Seminar: Malaysia: Islamisation, the Constitution and the Road Ahead

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

The original scheme of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution was to provide for constitutional supremacy in Article 4(1).  Islam was given an exalted position in Article 3(1) by declaring it to be the official religion of the Federation. However it was also provided in Article 3(4) that nothing in Article 3(1) derogates from any other provision of the Constitution. This meant that despite Islam’s special position, the shariah was not the litmus test of validity for any laws.

The Constitution divided powers over Islamic law between Federal and State authorities. The States were not given a monopoly over the whole field of Islamic law. The Constitution assigned legislative and administrative powers to the States on only some residual, enumerated areas of Islamic law, mostly of Islamic family law.  Shariah courts exercised jurisdiction only in areas permitted by the supreme Constitution. However since the 80s the States are enacting legislation in areas which are outside their jurisdiction. The federal government is a silent spectator. The courts are reluctant to strike down unconstitutional laws by the States. A constitutional amendment bars civil courts from interfering in any matter within the jurisdiction of the shariah courts.

The Constitution expressly forbade the subjection of non-Muslims to the jurisdiction of shariah authorities. But in the milieu of increasing “Islamisation”, some shariah authorities are emboldened to break free of this limitation. The superior, civil courts are increasingly reluctant to review the actions of shariah authorities or the constitutionality of laws made in the name of Islam. The imposition of power by the ecclesiastical authorities of one religion over the adherents of another religion is tearing society apart. Conflicts between civil and shariah courts over jurisdictional issues is leaving helpless people with no remedies. Inter-communal relations are frayed.

A silent rewriting of the Constitution is taking place. Article 3 (on Islam) and List II of the 9th Schedule (on state powers over Islam) have overridden constitutional supremacy, the chapter on fundamental rights and the federal-state division of powers. We seem to be heading towards a “one country two systems” model.

On another plane, the country is also moving steadily towards more and more religious authoritarianism in the disguise of Islamisation. The imposition of a very conservative, rigid, literal interpretation of the shariah is having an adverse impact on Muslim intellectuals. There are attempts to impose thought-control. Muslims cannot have a discourse on Islam without the written authority of a tauliah. Muslims cannot criticise a fatwa, and if they do that is a criminal offence! Electoral democracy is being undermined because unelected religious bureaucrats are issuing binding fatwas having the force of law. The fatwas are backed by criminal sanctions against anyone who challenges them. The Arabisation and Salafisation of Malay society is in progress.

Malaysia’s system of constitutional supremacy, electoral democracy, rule of law and separation of powers is under stress. At the political level, moderation, accommodation and inter-communal cooperation are under siege.


About the Speaker

Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi is the holder of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair in law at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He is an Emeritus Professor at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam and an Adjunct Professor at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of New England, Australia. He has authored books in various fields including Media Law; Islam, Democracy and Development; and on Malaysia’s Federal Constitution. He is a columnist with Malaysia’s leading English daily, The Star.

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email it to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 23 February 2017.

Seminar: Sabah and Sarawak: Perspectives on Federal-State Relationship, Identity and Current Issues

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

The Merdeka Center for Opinion Research recently conducted a survey in Sabah and Sarawak to assess public opinion on the performance of local leaders and of the state and federal governments, as well as potential election issues that concern them the most. These include the relationship between Putrajaya and Kuching/Kota Kinabalu as well as attitudes towards state autonomy, and question of Islamization and Islamic state. The choice of surveying voter sentiments in Sabah and Sarawak forms a critical component towards building a body of knowledge about the electorate there considering how the ruling Barisan Nasional has continuously relied upon voters’ there for support.

The relative weakness of the central government at Putrajaya has spurred political leadership in Sabah and Sarawak to push towards the devolution of power in their favour.

Interesting findings from the survey include: Sarawakians and Sabahans expressed mixed views about the direction the country is heading; Sarawakians were more satisfied with their state government and then chief minister, while Sabahans, on the other hand, held more split views on those institutions; most East Malaysians acknowledge that their respective states were better off being a part of Malaysia rather than without; a large majority of Sarawakians and Sabahans also report that they did not really understand the contents of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement or the 18 and 20 point terms set during the formation of the Malaysian Federation; and a plurality of East Malaysians held warm views towards Singapore although a sizable minority of one in five Sabahans held some negative feelings about the island state leaving the federation in 1965.

About the Speaker

Ibrahim Suffian is a co-founder and programs director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, a leading public opinion polling and political surveys organization in Malaysia. Besides undertaking research assignments, Ibrahim is actively involved in briefings for the diplomatic and the financial community about political developments in Malaysia. He presently manages Merdeka Center’s portfolio of clients ranging from political parties, government departments as well as local and international institutions of higher learning. Through Merdeka Center, Ibrahim has been involved in organizing surveys in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar.

