Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia (review)

This ethnographic study focuses on how the multicultural Malaysian society lives together and negotiates a multitude of ethnic, cultural, religious and political identities. In this process race/ethnicity has become an important identity marker. Malaysians are often grouped into Malay, Chinese, Indian and others. They are also divided along religious line with most Malays being Muslims, Indian as Hindus and Chinese mainly Buddhists, while the Christian minority is on the increase. As the indigenous people or the original inhabitants of Tanah Melayu—besides being the most populous ethnic group and with considerable electoral weight—the Malays are above the other ethnic groups. Hoffstaedter puts in historical context how the affirmative actions that favour Malays and other Bumiputeras came into existence from the time of British colonial rule till after 1957. Other contributory factors include the formation of the Alliance (later replaced by Barisan Nasional) which saw the domination of UMNO over the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP, 1971-90) after the 1969 riots, the National Development Policy (NDP, 1990-2000) and the more recent National Vision Policy (2001). Many of these policies were meant to help the Malays in economic power-sharing and economic parity, while the National Vision Policy aimed for a 30 per cent Bumiputera economic stake by 2010.

According to the Malaysian constitution, a Malay is identified as a Muslim who speaks the Malay language and practises Malay customs. As such, constitutionally he holds a special position. This position was derived from the 1955 'social contract' between UMNO, MCA and MIC. This 'gentleman's agreement' gives privileges and protection to theMalays and Islam. In exchange for citizenship to the non-Malays, apart from the special position of the Malays, Islam became the official religion of the federation; Malay is recognized as the national language; and Malay rulers recognized as head of state and head of Islam in their respective states. Hoffstaedter claims this social contract provides the foundation for a system of governance based on inequality and exclusion, and the marginalization of other identities. Malayness became synonymous with Islam as an identity marker. The government (including state governments) and its agents played an important role in the process and through various projects and institutions (building mosques, Islamic education, Islamic banking, Islamic bureaucracies) and all kinds of doctrines and practices, including syariah law, Malayness became a key component in public space and, consequently, Islamic space. Hoffstaedter highlights the Putrajaya Mosque as one of the government's efforts to link Malaysia with the Islamic world and to posit Malaysia as a worthy successor to the glorious Islamic civilizations of the past.

The state also actively promotes and controls the public and Islamic space. For comparison, Hoffstaedter refers to the Islamization process in Kelantan. In 2005, for instance, the Kelantan Chief Minister Nik Aziz (who is also the PAS spiritual leader) named Kota Bharu 'Islamic city'. Although the federal government has decreed that individual states have the power to enact legislation with regard to Islam, the state government has no legitimacy to enforce its Islamic vision. Individual states are required to follow certain rules and codes set by the federal government, although in many cases the state religious departments operate differently from the state bureaucracy and the government.

To protect the Islamic faith, the government employs Malaysian syariah law (including fatwas and apostasy laws), while organizations which are regarded as anti-UMNO, anti-co-option, anti-inclusion of other ethnic sentiments, and the assertion of a Malay-Muslim supremacy are charged with all kind of allegations (deviant Islamic teachings, military threat, communist) that mandate the use of the ISA. Al-Arqam is a case in point. The use of Islam Hadhari or progressive Islam which was officially declared in 2004 during the premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was an effort by UMNO to counter PAS moves to capitalize...