islam, we are reminded, is a religion of Love and Peace. But what exactly does this message of Love entail, and how does one articulate a politics of Love?

The Malaysian government is quite right to express its concern about the possible rise of religious militancy in Malaysia and the Asean region. However this raises even more complex questions: How and why does militancy emerge in the first place?

Part of the answer has to lie in the culture of authoritarianism itself, which shall be the focus of this, the final part of this series.

Our argument shall be that authoritarianism rests on the denial of the common humanity that we share with others, and this denial of commonality can only be transcended through a politics that is predicated on the ethics of Love.

In the previous part of this series we had argued that the policing of Muslims in Malaysia is a logical extension of the policing and control of the Malays, which in turn is a reflection of the divisive, unstable and ultimately self-defeating politics of communitarianism in Malaysia.