Prior to his role in Merdeka Center, Ibrahim worked as a project finance specialist in a Malaysian investment bank and a project manager in an international development agency.

Ibrahim received education from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and obtained an MBA from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Ibrahim was a World Fellow at Yale University in 2011.

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email it to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 7 February 2017.

Seminar: Malay Politics in Malaysia: Changing World and Way Forward

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

Malay power remains the predominant force in Malaysian politics. Ever since political independence in 1957, a majority of Malays have supported the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a party that advocates what Abdullah Ahmad emphatically called ‘ketuanan Melayu’, Malay supremacy or Malay pre-eminence. The ketuanan Melayu ideology framed the New Economic Policy (NEP) and justified the implementation of race-based affirmative action policies and programmes to redress inequalities in the country.

But, the NEP’s success in reducing inter-ethnic inequalities while increasing the class differentiation of Malay society has revealed the contradictions and distortions of continuing the raced-based preferential policies. Rising intra-ethnic inequalities, especially among Malays, mean that a more inclusive approach is needed to redress the new inequalities in Malaysia.

More broadly, instead of UMNO’s ketuanan Melayu, Malay politics should adopt a diverse approach that recognizes and accepts multiculturalism and multi-ethnic interests. Political parties such as Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) uphold the need to move away from racial politics and embrace an inclusive, progressive approach.

About the Speaker

Dato’ Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa was born on 25 October 1964 in Georgetown, Penang, and educated at Penang Free School. He received a BA (Arabic language and literature) from Al-Azhar University, Egypt, and an MA (Human Resource Management) from Universiti Putra, Malaysia. In 2008, he was awarded a PhD (Political Science) by University Malaya.

Before entering politics, Dato’ Dr Mujahid worked as a lecturer at Multimedia University, Malacca. Currently, Dato’ Dr Mujahid is a Vice President of Parti Amanah Negara and the Member of Parliament for Parit Buntar, Perak. He was a member of the AIPA CAUCAS Committee at parliamentary level, and in 2011, Dato’ Dr Mujahid was elected as the Chairman of Southeast Asia Interfaith Dialogue for Peace. In 2013, he was appointed as a member of the Consultation Council for National Unity.

As a parliamentarian, he has participated in many seminars and represented Malaysia in many international conferences in the US, Niger, Krygystan, Morocco, Indonesia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, and so on. Dato’ Dr Mujahid is also an active writer and has published a few books including Rejuvenasi PAS, Menuju PAS Baru and and Berdialog Dengan Gereja.

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by
11 November 2016.

Seminar: Malay Identity in Crisis?

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

Seminar-cum-Book Launch of the 2016 edition of Anthony Milner’s classic,
“Kerajaan: Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule”
(Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2016/1982)

 

About the Seminar

Malay politics today frequently provokes surprise (and often criticism) – and yet tends to be discussed in an historical and cultural vacuum. History, when cited at all, usually begins in 1946 – when Malay nationalism took effective form in reaction to the threat posed by the British proposal for a Malayan Union. The term ‘nationalism’, however, fails to capture the different levels of Malay political experience – and the degree of ideological contest taking place in Malay society. What traditionally motivated Malay communities politically was the sense of being part of a ‘kerajaan’ – a kingdom focused sharply on personal allegiance to a ruler. Elements of the old political culture remain influential today, including in UMNO politics, and today’s Rulers – descendants of the pre-colonial rajas – continue to engage in political contest.

How can we best investigate Malay political thinking in earlier times? In what ways does the Malay political heritage help us to appreciate contemporary issues concerning Malay identity, politics and unity – or the lack thereof?

About the Book

“Kerajaan is a classic in Malaysian studies because of its theoretical and empirical elaboration of the state and content of traditional kerajaan Melayu – an elaboration based on hikayat Melayu and dealing with that period in history when European powers began to reshape Malay polities through the colonial ‘define and rule’ approach. For anyone who wants to begin to make sense of contemporary Malay politics, especially the role of the Malay royalties and their socio-historical roots, Milner’s Kerajaan is a must read.”

— Shamsul A.B. (Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; and member of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s International Advisory Panel (from the foreword to the 2016 edition)

About the Author

Anthony Milner is Visiting Professor at the Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya and Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. In 2014–2015 he was the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia; in 2002 he was Raffles Visiting Professor in the Department of History, NUS. As Basham Chair of Asian History at the Australian National University – apart from producing a series of publications on regional relations – he has written widely on Malay and Malaysian history. His books include The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya (1995, 2002), The Malays (2008, 2012) and (as co-author) Transforming Malaysia (2014).

