Participants of the second conference of the Kartini Asia Network take a break at the venue in Bali. From left to right Zainah Anwar of Malaysia, Madu Mehra of India, Kamala Chandrakirana of Indonesia and Azra Talat Sayeed of Pakistan. (JP/Ati Nurbaiti)

Malaysia's ulema council issued a fatwa banning tomboys, then in December it banned yoga, despite protests. The prime minister stepped in and said yoga practice was fine as long as there were no attempts to convert people to Hinduism -- the council had feared Muslims would convert in droves if corrupted by the Hindu-influenced yoga.

In Indonesia, despite a huge public outcry, the President signed the controversial pornography law in late November, conveniently a few months ahead of next year's elections.

Earlier, Kamala Chandrakirana, the chairperson of the National Commission for Violence against Women, had said in disgust that the passing of the law was merely "political expediency", and not a victory for political Islam.

Whatever it was, for opponents of the law it is another sign of the growing conservatism in the country and elsewhere -- a creeping movement that seems to work for the political elite, who offer an appealing call to make morality part of state policy in return for votes.

Women's rights activists across Asia signed a petition against the passing of the new pornography law when they gathered in Bali last month.

Turkey's Pinar Ilkkaracan echoed the concerns of activists in various countries regarding the development of Islam here.

Indonesian Islam used to be a model, she said, of a moderate and humane Islam.

The moderate Muslims seem to be losing courage these days to the hard-liners, said Zainah Anwar of the Kuala Lumpur-based Sisters in Islam.

Amid this gloom, one must look to the light coming from Zainah Anwar's Malaysia -- despite the above fatwas that had its neighbors smirking.

If the government allowed the council to issue the fatwa banning yoga, Anwar had said earlier, "it would be shooting itself in the foot".

Anwar says that compared with a few decades ago, activists such as herself and her "sisters" are now no longer the lonely, stubborn voice opposing an elite that claims a monopoly over religious issues.

"Now we have many voices saying what is Islam and what is not," she said. Critics say that people like her overlook the good things about Malaysian Muslims.

Anwar says she's just happy that activists now only need to rally for public support in a Malaysia, which, she said, is far more dynamic, especially since the March elections dealt the ruling UMNO party an unprecedented blow.

"It signaled that people want change," one young Malaysian activist said.

"We've been seeing young people on the streets talking politics; that never happened before," said Ng Tze Yeng.

Her friend Vizla Kumaresan said, "Even my mother voted (in March); it was her first time."

The women, who look like teenagers even though they are in their late 20s and early 30s, said their parents were still traumatized by the raids of the late 1980s. Under the still-effective Internal Security Act (ISA), anyone suspected of wrongdoing was arrested without a warrant.

Ng Tze Yeng said her father demanded to know why she wasn't making money after studying in the UK: "you'll get the ISA," she said, quoting her father.

Ng Tze works for Malaysia's All Women's Action Society, AWAM; Kumaresan represents the Women's Aid Organization, which focuses on violence against women.

The women said their higher education, encouraged by former strongman Mahathir Mohamad, and especially their overseas education, enabled by their well-to-do parents, gave them greater exposure and helped remove the "wool over my eyes", in the words of one of the activists.

They said that, during their university days, they began to see how the ruling party let corruption and scandals fester, apart from nepotism, incompetence and rising crime rates.

"It was getting too much to not do something about it," said Abigail de Vries, also of AWAM.

Malaysian politicians hunting for votes may continue to issue their best-selling commodities, such as religious values and morals.

But the young people voice optimism about their nation and their generation, defying the classic image of Malaysia's compliant populace.

Like others who want to live in peace in the region, these young women hope they can live in communities, and in a nation, with freedom from fear of speaking one's thoughts, and of being different.

Is this possible in Malaysia?

With pride and conviction, the young women say, just check out that "amazing energy" in their country today.

-- Ati Nurbaiti

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