Religion and politics in Malaysian nation-building: a “double-movement” of hegemonic and plural Islam
Maznah MOHAMAD
ABSTRACT This article looks at links and fractures in the development of Political Islam in Malaysia. It looks at the various basis of divides in Malay political mobilization. In the early colonial period Malay-Islamic political elites were divided along the lines of language and schooling, while the postcolonial era saw the divisions taking on a more ideological basis marking the deepening of intra-Islamic contestation. The double-movement in Political Islam’s expansion can be seen as moving in two opposite directions. While on the one hand the incorporation of Islamic governance in the state had taken on a centralized and hegemonic character, the splintering and pluralization of Political Islam had also occurred in an equally extensive manner.
Keywords: Malaysia, Political Islam, Malay movements, political divides, intra-Islamic contestation
Notes on Contributor
Maznah Mohamad is an Associate Professor with the Department of Malay Studies and the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. She was formerly Associate Professor with Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. Her areas of teaching and research include Gender Studies, Religion in Southeast Asia, Malaysian Politics, Islam and the Family. Her published books include Feminism and the Women’s Movement in Malaysia (co-authored, 2006), Melayu: The Politics, Poetics and Paradoxes of Malayness (co-edited, 2011), and Family Ambiguity and Domestic Violence in Asia (co-edited, 2013). Her recent journal publications have appeared in Pacific Affairs (2015), JMBRAS (2016) and Kajian Malaysia (2016).