About the Discussant

Sher Banu is Assistant Professor at the Malay Studies Department, National University of Singapore. Her research expertise is on the Malay world and Southeast Asia in general in the early modern period focusing on history, gender studies and Islam. She has published in numerous journals and chapters in books amongst which are “Ties that Unbind: the Botched Aceh-VOC Alliance for the conquest of Melaka 1640-1641”, Indonesia and the Malay World, vol. 38, no.111, July, 2010; “What Happened to Syaiful Rijal?” in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, April, 2011;  and “Men of Prowess and Women of Piety: The Rule of Sultanah Safiatuddin Syah of Aceh 1641-1675” in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 44, no.2, June 2013. Her forthcoming book, Sovereign Women in a Muslim Kingdom: The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641−1699, will be published by NUS Press in 2017.

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 7 November 2016.

Seminar: Climbing the Ladder: Socio-economic Mobility in Malaysia

 

 MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

 

This paper investigates the existence and extent of inter-generational mobility in Malaysia, in terms of educational attainment, occupational skills level and income. We compare the status of working adults born between the years 1945-1960 and their adult children born in 1975-1985, using the linear inter-generational elasticity (IGE) model and non-linear transition matrix techniques.  We find that Malaysian society is fairly mobile with the earnings elasticity between parent and adult child relatively small, which implies children’s income is less associated with parental income. On average, while a majority of adult children have better educational attainment and occupational skill level compared to their parents, the educational mobility is lesser among the bottom 40% of the Indian community compared to the other major ethnic groups. Income mobility, in both absolute and relative terms, is the highest among children born to parents in the lowest income quintile. This shows that children born to the poorest parents do not generally stay poor as adult, and those born to rich parents do not necessarily stay rich as adults. However, there seems to be a glass ceiling for children born to middle-income parents as they have higher probability to slip down the ladder than to climb up. Our logistic regression model finds that education, assets ownership, gender and location matter for upward mobility. Moving forward, more emphasis should be placed on the growth of the middle class as they are more vulnerable to experience downward mobility, just as support for the pockets of poverty which still persist will have to be continued. Inclusive development approach is vital in enhancing socio-economic mobility in order to promote social cohesion, economic growth and greater equity for the next generation.

 

About the Speakers

 

Muhammed Abdul Khalid is currently a Director of Research at Khazanah Research Institute (KRI). Prior to joining KRI, he was the Head of Economics at the Securities Commission Malaysia, and a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. He obtained his PhD (first class honors) from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (SciencesPo) France. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs (cum laude) from the same institution, as well as a Master of Economics from University of Malaya and Bachelor of Science from University of Southern California, Los Angeles. His research interest includes issues related to economic inequality and socio-economic development.

Hawati Abdul Hamid is a Research Associate at the Khazanah Research Institute (KRI). She holds a Master’s degree in International Development Studies from the Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan and Executive MBA from University Teknologi MARA. Hawati obtained her BA (Hons) in Economics with Computing from the University of Kent, United Kingdom. Prior to joining KRI, she worked at the National News Agency (Bernama), Universiti Teknologi MARA and Securities Commission Malaysia. Her interest lies in socio-economics and financial capitalism issues as well as data analytics and visualization.

Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 31 October 2016.

Seminar: The “Democrat Muslim” Rashid Ghannouchi and His Influence on Malaysia’s Parti Amanah Negara

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

On 16 September 2015, a group of progressive leaders of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) resigned after being side-lined in its 2015 Muktamar. Together with like-minded Islamic NGOs’ members, they went on to form their own party – Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah). The formation of Amanah is an attempt to save the moderate Islamic political thought that was once embraced by PAS. They claim that the PAS leadership elected in the 2015 PAS Muktamar are embracing an unacceptable conservative position. Amanah, along with the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (KeAdilan), soon established a new opposition loose coalition called ‘Pakatan Harapan’ (PH) to replace the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition that fell apart after PAS pushed its hudud agenda in parliament.

In differentiating itself from PAS, Amanah leaders claim that they are inspired partly by the Turkish AKP and Tunisian Ennahda Party. They thus embrace the thoughts and philosophy of Rachid Ghannouchi, the co-founder and current ideologue of Ennahda. Ghannouchi is known for his acceptance of democracy as part of Islamic thought understood through Maqasid al-Shari’ah (the Highest Objectives of Shari’ah). He emphasizes inclusivity, democracy and openness, and his approach presents a modern democratic age for Muslims around the globe. Recently, he departed from the conventional notion of ‘Political Islam’ to embrace a new discourse on the ‘Democrat Muslim’.

