Review: Islam in Modern Southeast Asian History

Hemalia Kusumadewi/ Brawijaya University

Islam had been widespread through mostly peaceful manner in the southeast asian region, with
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam having Muslims as majority while other countries
having them as minorities. Islam grows in a complex way due to different understanding and
practices that take place in different place and culture.

Islamization took place at the decline of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms such as Srivijaya and
Majapahit, some figures like Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta made the claim of having seen
Islamic king that has been a historical mark of islamization particularly in Indonesia ever since.
A conference of scholars in 1963 discussed how Islam entered the region through Arabs who
found the opportunity to enter a community and spread the religion. Hence why Islamization
began from coast parts of the region. There are several patterns of spreading, for example the
top-down pattern where preachers converted local kings then the kings' conversion attracted the
local folks to convert as well and also Muslim merchants to visit the port. Islamization thus in a
way benefited those kings. Some kingdoms went violent in their spreading, by trying to conquer
other non-Muslim kingdom for the sake of spreading. There was also the pattern where
individual preachers built mosques and education institutions, often called pondok, to be their
center of Islamization. Later on these institutions become cultural education institutions to
especially learn Islam, particularly in Indonesia and Malay. The last pattern was through
literatures, writing, and arts. Either in Arabic or local languages.

Acceptance of Islam was possible due to it being accommodative to numerous pre-Muslims

practices. The convert was easy too, converts just needed to said syahada. Although many still
worship older Gods and spirits due to Islam still in the early stage of implementation that the
preachers prevented themselves to be strict. There were also cultural legacies that was used to
spread Islam and/or inserting Islam in the local culture, such as the use of doll Wayang by Sunan
Kalijaga to taught Islam. The coexistences of these can be seen for example in the Bugis
community that worshipped Allah while still worshipping multiple gods and practicing
shamanism.

In colonialism era, the colonials power shaped the transmission and application of Islam in
different ways. In Malaya the British left the administration of justice to the sultans, ulama, and
pre-colonial leaders which let the Islamic jurisprudence as the main source of legal procedures.
The Dutch on the other had interfered a lot which limit Islamic values to be implicated. Later on,
Malaysia adopted Islam as the national religion while Indonesia did not.
Current concern of Islamization is the rising of radicalism and extreme differences among
Islamic groups. Factors contributing including economic deprivation, cultural gaps, and
governmental suppression. Islam then commonly related to Salafism in this region with two
different polars, one part embraced it politically with element of secularism, while the other part
see Islam as transcending politic as pure faith. Islamic law also concern private matters in this
region, such as marriage and inheritance. Most countries in this region have both Islamic courts
and their own national courts as form of how islamic law influenced and implied while still
pertaining their own national law. This co-existence has also lead to Islam remains moderate
mostly even in Muslim-majority countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. The only country that
pertains the Islamic monarchy system in this region is Brunei Darussalam with the sultan
remains the supreme authority in politics and economy.

In Muslim-minority countries, many muslims were confronted between integration and

secession, compromise or conflict, with very little tolerance from the majority most importantly
in early-periods. Spaniards and Muslims in Filipino engaged in centuries of wars starting from
sixteenth century. Myanmar has one of the worst case with muslim, by heavy discrimination
against ethnic-religious minority group of Rohingya, although there are other three major
Muslim groups in Myanmar that do not receive discriminations as heavy as the Rohingya. In
Singapore, Muslim tends to be moderate and progressive in their socio-economic behaviors, due
to living in a very much secualr country with diverse ethnicities.

Muslim may be divided much in the Southeast Asia region, but the heritage of Islam has been
integrated deeply in culture and law that are implied in nowadays' society way of life, while
having some conflicts and problems, still pertained to be one of the major societal values.