Judith Nagata

Religious Ideology and Social Change: The Islamic Revival in Malaysia

HE WORLD CANNOT BUT BE IMPRESSED by the resurgence of a newly confident and powerful Islam, whose political and economic impact has affected the course of many events during the late 1970s. The Islamic revival can be seen both as an international movement and one which has specific implications for individual Muslim countries with different meanings in local situations. What follows is a preliminary review of how the Islamic revival has impressed itself on the Muslim population of Malaysia and become an integral part of the political, economic, ethnic, linguistic and cultural scene. Over the past ten years in particular, Islam has been both an agent and symbol of the many rapid social changes now occurring on the peninsula. Not only has religion become a source of identity for various elements in Malaysian society, distinguishing Malays and non-Malays, but it also lies at the centre of a crisis of legitimacy now emerging among the various elites of Malay society.