Apart from Amanah, Ghannouchi’s ideas have been quoted by several other Islamic NGOs in Malaysia such as Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (IKRAM) and Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) to explain their departure from the conventional ‘Political Islam’ discourse and their more inclusive political approach. A study conducted on Amanah leaders and members indicates that they are so far consistent in their adherence to Ghannouchi’s idea of ‘Democrat Muslims’ and their disavowal of the conventional ‘Political Islam’ aspiration. Ghannouchi’s approach does bring ‘Islamic’ legitimacy to Amanah’s involvement in non-Islamic, non-Muslim and secular alliances. This development may shape Muslim politics in Malaysia in ways that can overshadow the current race-based and religiously exclusive discourse now widely practised amongst in the Malay community.

About the Speaker

Dr Maszlee Malik completed his BA (Islamic studies) in Jordan in 1994 and then obtained his PhD (Political Science) from Durham University, UK in 2011. He has experienced teaching at Durham University in 2008-9, and was a guest speaker for SOAS summer school on ‘Political Islam’ in 2009-10 on the topic ‘Political Islamic Movements in South-East Asia’. He is Assistant Professor, Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Maszlee is also a senior fellow of IDEAS, a libertarian think tank in Malaysia. Since 2015, he has been invited by the Malaysian government to participate in its rehabilitation program for IS-alleged detainees. Maszlee is frequently invited as guest speaker by many Malaysian media to talk on the issues pertaining to Islam and Muslim politics. Currently, he is a Visiting Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 13 October 2016.

Seminar: Beyond Electoral Coordination: Malaysia’s Opposition Evolutional Challenge

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

In being badly fragmented, Malaysia’s opposition has not been able to successfully challenge Prime Minister Najib Razak hold on power despite the world-class 1MDB scandal. Most analysts and well-wishers of the opposition focus on its failure in electoral coordination, as in the multi-cornered fights in the Sarawak state election in May and the subsequent two by-elections on the peninsula. Many attribute the opposition’s disunity to the loss of leaders like Anwar Ibrahim and Nik Aziz Nik Mat. I argue that the opposition’s problem is more a structural one. Even if a straight fight deal is attained eventually between Pakatan Harapan, PAS and Mahathir’s new party Bersatu, the opposition may not be able to inspire voters to enthusiastically turn out to vote in the next polls. Historically, three opposition coalitions have tried to adopt strategic ambiguity on two salient but divisive issues – Islamisation and the future of Bumiputeraism – to maintain unity. They all failed since the issues were easily and skilfully used by UMNO/BN as the wedge between them. The old model of a pre-election coalition epitomised by the ‘two-party system’ narrative may also be obsolete as the opposition parties’ ideological difference is now much wider than before the 2013 election. Offering the image of a coherent grand coalition may sound hypocritical and fake, and invoke more voter distrust and cynicism against party politics.To end UMNO/BN’s electoral one-party rule, the opposition parties may need to evolve by seeking some reconciliation on Islamisation and Bumiputeraism on one hand and persuading voters to accept a more fluid model of post-election coalition on the other.

About the Speaker

Dr Wong Chin Huat is a UK-trained political scientist working on political institutions and identity politics in Malaysia. His current over-arching research focus is “the 1946 Question: can citizens be equal yet different?” that connects state-building, nation-building, citizenship and democratization since 1946. He is currently Head of Political and Social Analysis at Penang Institute, the think tank for the state government of Penang.

 

Registration

To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 8 September 2016.

Seminar: Malaysian Capitalism Amongst Diverse Asian Capitalisms: A New Theoretical Framework

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

The seminar provides an analysis of Malaysia’s capitalism from the perspective of the Régulation framework (Boyer, 1990; Amable, 2003; Boyer et al, 2012). The framework is used to assess two major changes since 2009, namely, ambivalence of the changing State-Business ties and the China-oriented shift of international integration. In the seminar, special attention will be given to institutional hierarchy and institutional complementarities. Findings presented in the seminar are derived from an on-going research project attempting to assess the varieties of capitalism in Asia using methodologies in new political economy that can tackle the institutional diversity of capitalisms in very distinctive socio-economic context.

Amable, B. 2003. The Diversity of Modern Capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Boyer, R. 1990. The Regulation School: A Critical Introduction. New York, Columbia University Press.

Boyer R., H. Uemura and A. Isogai (eds). 2012. Diversity and Transformations of Asian Capitalisms. London: Routledge.

