Asia Institute - Theses
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ItemContextualising political Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia( 2013)This thesis presents a study of how political Islam has affected the socio-political space in Malaysia and Indonesia with a focus on the reformasi era and thereafter. Islam has been an integral part of the social, cultural and political landscape of the Southeast Asian region, especially in Muslim majority countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The aftermath of September 11, 2001, has strengthened Islamic identity and consciousness in this region. The rise of radical Islamic groups in both Malaysia and Indonesia, together with a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, has continued to draw attention to the rise of Islamism in this region. This has highlighted the predicament of reconciling revivalist Islam with simultaneous democratic reforms in Malaysia and Indonesia. This thesis argues that Islamisation is having a negative impact on democracy in both Malaysia and Indonesia, especially since the 1990s. The thesis demonstrates how and to what extent Islam has been appropriated by political parties in response to democratic reforms sparked by the reformasi movement. It looks at some of the issues at the heart of the debate between Islam and democracy, such as the increasing use and implementation of the shari’a law; the responses towards religious pluralism and diversity, as well as how the mostly secularist-nationalist government is dealing with radical Islamic groups. In general, this thesis argues that this ‘state-based’ push towards political Islam in Malaysia has been much more detrimental compared to the ‘civil society based’ Islamisation efforts found in Indonesia. Malaysia has embraced political Islam much more fervently than Indonesia. The emergence of a less tolerant strain of Islam can be found in both countries and it has affected the more pluralistic silent majority. This transformation has a significant, yet, at times, having a negative impact democracy and democratic reforms in the country. Considering the immense effect of the reformasi movement, in which the direction and influence of Islam changed markedly from previous years, there is an urgent need to update and revise our understanding of Islam in this region since the reformasi era. The reformasi period in the late 1990s brought significant new developments in both Malaysia and Indonesia. The current political framework has created the conditions under which Islamists have pursued their agenda for social and political transformation. This thesis will seek to make sense of these developments and place them into a cohesive framework of academic analysis. I will then show how political Islam has affected the socio-political space since reformasi in these two countries, identifying parallels and divergences between political Islam in Malaysia and in Indonesia through a comparative analysis.