Malay-Muslim Assertion in Malaysia: The Development and Institutionalisation

Abstract

Before there were Malay-Muslim sultanates, there were Malay Hindu-Buddhist empires such as Srivijaya and Langkasuka. However it did not bring glory to Malay civilisation as Islam did. Only after the coming of Islam, philosophy, science and other intellectual accomplishments started to flourish in the Malay world (Al-Attas MN. Islam dalam Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 2014). All these accomplishments were possible since Islam had liberated the Malay mind from the polytheistic belief and idol worships to tawhidic worldview. Islam had not only played a significant role in the formation of Malay civilisation but also the construction of the new Malay culture and identity. Islamic principles and values had been assimilated into the existing Malay customs such as wedding ceremony, (Mohd. Shuhaimi Ishak, Osman Chuah Abdullah: Islam and the Malay world: an insight into the assimilation of Islamic values. World J Islam Hist Civilization 2(2):58–65, 2012). The unique relationship between Malay and Islam had been acknowledged in Article 160 in Malaysia Federal Constitution which defined Malay as a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language and conforms to Malay customs. With this definition, Islam as a religion therefore has become one of the three pillars to describe Malayness, other than Malay language and Malay Raja (Shamsul AB. Islam in an era of nation states: politics and religious renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia. Hawaii University Press, Honolulu, 1997). This institutionalised identity gradually reduces the role of Islam to simply a guardian of Malay ethnicity.