The implications of Islamisation in Malaysia

Source: ISEAS.

Islamization Policy and Islamic Bureaucracy in Malaysia, by Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the School of International Studies, University of Utara Malaysia and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, has recently been published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

This 29-page volume (ISBN: 978-981-4620-80-2) discusses the implementation of the Islamisation policy in Malaysia since national independence in 1957, and its outcomes.

The policy has, for example, promoted the institutionalisation of Sunni Islam in the country according to the author, and led to the general Islamisation of education. 

The book also touches on the Shariah Index which was introduced on 10 February 2015 by Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The index is a more comprehensive shari'ah requirement yardstick in eight major areas, namely, legal, politics, economy, social, education, culture, infrastructure, and environment, and is expected to further strengthen the position of political party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as the defender of Islam in Malaysia.