Culture, Religion and Conflict in Muslim Southeast Asia: Negotiating Tense Pluralisms.

• Author: Buendia, Rizal G.
• Position: Book review

Culture, Religion and Conflict in Muslim Southeast Asia: Negotiating Tense Pluralisms. Edited by Joseph Camilleri and Sven Schottmann. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013. Hardcover: 196pp.

This is a welcome addition to the academic debate on the political effects of ethnicity, religion and culture. Edited by Joseph Camilleri and Sven Schottmann, with contributions by eight scholars, it focuses on Southeast Asian countries that have either Muslim majorities or significant Muslim minorities. In their introductory chapter, Camilleri and Schottmann argue that while ethnicity, religion and culture may be politicized to serve the interests of political actors, they may also serve as instruments facilitating dialogue and building harmony.

The book consists of two parts. Part I covers "states, discourses and grandes idees". Comprised of four chapters, it looks at Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines and investigates cases of conflict and reconciliation. Taking a regional perspective, Camilleri in Chapter Two explores the challenges and opportunities in applying principles of dialogue and conflict-resolution strategies in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies in Southeast Asia. Appraising the structural limitations of regional institutions such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Regional Forum, Camilleri advocates the use of track-two (i.e. non-state) consultative processes to assist states in managing and resolving conflicts beyond formal negotiations or the bargaining tools usually employed by states.

Chapters Three and Four, on Malaysia's policies of managing its multicultural society, by Gerhard Hoffestaedter and Sven Schottmann respectively, come to very different conclusions. Hoffestaedter argues that the Sino-Malay sectarian riots of 1969 were a defining moment in the politics of Malaysia. Since then, Islam has dominated identity politics in the country (p. 47), creating tensions between ethnic and religious groups, and blocking the space for social and cultural interaction between the different racial and religious communities. Conversely, Schottmann credits Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad with consolidating the country's democratic institutions and boosting its economic progress, while promoting Islam as a religion of tolerance. Schottmann argues that Mahathir's ability to frame policy within Islamic norms transformed the multicultural and multi-religious polity into a state where...