Lack of Islamic diversity makes Malaysia an intellectual backwater

KUALA LUMPUR: There is a lack of Islamic diversity in Malaysia, says a sociologist, and this has contributed to stagnancy in local intellectual culture.

Speaking at forum yesterday on contemporary problems faced by Islam, Syed Farid Alatas of the National University of Singapore said intellectually, the Malay peninsula is considered a backwater compared to Indonesia.

“In Indonesia, there is a spectrum of diversity. There are Shias, Sunnis and Salafis. We don’t have that in Malaysia,” said Farid.

He said as a result, Malaysian scholars have not contributed any major work on theology.

“That is why there is no major work in theology from here, whether about Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism,” he told the forum “What is wrong with Islam now?” organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

Farid added that the intellectual stagnancy had led to an authoritarian version of Islam which he said was a by-product of colonialism.

“When the British studied Malay culture, they were selective and chose facts and practices which were feudalistic,” he said, adding that Malay culture also had an egalitarian tradition.

Farid said the Malay elite had chosen to maintain the feudalistic tradition as it was in their interest to do so.

“It was internalised by the Malay elite because they want Malays to vote them into power forever.

“This authoritarianism also seeped into our understanding of Islam.”

Malaysian Islamic authorities have often spoken out against Islamic teachings which are outside the Shafi’i school of thought, one of the four brances in Sunni Islam. -FMT