Islam in Southeast Asia

8. Conclusion

87 Chapter฀8 Conclusion From the analyses and discussions in earlier chapters, a few main observations can now be made about Islam and the Muslims in Southeast Asia. These observations cover both the maritime and mainland regions and encompass countries where Muslims are the majority community and those where they are the minority. In maritime Southeast Asia — comprising countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and the Philippines — Islam has had a dynamic, albeit uneven, impact upon the growth and development of the region as a whole. Reaching the shores of the archipelago from around the thirteenth century, the faith has evolved into a powerful influence in the ordinary lives of Muslims, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations, notably Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. It was in these three countries that Islamic scholarship, trade and political power took shape in the early centuries. The result: the faith spread to other areas throughout this part of the world, including in places where Hindu, Buddhist and other “popular religions” had long been established as the majority religions and cultures. From this region — the heartland of Islam in Southeast Asia — emerged other dispersed Malay (Muslim) diasporas, which are now to be found in faraway places across the globe, practicing their own versions of Islamicity. ISLAM฀in฀SEA฀p1-94.indd฀฀฀87 2/1/08฀฀฀11:55:22฀AM 88฀ Islam฀in฀Southeast฀Asia The spread of Islam, however was not without its challenges. The arrival of colonalism in this part of the world, resulted in the imposition of Western worldviews, the bureaucratization of the faith, and the subjugation of things “Islamic”, although for the perspective, British rule of Muslim Southeast Asia was not as harsh as that of the Portuguese, Dutch, and the Spanish. Beyond this colonial factor, Muslims in different regions of maritime (or island) Southeast Asia had to grapple with other problems and challenges. To begin with, although mostly Sunnis, Muslims here practice different variants of Islam, manifest, among others, in the traditionalist and modernist strands and the “moderate” and “fundamentalist” orientations. These differences, when added to other relatively recent imperatives such as the secular and capitalist environment where they live, their plight as minority communities, and incidences of extremist behaviour among some of their radical co-religionists, pose newer stresses and strains in the nation-building agendas of their respective states (Hussin 2006; Rabasa 2003). For majority-Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, managing the aspirations of their non-Muslim minority citizens has not been easy. The above are some salient characteristics of Islam and Muslims in maritime Southeast Asia. Is the situation similar or different in mainland Southeast Asia, in states such as Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos? Beyond doubt, life has been more difficult for Muslims in these Indochinese countries. To start with, they are less homogenous, comprising of local and migrant Muslim arrivals. Isolated from the more vibrant mainstream Islam of the maritime states, Indochinese Muslims have long lived by and been subjected to the centuries-old animist and Hindu/Buddhist cultures. That they constitute small minorities is yet another challenge that cannot be ISLAM฀in฀SEA฀p1-94.indd฀฀฀88 2/1/08฀฀฀11:55:23฀AM Conclusion฀ 89 underestimated. Finally, while historically, Indochinese Muslims were discriminated religiously, in the more contemporary situation today, it appears that economic deprivation has been a continuing impediment to their successful integration into the national body politic. The Laotian state, for instance, had little empathy for religions in general. Although this bias was originally felt more by adherents of Christianity, the State’s assimilationist approach adversely affected all minorities, including the Muslims, who resented such incursions into their religious lives. Although documentary evidence is hard to come by, it seems that the minority Muslim population — a mere 1 to 2 per cent of the total population — constituting mostly of Rohingyas (Benggali Muslims), and also the Chams, the Panthay and Moken Muslims, had to bear the consequences for being Muslims. Their plight is not helped by their relative low socio-economic status if compared to the majority of Laotians. In Myanmar, unlike the earlier reign of King Mindon in the ninteenth century that was known for its equitable treatment of Muslims, the rule of the Generals (such as U Nu and Ne Win) has not been remembered with fondness. PM Ne Win, for instance, was alleged to have persecuted the Muslim leaders from the Burmese...