The State, Ulama and Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia
Author: Norshahril Saat
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Published: 2018-01-23
Total Pages: 255
ISBN-13: 9048532906
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Suharto (1966-98) government of Indonesia and the Mahathir (1981-2003) government of Malaysia both launched Islamisation programmes, upgrading and creating religious institutions. The author argues that, while generally ulamas, or religious teachers, had to support state ideologies, they sometimes succeeded in "capturing" the state by influencing policies in their favour. The author builds his argument on strong fieldwork data, especially interviews, and he engages in critical discussion of comparative politics paradigms and the concept of capture.