Islam and Democratization in Asia By Shiping Hua

The following two chapters deal with Islam and democracy in the context of Southeast Asia. Chapter 7, “Challenging Democracy? The Role of Political Islam in Post-Suharto Indonesia,” by Felix Heiduk, shares some insights on the impact Islamists have and the role they play in a Muslim-majority democracy like post-Suharto Indonesia. With Muslims making up more than 80 percent of its population of more than 200 million people, Indonesia is the biggest Muslim-majority nation in the world. Since 1998, Indonesia has also made a significant transition to democracy. Indonesia's transition to democracy has been challenged by various problems such as a large-scale economic crisis, the pauperization of large parts of its population, various legacies of the Suharto-era like corruption and nepotism, armed separatism, intra-communal conflicts between Muslims and Christians, and Islamist terrorism.

Yet the country stayed on its course toward democracy. A majority of the population as well as the country's political elite regard the idea of turning Indonesia into an Islamic state as counterproductive to the democratization process of the country. Thus, if Indonesia's democratization remains stable and working, the country could become a role model for the compatibility of Islam and democracy for the Muslim world. Therefore, insights from Indonesia might help to enhance the promotion of democracy and its policies in other parts of the Muslim world. Within this framework, the study seeks to analyze the role Islamists have played and continue to play in the context of Indonesia's democratization process.

In chapter 8, “Islam and Democracy in Malaysia: The Ambiguities of Islamic(ate) Politics,” Naveed S. Sheikh points out that Islam in Malaysia has been used both as a top-down strategy of legitimization by the state, and a bottom-up strategy of delegitimization by partisans seeking to challenge, and ultimately capture, state power. Islam has also been used horizontally, as social capital, to bind together a racial (in)group vis-à-vis minority (out)groups in the pursuit of distributive privileges. In addition, Islam has been used as a civic resource for nation and institution building. Although ubiquitous, the constructs of ‘Islam,’ ‘Islamic,’ and ‘Muslim’ have nonetheless historically been almost infinitely malleable.