Religious Diversity in Muslim-majority States in Southeast Asia: Areas of Toleration and Conflict

"This book fills a gap in authoritative analyses of the causes of inter-religious conflict and the practice of religious toleration. The rise of more overt expressions of Islamic piety and greater bureaucratization of Islam in both Indonesia and Malaysia over several decades have tested the "live and let live" philosophy which used to characterize religious expression in these nations. The analyses in each chapter of the book break new ground with contextualized studies of particular and recent incidents of conflict or harassment in a variety of areas - from urban centres to more remote and, even complex, locations. As these studies show, legislation stands or falls on the ability and determination of local authorities to enforce it.

This volume is essential reading for understanding the dynamics of state-religious interaction in Muslim-majority nations and the crucial role civil society organizations play in negotiating interfaith toleration."

- Emeritus Professor Virginia Hooker FAHA, Department of Political & Social Change College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University


 "A most welcome contribution to the academic discourse of political Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia! For this volume focuses not on Islamic resurgence as many others have done, but on the impact of Islamic resurgence upon its non-Muslim minority counterparts - Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and also the Syiah Muslims - in the two plural societies, and the varying responses of those minorities, themselves often fragmented, to Islamic resurgence. The rich case studies highlight the changing character of politics in the two countries and their capacities to deal with religious diversity, an aspect of politics often ignored because of the usual concern for economic and political institutional capacities. The juxtaposition of Malaysian and Indonesian cases in a single volume and comparisons of contrasting developments in the two countries, challenges readers not to resort to easy conclusions and overgeneralizations about rising inter-religious tensions, but to give more scholarly attention to this politics-religion diversity nexus."

- Emeritus Professor Francis Loh Kok Wah, Department of Political Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia


The e-chapter on chapter 1 " Introduction" , by Bernhard Platzdasch is downloadable free of charge.