Islam in Southeast Asia: Political, Social, and Strategic
Challenges for the 21st Century

K. S. Nathan and Mohammad Hashim Kamali, eds.
Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005. 362 pages.

This book is a revised version of the proceedings of a conference of the same
title held in Singapore during 2002. The papers comprising this highly rele-
vant and timely text cover topics from the history of Islam in Southeast Asia
to Islamic doctrine, politics, civil society, gender, modernization, globaliza-
tion, and the impact of 9/11. However, Islam and politics are the central
themes, with special attention given to the challenges of the recent context
for Southeast Asia’s Muslim-majority societies. As such, it is of interest to
scholars of diverse fields, including history, political science, international
relations, religious studies, sociology, and anthropology.

The introduction, “Understanding Political Islam Post-September 11,”
criticizes the inequality and militarism of western-dominated globalization
and the violent responses of political Islam or radical Islamism. Clear defini-
tions of these pivotal terms used throughout the collection would sharpen the
argument about the particular kind of political uses of Islam that the authors
view as a threat. The editors provide an adequate and enticing overview of
this interesting collection of papers. However, it would be helpful to
acknowledge that they focus on Malaysia and Indonesia, with the exception
of one paper on the Philippines. Addressing the situation of Muslim minori-

116 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 24:2



ties in the mainland Southeast Asian countries of Burma/Myanmar,
Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, where they live under the hegemony of
Buddhist or communist majorities, would add an important comparative
dimension.

The book is divided into four theme-based parts. The first part focuses
on the spread of Islam and doctrine in the region. Azyumardi Azra ana-
lyzes the doctrinal diversity of Sunni Muslim groups in Malaysia and
Indonesia, including the recent upsurge of radical, puritanical groups. He
concludes, contrary to several later chapters, that it is “terribly wrong to
assume that these radical groups are influential in Southeast Asia” (p. 19).
Johan H. Meulman studies controversies over the origins of Islam in
Southeast Asia and argues for an approach that considers diverse factors
and successive stages of its growth there. He also notes the varied trans-
nationalism of liberal and radical Muslims in Indonesia. Carmen A. Abu-
bakar makes a major contribution with her excellent historical overview,
including the Filipinos’ early contacts with Muslims from other parts of
insular Southeast Asia and the current period of Muslim struggle for
autonomy and liberation from the Catholic-dominated state of the
Philippines. Bahtiar Effendy provides a fine analysis of the emergence of
Islamic banking in Indonesia under Suharto, and Mohamed Aslan Haneef
describes how Islamic values have been an integral part of Malaysia’s eco-
nomic development.

The second part examines the complex topics of politics, governance,
civil society, and gender in Southeast Asian Islam. Shamsul A.B. makes an
important contribution by addressing two major versions of political Islam:
the recent Islamist movements and the older form of the Malayo-
Indonesian sultanates. Zainah Anwar and Patricia Martinez criticize how
political Islam is establishing a stronger public presence in Malaysia’s
multi-religious society, with the two major Malay Muslim parties compet-
ing over which one is the most Islamic. Martinez concludes that full democ-
racy may be possible in Malaysia only after a long period of negotiation
and reinterpretation with political Islam. 

Peter Riddell presents perspectives of Malaysian non-Muslim minori-
ties about the ongoing process of Islamization, noting the numerous
Christian and multi-religious organizations that have formed in response to
Islamic revivalism. He could have strengthened his argument by noting the
continuing marginalization of Indians in these coalitions and the tensions
associated with intermarriage between Christians and Buddhists or Hindus.
Lily Zakiyah Munir argues that traditional Muslim scholars and those fol-
lowing their rigid views have reinterpreted the gender egalitarian values

Book Reviews 117



embedded in Islamic texts to construct patriarchal societies. She recom-
mends new methods of reading the Qur’an.

The third part considers modernization, globalization, and the Islamic
state debate in Southeast Asia. Syed Farid Alatas observes that despite
strong Islamic ideals of development, there has been a weak formation of
empirical theory in Islamic economics. He concludes that there is a need to
combine Islamic and western models. Abdul Rashid Moten, expanding on
this point, argues that most Islamic principles are in harmony with the
processes of modernization and globalization. Shad Saleem Faruqi, who
discusses the Malaysian constitution and implementation of Islamic laws,
remarks that Malaysia, with its commendable record of multicultural rela-
tions, has a hybrid legal system, one that is neither totally Islamic nor secu-
lar. Mohammad Hashim Kamali examines Muslim scholarly perspectives,
both Sunni and Shi`a, on the “Islamic state,” arguing they project a civilian
state with Islamic law rather than a “theocratic” state, which is proscribed
by Islamic law.

The fourth part analyzes the impact of 9/11 on Islamic thought and prac-
tice in Southeast Asia. Noorhaidi Hasan describes the rise of Islamic mili-
tancy in post-New Order Indonesia and the range of groups comprising the
anti-American coalition. He notes that although there is no evidence of
direct links between al-Qaeda and radical groups in Indonesia, Osama bin
Laden has great symbolic meaning for thousands of young people. Bernard
Adeney-Risakotta uses “ideal types” to describe western and Islamic emo-
tional responses to 9/11 and definitions of terrorism. This approach tends to
oversimplify the complexity of this critical matter and produces monolithic
opposing caricatures of the West and Muslims. He also makes the reckless
and unsubstantiated claim that two Indonesian mainstream Muslim leaders
“have ties to violent and radical Muslim groups” (p. 332).

In the conclusion, Nathan and Kamali focus on “applied Islam,” calling
for moderate Muslim voices to come to the fore and utilize wisdom and cre-
ativity in finding ways to combine religious and secular spheres in order to
move beyond outdated theocracies. Despite some shortcomings in particu-
lar papers, this collection is an important contribution to the literature of
Islam in insular Southeast Asia and contemporary studies of Islam and pol-
itics in the post-9/11 context.

Timothy P. Daniels
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York

118 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 24:2