Malaysia and Religious Extremism

Presently, there are all different and sometimes opposite interpretations of Islam in South East Asia. Muslims of this region have been continuously seeking to strengthen their identity as the Muslim majority and/or minority by resorting to one of these intellectual trends. The people of Malaysia and Indonesia have disputed over each of these Islamic reflections more than other nations in this region. However, the situation is different in Thailand and the Philippines, as their people are facing religious-racial trends which regard Islam only in kinship, racial, ethnic, lingual and cultural perspective and religious theoretical issues are not considered as their important and daily matters. After Suharto (1998) and September 11 events (2001), Jihadi extremists penetrated East Asian regions. Because of economic pressure and confrontation with materialist modernism, globalization, capitalist consumerism, western intervention in Islamic countries, repression of Palestinian Muslims, US invasion of Afghanistan and improper intervention in the Balkans, many Muslims in this region inclined toward radical Islam and extremist interpretation of religion. Salafi reflections supported by Saudi Arabia from one side and the attitudes of nationalist and liberal intellectuals from other side advanced side by side; and sometimes they confronted each other for mutual interests.