Southeast Asia : Malay Muslim Fundamentalists Face Crackdown : Government seems to feel threatened by small sect. Observers suspect group’s message is real cause of concern.

There is an eerily Middle Eastern aura to the scene of police with automatic weapons blockading a village of Muslim fundamentalists whose movement has been declared a security threat to the state.

But this is a suburb of prosperous Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, half a world away from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And the government behind the effort to crush the group known as Al Arqam is itself Muslim; it takes pride in championing Islamic causes from Jerusalem to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Thus there remains an element of mystery about why Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed has moved so forcefully in the last two months to eradicate the influence of Al Arqam, a sect with 10,000 registered followers.

But most analysts agree that the move could have political repercussions for Malaysia that reach far beyond the sect’s small numbers.

The crackdown began Aug. 5, when Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council, the protector of the Islamic faith for the country, ruled that Al Arqam was spreading “deviationist” teachings and was banned. The group was officially outlawed by the government Aug. 26.

In an even stranger twist, the government on Sept. 2 revoked the passport of Al Arqam leader Ashaari Mohammed while he was in Thailand. He was deported by Thai police into Malaysia, where he was detained under the country’s Draconian security laws, which allow indefinite detention without trial.

So far, seven members of Al Arqam have been detained in the most sweeping use of the security laws since a crackdown on opposition politicians in 1988. Hundreds, including more than 100 children, have been arrested on lesser charges during police raids. The group’s schools and offices have been ordered closed.

Government officials have told foreign journalists that the move was prompted by concerns that Al Arqam was evolving into something like the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Tex., where dozens of people died in a confrontation with federal authorities.

Since Al Arqam appears to lack any weapons or the numbers to pose a genuine security threat to the government, diplomatic analysts said they believed that Mahathir and his ruling party, the United Malay National Organization, may have been motivated more out of concern for the group’s message than any actual threat it posed.

“The government may have felt that Al Arqam was a competitor for the new, modern Malay,” one diplomat said. “UMNO’s Achilles’ heel is hypocrisy and corruption, and Al Arqam is well-placed to exploit those issues.”

Malays, virtually all Muslim, make up about 50% of the population of Malaysia--making them the dominant political force in the country. Of the remainder, 33% are ethnic Chinese and 10% are of Indian descent.

Unlike the Islamic religious party known as PAS, which governs the Malaysian state of Kelantan but is widely perceived as anti-development, Al Arqam has attracted a number of university-trained economists and specialists.

The movement has set up a $120-million business conglomerate of 23 companies ranging from mini-markets to high-tech maintenance firms. Their devout employees are just the kind of people that UMNO wants to attract.

The group’s adherents are eminently visible in secular Malaysia, with men often wearing turbans and long green robes similar to an Arab galabia , while the women are kept in purdah , swathed from head to toe in black.

While the group has so far stayed out of the political arena, Ashaari angered authorities by publishing details of a dream in which he claimed that the Prophet Mohammed made critical remarks about Mahathir.

What remains to be seen is whether ordinary Malays will be turned off by the government’s heavy-handed efforts to suppress a Muslim organization, which many people regard as rather harmless if eccentric.

Malaysia Fact Sheet

Ethnic makeup:

Malays: 50%

Ethnic Chinese: 33%

Indian descent: 10%

Various indigenous groups: 7%

Population: 18 million

Labor force: 7.26 million

Land area: 127,320 square miles

Resources: tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron, palm oil, oil, rubber

Head of government: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed

Type of government: Federal constitutional monarchy