Speaker: Sharifah Afra, Master Candidate, Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore
Date : Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Time : 4.00pm
Venue : AS8 #06-46, Singapore 119260
ABSTRACT
In 1981, Dr Mahathir Mohamad began his first stint as Prime Minister of Malaysia. That same year, the Minister of Home Affairs, Musa Hitam, issued an order under the Internal Security Act to ban the Alkitab, the Malay-language Bible, as it was deemed to be a threat to national security. The global Islamic resurgence in the 1980s also witnessed the commencement of the state-led Islamisation project in Malaysia. This marked a period in which religious minorities became increasingly concerned about the encroachment on their rights as non-Muslim citizens, and by extension, the state of religious harmony in the country. This increasing anxiety culminated in the establishment of civil society organisations such as the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism in 1983 and the Christian Federation of Malaysia in 1985, both of which sought to deal with issues concerning the management of religious harmony. This thesis proposal presentation will therefore explore some of the following questions: What does civil society’s response to these issues tell us about their concerns? How do they approach the issues of religious freedom, harmony and inter-religious dialogue? What challenges do they face in relation to the state, and how has the situation evolved over the years?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Afra is a first year Master’s candidate in the Department of Malay Studies. She graduated in 2018 from the Department of History, where she gradually developed her interest in socio-political histories of the Malay world.
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