A Glimpse of State/Nation-building in Malaysia

The Westphalian identification in international relations was the historical context of formation of the process of state/nation-building. The classification of the world countries on the basis of nation-state model underlines the emergence and evolution of the process of secularization of political arena. The fate of the process of secularization in the political landscape of the Islamic countries is of great significance. Hence, it is necessary to shed light on the degree of Islamism (role of Islam, religion and religious sects) in the process of state/nation-building among Muslim states. Attempts have been made in the present paper to explain the ingredients of the process of state/nation-building inMalaysiathrough descriptive-analytical method. The findings of the present paper indicate that the process of state/nation-building inMalaysia, due to certain ethnic and religious factors, was not possible without an authoritarian bureaucratic system.