The Factors Contributing to The Rise of Religious Extremism in Malaysia (original) (raw)
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Religious Extremism and Radicalisation of Muslims in Malaysia
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This study discusses the reasons behind the rise of religious extremism in Malaysia within the framework of international politics and the world order by highlighting the ties of Malay Muslims with the Mujahidin, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) over the last four decades. For that purpose, a qualitative analytical approach is used, referencing secondary sources such as academic journal articles and scholarly books. In understanding the situation, online newspaper articles were also considered as secondary sources to extract the data to understand the destructive situation in Malaysia, which has gradually become a fertile ground for the sowing of radical ideas. The paper highlights that since the 1970s, religious extremism and radicalism have intensified due to the Cold War politics, the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and, later, foreign invasions of Muslim nation-states, giving rise to many local religious extremist groups with their relations to inte...
Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization
This paper discusses the relationship in post-independence Malaysia between the state, civil society and the country's dominant religion, that is, Islam. When Malaya obtained independence from the British in 1957, many expected that Islam would lead to social and economic decline. The constitution states that Islam is the state religion, although it also states that religious freedom for non-Muslims is assured without discrimination. Since then, religious affairs have remained a state responsibility and Malaysia has been hailed for decades as an oasis of moderate Islam. However, during the last few years religiously motivated hatred has become prevalent and popular in Malaysia for many reasons. This paper underlines the factors that have led to the growth of hate and the decline of the moderate Islam previously found in Malaysia. It proposes that the radicalisation of Malaysian Muslims should be evaluated within the framework of current geopolitics and the impact on the well-being of the Muslim world, rather than localising it into regional and national faults. The paper argues that Islam in Malaysia is an instrument that shapes the political behaviour of the public and the ruling elite. Lastly, the paper proposes that effective governance and ensuring that citizens' rights are respected are some of the most effective ways of eliminating extremism and preventing radicalisation.
Dealing with Religious Extremism: A Malaysian Approach
Jakarta Seminar
Since the Arab Spring and the widely emergence of the IS (Islamic State), ISIS and Daesh in Syria and Iraq, Malaysians as other their counterparts no longer feel secure. Being less secure, Malaysia has to take few steps in order to avoid any religious extremism internally or externally. Malaysia has had a long history of religious extremism, particularly after the post-Islamic Resurgence era. As a multi-racial and multi-religious country, Malaysia faces three groups of religious extremists, namely, inter-religious extremists (between Muslims and non-Muslims), co-Muslim extremists (between Muslims and Muslims) and inter-individual (religious) and public extremists. Malaysian government has introduced few steps in order to counter religious extremism. They are deradicalisation programs, preventive law, rehabilitation programs and toolkit to educate against extremism. The country has been successfully countered the local religious extremism especially among the Muslims.
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Religious extremism among Muslim youth is an emergent challenge and a variety of factors contribute towards its rise. However, few studies have explored this phenomenon in predominantly Muslim countries. Using expert interview approach, this study explored factors that provoke Malaysian youth into joining religious extremist groups and discussed findings from a social-ecological theory perspective. Inductive thematic analysis guided by socio-ecological theory was employed to analyze the data. Factors identified were Islamic Ideology-choice & Interpretation, Ummah and Practicality, and Charismatic leadership. The investigation through the social-ecological lens suggests that these causes mainly interacted at the macro-ecological and community-levels to influence the behaviour of Malaysian youths.
Jurnal Akidah & Pemikiran Islam, 2017
struktur secara mendalam yang dijalankan bersama ahli akademik terpilih beragama Islam di Malaysia. Data yang diperolehi dari kajian empirikal telah disusun secara sistematik melalui pendekatan kualitatif. Data yang diperoleh dari kedua-dua fasa juga telah dianalisa menggunakan kaedah analisis tekstual. Artikel ini telah merumuskan dari data yang dikumpul menunjukkan terdapat dua kecenderungan terhadap persepsi "ektremisme" dalam kalangan ahli akademik beragama Islam terpilih di Malaysia yang mendasari implikasi penting keberkesanan da"wah masakini. Kata kunci: ektremisme; ahli akademik beragama Islam di Malaysia; da"wah.
