Malaysia and the Arab Spring (original) (raw)
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Dancing with the Ummah: Islam in Malaysia’s foreign policy under Najib Razak
Pacific Review, 2019
This paper analyses the role of Islam in Malaysian foreign relations under the Premiership of Najib Razak. While most observers acknowledge the importance of Islam to Malaysian foreign policy making under Prime Ministers Mahathir Mohamad (1981 to 2003) and Abdullah Badawi (2004 to 2008), they tend to underplay its significance in Najib's tenure as leader of Malaysia. Departing from this, we suggest that Islam was significant in Najib's foreign policy in three ways. First, Najib utilized regional and international conflicts involving Muslims, particularly the Rohingyas and Palestinians, in order to construct Malaysia as a guardian of disenfranchised Muslims. Second, Najib relied on the notion of wasattiyah (the middle way) in order to buttress Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim country. Finally, Najib rationalized Malaysia's alignment with Saudi Arabia in the Saudi-Iran geopolitical rivalry in religio-political terms. To make these arguments, we utilize a state identities approach to studying foreign policy. We unpack the notion of Muslim state identity into three manifestations: the activist Muslim state, the moderate Muslim state, and the Sunni Muslim state. The paper draws on both primary and secondary sources. We conclude with the conceptual implications of our argument.
Malaysia's Foreign Policy, the First Fifty Years: Alignment, Neutralism, Islamism
2010
be acknowledged amid ideological muddle, chaotic party politics and strong currents of populism. And there's been little exposure of academic entrepreneurs content to stick to rhetoric while building up directionless nationalism as the path to progress. Laurel insists that ''there is a way out'' and that ''we must challenge the global academic hierarchy to account for its shortcomings and compromises and obligations to the Third World, as we must open avenues for vigorous dialogues with each other and our counterparts in the rest of the world'' (p. 227). Love or hate him, Laurel exposes these confusions as colonised consciousness battling with the hypocritical need to look or feel nationalistic. The book makes you wish the Philippines harboured unashamed and rabid capitalists and pro-Americans so as to inspire genuine Marxist and nationalist cultures.
2012
Malaysia gained its independence on August31, 1957. According the new Merdeka Constitution, Islam was made for the first time the official religion (Sheridan & Groves, 1967) for the entire Federation, including Penang and Malacca as well as the Malaya states. Article 3 (2) provides that the Malay states' rulers will be in charge of Islam in their states. But in the states of Penang and Malacca, where there is no dynastic rule, governors of these states are not entrusted with religious responsibility. Instead, this duty is assumed by the Yang DiPertuan Agong who acts as the ruling Monarch for the federation as a whole. This paper does not intend to examine comprehensively the Malaysia foreign policy. Specifically it attempts to analyze the Islamic dimension in the formulation of Malaysia foreign policy. Its main emphasis is to identify its prime mover, is it driven by international humanitarian mode or Islamic orientation at large?
2010
Malaysia can be classified as a Muslim country. With its Muslim majority and Islam as its official religion, Malaysia takes considerable pride for being part of the dynamic and progressive Islamic Ummah. Being part of the Ummah, Malaysia endeavors her utmost to manifest her concern and commitment to the Islamic principles of brotherhood and justice. Islam plays an important part in the national life, as it is closely linked to the ethnic identity of the politically dominant Malays. Consequently, the foreign policy of Malaysia may be said to be affected by Islam to a considerable degree. The primary concern of this paper is to examine Malaysia’s commitment to Islam and Islamic cause, as refl ected in its foreign policy. It is also, in a way, an attempt to identify the prime mover of Malaysian foreign policy. This paper, argues that Islam has never been an overriding factor in Malaysia’s support for Islamic issues. Malaysian’s role in this respect was largely motivated by pragmatic co...
Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 2015
Najib Razak’s tenure as Malaysia’s sixth prime minister has witnessed vigorous drives towards multiple visions of political Islam, orchestrated by different sets of Islamists in both overtly political groups and non-state activist clusters. While Islam has always been a pivotal factor in Malaysian politics, interpretations of Islam, concerning both doctrine and practice, have arisen among successive generations of Malaysian Muslims. Since the beginning of Najib Razak premiership, however, the initiative in defining the Islamic framework of the nation has, with ghastly consequences, been effectively delegated to the official Islamic bureaucracy, whose horizons are coloured by visions of Islamist uniformity rather than a religiously acceptable Muslim plurality. At the same time, the emergence of a range of civil-society actors has complicated the Islamist terrain. Najib faces a predicament in continuing Malaysia’s practice of pluralist politics whilst at the same time accommodating inclusive notions of Islam in his management of the body politic.
Malaysia’s National Role Conceptions and Transitions of Foreign Policy From Tunku to Mahathir
Kajian Malaysia, 2023
Reviewing the history and trajectory of Malaysia's foreign policy, this article highlights national role conceptions (NRCs) during Tunku's premiership between 1957 and 1968 and the first and second Mahathir tenures of 1981-2003 and 2018-2020, respectively. Malaysia's foreign policy and its fundamentals have remained reasonably stable over prolonged periods but NRCs, which define foreign policy, have witnessed shifting nuances and noticeable changes under different premierships. Foreign policy under succeeding Malaysian governments has seen major shifts occurring in the transition of foreign policy in tandem with changing NRCs. Malaysian foreign policy is articulated within the constraints posed by the global and regional environments and that of a highly politicised, often divided domestic landscape. In the Tunku era, Malaysia was decidedly a Western ally, symbolised by NRCs of being "pro-West" and "anti-communist". Since then, Malaysia's relations with major powers and regional countries have shown a stable, neutral and non-aligned stance and it emerged as a "regional neutral strategist" under the premiership of Tun Abdul Razak. This article argues that the shifts and revisions in Malaysia's NRCs under Mahathir as a "global champion of the South", exemplar of "Looking East" and "champion of moderate Islam" were not all just outcomes of elite preferences but reflected political agendas of elites and political agents within the domestic political game. Drawing on some examples of domestic contestations over NRCs and foreign policy, the Johan Saravanamuttu et al. 22 article points to the re-definition and even the abandonment of policy directions which were not consonant with the imperatives of the domestic political game.
Malaysia in Transition: A Comparative Analysis of Asian Values, Islam Hadhari and 1malaysia
Journal of Politics and Law, 2009
This paper discusses on the principles of Asian values, propagated by Malaysia fourth prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, Islam Hadhari by the fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and 1Malaysia by the current prime minister Najib Razak. This paper gives a special attention to Abdullah and Islam Hadhari because it links the Mahathir's period to current Najib's leadership. The intension of this paper is to prove that actually these concepts are similar in theory and practice in stressing more on Islam and neo-feudalistic Malay agenda. In fact, Islam Hadhari is ironically a concept created by Mahathir himself to counter the idea of Islamic State from the Islamic party, PAS. Therefore, even after resigning from government, Mahathir's agenda of Asian values is still being practiced. Najib Razak, current Prime Minister, on the other hand intended to promote quality leadership performance for the public and unity among the multiracial Malaysia. Although there are differences in term of the arguments for each of the idea, it is clear that these ideas or philosophies attempt to protect the real agenda of those three leaders which were to protect the political culture of neo-feudalism and ensure the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Barisan Nasional (BN) will stay in power. This paper shows the debates between scholars in explaining the ideas and philosophies behind those three concepts in Malaysia's realpolitik.
ICR Journal, 2011
Malaysia's Need for an Enlightened National Policy on Interreligious Peace: A Dictate of Maqasid al-Shari'ah As a nation, Malaysia is characteristically pluralistic and diverse in its cultural makeup. It is precariously balanced in its ethnic and religious compositions displaying a distributive pattern of cultural diversity in its demographic map in a way that is matched by few countries. Its pattern of cultural diversity is particularly distinguished by the fact that there is a close identification of religion with race. Malaysia is only barely a Muslim-majority country. It has a large non-Muslim population comprised mostly of Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians. There are other religious minorities such as Confucians, Taoists, and Sikhs though these are much smaller in size.