Islam and violence in Malaysia

In Malaysia, violence related to Islam has been the exception rather than the rule. Aversion towards violence among Malaysian Muslims traces its roots to a muli-religious policy. The state has, however, been driven a few times into coercive action by the occurence of actual or threat of potential vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid
Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Format: Working Paper
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90646
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/4380
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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Summary:In Malaysia, violence related to Islam has been the exception rather than the rule. Aversion towards violence among Malaysian Muslims traces its roots to a muli-religious policy. The state has, however, been driven a few times into coercive action by the occurence of actual or threat of potential violence. This paper chronicles the few cases of violence which have intermittently driven a wedge between Islamists and the state, which harbours its own vision of a moderm Islamic policy. It argues that there is thin evidence to support a posited relationship between Islam and violence. Despite recent security scares related in one way or another to imagined or actual Islamic groups in the 'war against terrorism' era, the posibility of an Islamic state emerging in Malaysia via militant means remains remote.