Political Islam in Malaysia: problematising discourse and practice in the UMNO–PAS ‘Islamisation race’

Abstract

The politicisation of Islam has become a key feature of the Malaysian political terrain, and finds dominant expression in the so-called ‘Islamisation race’ between UMNO and PAS. This article analyses the religio-political dialectics and responses that defined the UMNO–PAS rivalry during the 22-year administration of Mahathir Mohamad. It focuses primarily on the contradictions and inconsistencies that have riddled strategies undertaken by UMNO to undermine PAS during this period. It suggests that UMNO's representation of PAS as parochial fundamentalists belies the fact that the struggle to define the role of Islam in contemporary Malaysia has created fissures within UMNO itself, resulting in an incoherent strategy against the Islamic opposition that serves only to intensify rather than check the process of the politicisation of Islam initiated by PAS.