Shariaization of Malay-Muslim Identity in Contemporary Malaysia

Malay-Muslim identity has been pivotal to the functioning of the modern nation-state that attained independence from Britain on 31 August 1957 as the Federation of Malaya and became Malaysia on 16 September 1963 with the incorporation of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore into the federation. Malay-Muslims constitute the majority of Malaysia’s population, albeit not by an overwhelming percentage, and the definitive features, structures and conventions of the Malaysian state give them control of the major levers of power. Malay-Muslim identity is grounded in the Federal Constitution, but has undergone metamorphoses as a result of shifting boundaries in the conceptualization and praxis of Islam among Malay-Muslims. This article discusses some of the causes and ramifications of the contemporary essentialization of Islamic thought and practice in Malaysia. I argue that a sharia-centric Islamist bias, paradoxically, came close to uniting hitherto opposing sides of the Malay-Muslim religio-political divide during Najib Razak’s administration (2009–18).