20 April 2014
The Malaysian Islamic Party 1951-2013: Islamism in a Mottled Nation
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS is the biggest opposition party in Malaysia today and one of the most prominent Islamist parties in Southeast Asia. This work recounts the historical development of PAS from 1951 to the present, and looks at how it has risen to become a political movement that is both local and transnational, tracking its rise from the Cold War to the age of the War on Terror, and its evolving ideological postures – from anti-colonialism to post-revolutionary Islamism, as the party adapted itself to the realities of the postmodern global age. PAS’s long engagement with modernity and its nuanced approach to the goal of state capture is the focus of this work, as it recounts the story of the Islamist party and Malaysia by extension. -Farish A. Noor is Associate Professor for the Contemporary Islam Programme at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and member of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Panel of Global Experts on Religion and Politics in Asia.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS is the biggest opposition party in Malaysia today and one of the most prominent Islamist parties in Southeast Asia. This work recounts the historical development of PAS from 1951 to the present, and looks at how it has risen to become a political movement that is both local and transnational, tracking its rise from the Cold War to the age of the War on Terror, and its evolving ideological postures – from anti-colonialism to post-revolutionary Islamism, as the party adapted itself to the realities of the postmodern global age. PAS’s long engagement with modernity and its nuanced approach to the goal of state capture is the focus of this work, as it recounts the story of the Islamist party and Malaysia by extension. -Farish A. Noor is Associate Professor for the Contemporary Islam Programme at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and member of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Panel of Global Experts on Religion and Politics in Asia.