About the Speaker

Dr Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux (Associate Professor, Rennes 2, France) is currently conducting research at the Institute for Contemporary Southeast Asia, (IRASEC) Bangkok. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. As an institutionalist economist, her research fields are development studies and political economy with a specific focus on Malaysia.

Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 18 July 2016.

Seminar: The Nature of the IS Threat to Malaysia

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR

 

About the Seminar
Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has confronted various forms of security threats that emanated from local, regional and international sources. The latest is the emergent “Islamic State” (IS) group and its affiliates. Since mid-2013, the Malaysian police have arrested 197 (as of June 2016) individuals suspected of having ties with IS elements locally and abroad. IS-affiliates such as Revo Group had recruited many Malaysians regardless of age, gender, educational background and social status to advocate their ideology. There are also numerous secretive cells distributed throughout the peninsula attempting to solicit funds and indoctrinate, recruit and send converts to the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq. In May 2016, two Malaysians appeared in an IS video burning their passports and vowing to return home to overthrow the government of Malaysia. In June, one Malaysian appeared again in an IS-produced video declaring war against the Malaysian police and the “taghut” regime. These events show that the IS threat is not diminishing despite the fact that the group is losing ground in Syria and Iraq.

This seminar attempts to address the following questions: How do IS elements infiltrate and develop in Malaysia? What propaganda and narratives do they use? Why are some Malaysians attracted to IS narratives? And how is Malaysia dealing with the increasing threats from IS?

About the Speaker
Ahmad El-Muhammady was born in Kelantan. After receiving a madrasah education there, he went on to gain his B.A. (2004) and M.A. (2010) in Political Science from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Currently, he is a lecturer in political science and Islamic studies at the Department of Human Sciences, IIUM while working on a doctorate at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, Kuala Lumpur. His research is on extremist ideology and terrorism in Malaysia.

In 2011, Mr Ahmad was appointed a panelist in the Royal Malaysia Police’s Special Rehabilitation Programme for militant detainees. He has been a regular public speaker on the issue of militancy and terrorism in Malaysia, to government agencies, civil society groups and the law enforcement and intelligence community. In 2013, he was appointed committee member to the Malaysian Institute for Research in Youth Development (IYRES) a think tank of Malaysia’s Ministry of Youth and Sport.

In August 2015, he testified in Kuala Lumpur High Court as an expert witness in terrorism cases involving members of Tanzim al-Qaeda Malaysia. He was also a consultant to the 4th Project PACIFIC Operational Working Group Meeting under the INTERPOL South East Asia Foreign Fighters Project in 2015. Mr Ahmad writes regularly for Malaysian newspapers and is interviewed in the mass media.

Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 25 July 2016.

Seminar: The Politics of National Identity in Malaysia: The Making of Negara Islam

 

MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME

 

About the Seminar

The government’s move on 26th May 2016 to expedite for parliamentary deliberation the Private Member’s Bill introduced by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to expand the Syariah court’s jurisdiction surprised and unsettled many. It has been interpreted by its opponents as a step towards the implementation of Islamic penal code. Others in particular the Prime Minister and his party leaders have dismissed this reading and explained that the bill would merely remove any limitations on the type of sentences the Syariah Court is authorised to hand down to Muslims except for the death penalty. A third interpretation regards the incident as nothing more than a ploy to boost the political credentials of UMNO and/or PAS in the face of the two up-coming by-elections in June, and consequently, it would eventually come to nothing.

This presentation argues that the push to enhance the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court has been in the making for some time, not just by PAS politicians but also by other Islamic social and institutional actors. This push, in tandem with the attempts at implementing Islamic penal code, may be understood as part of the broader movement in terms of efforts towards what are regarded as rendering the Malaysian state institutions more in conformity with Islamic teachings. This idea and the multiple policy initiatives of realising the so-called negara Islam, unleashed since the launch of the Islamisation Policy by Dr Mahathir Mohamed as Malaysia’s Prime Minister, have acquired a momentum of its own.

The impact of this process of change is progressively making itself felt, on matters such as the interpretation of Article 3(1) and 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution, the judicial deliberation of inter-religious litigations and the yawning gap in perspectives between advocates of Islamic penal code and their detractors on the constitutional implications of its implementation.

This presentation will examine some of these unfolding dynamics and the social actors involved.  Periodic outbursts of interreligious contentions in the public sphere over issues such as the above-mentioned move are only symptoms sustained by these underlying social dynamics. By way of concluding, I will consider some implications of this development on national identity formation, interethnic relations and national integration in Malaysia.

About the Speaker

Helen Ting Mu Hung (PhD in Political Science, Sciences Po, Paris) is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Her research interests include the politics of national history, multiculturalism, political secularism, identity and agency.

Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 4 July 2016.