Der Gottesstaat an der Ostküste: Blockaden des Islamismus in Malaysia

Abstract

The Islamic opposition in Malaysia, notably the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) aims to establish an Islamic state. Political competition with the ruling National Front has however started a process in which not the politically feasible but the projections of a frequently utopian model of an Islamic state have taken center stage. These models cannot be implemented because they fail to recognize the constitutional and social realities of the multi-ethnic Malaysian state.
Thus PAS' attempt to establish an Islamic state in the two Malaysian eastcoast states of Kelantan and Terengganu is not the continuation of "post-IsIamism",
rather it presents the limitations of political Islam. The defeat of PAS during
the federal elections in March 2004 again illustrates that PAS' appeal does
not go beyond the narrow confines of political protest as long as the party
continues to out-manoeuvre itself in its race for the "better Islam" against its
competitor, UMNO.