Islam in Southeast Asian Politics

The case explores the historical evolution of the nature and political role of Islam in the colonial and post-independence periods and in the recent past in four Southeast Asian states with majority or minority Muslim populations (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore) and poses the question whether political stability in the region will be undermined by a political radicalization of Southeast Asian Muslims.

The case is designed to provide the basis for a classroom discussion of whether, in the context of a more general Islamic �resurgence� and after the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 and ensuing war in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia may be destabilized politically by growing support for radical Islamic movements.