COMMENT | After decades of Islamisation, where are you Malaysia? I guess the easy answer is: lost. We have lost the dominant national narrative of who we were, who we are, who we want to be, and what we believe in.

What we are seeing today is the willful and destructive tearing apart of Malaysia’s social fabric by politicians who only care about getting or staying in power.

I was a political journalist from 1978-1984, witnessing the rise of political Islam globally, and in Malaysia particularly.

I covered the rivalry between Umno and PAS for the hearts and minds of the Malays, and travelled into the deep kampungs in Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah, documenting the impact of this rivalry on the Malay community in these conservative Malay-dominated states.

I wrote my Master’s thesis on the rise of the dakwah (preaching) movement among students in Malaysia.

I co-founded Sisters in Islam (SIS) with seven other friends and eventually Musawah at the global level – to challenge the ways governments, politicians, religious leaders, and Islamist non-state actors use and abuse Islam to justify discrimination against women and resist the demands for change towards justice, equality, democracy, and fundamental liberties.

As a journalist, I witnessed the radicalisation of PAS when the ‘Young Turks’ in 1982 overthrew the more nationalist leadership of Asri Muda.

And, ideologically led by Abdul Hadi Awang, pronounced the Malaysian Constitution as an...