COMMENT | Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently re-elected as President of Turkiye, was once asked why he did not add “Islamic” to the name of his Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) in view of its religious roots and aspirations.

“Ak” means clean, white or unblemished in Turkish. Erdogan replied that he omitted it so failures of his party would not be viewed as that of Islam.

Malay leaders, politicians and intellectuals would do well to ponder Erdogan’s wisdom.

In Malaysia today, the glaring failures of the unabashedly Islamic party in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu are now seen, more so by non-Malays, as the failures of Islam...