International Journal of Asian Studies , 2024
This article demonstrates how the application of a broad and decontextualized distinction between "moderate" and "extremist" Muslims can undermine our assessment of an Islamic identity, security, and radicalization. It compares how this distinction has been used by the British colonial administrators (in Raffles, Crawfurd, Marsden, and Swettenham) in nineteenth-century Malaya and by Malaysia's Prime Ministers (Mahathir, Badawi, and Najib) in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. This comparison demonstrates that both groups, despite their very different backgrounds (Western non-Muslim and Muslim non-Western), introduced a similar distinction between "moderate" and "extremist" driven more by socio-political objectives than by religious ones. Furthermore, the article stresses the importance of considering the socio-political and contextual dimensions of Islamic identity before attempting to explain the process of radicalization and its implications for security. Such an approach discourages reference to broad categories such as "moderate," "extremist," "Islamism," or "Salafism," and allows for discussion of their contextual and socio-political connotations.
The Threat of Radical Thinking and Extremism in the Nusantara (Malay Archipelago)
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The world has witnessed the emergence of radical and extremist ideology which poses a threat to international security by influencing society towards excessive acts. Radical and extremist ideology is not only limited to certain territories but covers the entire Islamic world including South-east Asia. The evolution of ideologies from the West based on a doctrine of violence leads to conflict or clash of cultures and civilization, especially for societies in South-east Asia. Hence, the purpose of this article is to identify the forms of radical and extremist threat which apply specifically in South-east Asia. In addition, this writing aims to identify methods or measures in handling the issue of radicalism and extremism which occurs in South-east Asian states. Writing methodology is qualitative with a historical and current phenomena approach based on data findings through literature review and document analysis. Research findings conclude that radical and extremist ideology poses a ...
Legal Framework on Prevention of Extremism in Malaysia
Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
The world is now facing phenomenon of violent extremism that threatens universal safety and security. The United Nations (UN) is against violent extremism and urges Member States to prevent violent extremism in their respective countries. In this context, Malaysia as one of the Member States under the UN is also required to take an initiative towards preventing violent extremism in the country. The pertinent question is, what is meant by violent extremism? Does violent extremism only focus on Islam? These questions need to be answered first before the government begins its initiative in preventing violent extremism in the country. Without a clear interpretation of the law, extremism cannot be effectively prevented and miscarriage of justice may occur. Therefore, this article intends to address the available legal framework on prevention of extremism in Malaysia. Before venturing into the Malaysia’s legal framework on prevention of extremism, this article will give an overview of the...
The emergence of terrorism phenomena especially after the 9/11 tragedy that linked to problem of religious extremism in Islam had managed to draw the attention of scholars to study the Muslim society. In this case, the focus of their studies is the Muslim society in the Southeast Asia that had been called as the second front in facing the religious extremism. Throughout their studies, these scholars especially from the West tried to classify the tendency of thought among the Southeast Asian's Muslims into moderate-extreme dichotomy. Nevertheless, this dichotomy is seemingly problematic as it was biased when it tries to generalize the whole population of society that strives for sharia aspiration as extreme. As the consequence, it promotes islamophobia among the West toward Muslim societies. As the response to this issue, the Muslim scholars had brought forward the concept of wasatiyyahas the equivalent of the moderate concept that is more appropriate within the Islamic perspective. This research will analyse the difference between these two concept and the different that it will bring practically in preventing religious extremism in Southeast Asia. It will compare the methodology and characteristics used between these two concepts in classifying the tendency of thought among the Southeast Asian's Muslim. This research found out that the concept of wasatiyyahis more appropriate and precise to apply in preventing the religious extremism as compared to the moderate concept that was influenced by the islamophobia way of thinking. INTRODUCTION Terrorism had existed back in the early days of human history. The emergence of its concept and term itself had been through evolution in several phases and levels. Among the important event in its development in the late of 20 th centuries are the close relation between terrorism and religious extremism (Lizardo, 2008). Religion, especially Islam is seen as the main factor that promote the terrorism. The rise of Islamic radical movement that marked by the events like the rebellion of mujaheden against the Soviet in Afghanistan, the assassination of Anwar Sadat, and most importantly the tragedy of 9/11 attack only strengthened that assumption.