Malaysian modernities: cultural politics and the construction of Muslim technoscientific identities.

Malaysian modernities: cultural politics and the construction of Muslim technoscientific identities. Malaysia is in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?"midmost of enormous societal transformations, andMalay identity is a key locus for these transformations. The Malaysiangovernment, led by the recently retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamadbetween 1981 and 2003, has a goal of unifying the multi-ethnic,multi-lingual, and religiously plural nation in Southeast Asia andbecoming a fully developed nation by the year 2020. (1) This nationalplan, known as "Vision 2020," is developing within the contextof local/global debates about Islam, science, and modernity and is bestconceptualized as a project aimed at reconstructing Malaysian economy,society, and identity. I call this project in social engineeringMalaysian modernity. Malaysian modernity is not without its critics, however. Malaysiansare asking themselves two questions--questions they have been askingrepeatedly (see Rashid 1993, Raslan 1996). What does it mean to beMalaysian? And what does it mean to be Malay? The debates surroundingthese very basic but profound questions are rooted in the local,national, and global forces that have shaped the historical developmentof Malaysia and continue to shape its future. Identity formation and identity politics are inextricably in��ex��tri��ca��ble?adj.1. a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit.b. linkedwith globalization globalizationProcess by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation and have been central loci loci[L.] plural of locus.lociPlural of locus, see there of studies of modernity inanthropology and related disciplines. The starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting pointterminus a quocommencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the for global andtransnational studies is the recognition that (1) increasingly capitalis globalized and markets are integrated, (2) technological innovationsin communication and transportation are lessening the importance ofpolitical boundaries and the dimensions of time and space as restrainingfactors resulting in the increase in volume and speed of the flow ofpeople, information, symbols, capital, and commodities on a globalscale, and (3) these processes result in the reconfiguration of powerand identities (Appadurai 1996; Featherstone 1990; Giddens 1990, 1991;Glick Schiller 1997; Hannerz 1996; Kearney 1995; Khan 1998; Lukens-Bull2005). Central to these studies has been the exploration of identityformation and specifically identity politics, i.e., the complexinterrelationships between the construction of identities and local,national, and global forces (Glick Schiller 1997a,1997b; Kearney 1995;Khan 1998). In this paper, I examine these processes in Malaysia inorder to provide the context within which debates about Islam, science,and modernity are occurring. Historical Development of Malaysia Mazrui (1998) suggests four major forces are associated withglobalization: religion, technology, economy, and empire. Each of theseforces has played a major role in the historical development ofMalaysia. Islam came to what would become Malaysia through trade andtraveling religious scholars from Southeast Asia and the Middle East whointer-married with the locals including the royal families of the Hindukingdoms that ruled the Malay Peninsula Malay Peninsula(məlā`, mā`lā), southern extremity (c.70,000 sq mi/181,300 sq km) of the continent of Asia, lying between the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca on the west and the Gulf of Thailand and the and opened religious schoolsuntil nearly all the Malays had converted to Islam. As Muslim tradersand scholars integrated into and transformed Malay society, Portuguese,Dutch, and British Empire British Empire,overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements builders were drawn to Malaysia for commercialexploitation and colonization. Eventually the British gained the upperhand. In the late 18th century, Britain gained a foothold in Penang andSingapore before permanently supplanting the Dutch who had held Melakaand Johor and the Thais who controlled what is now northern peninsularMalaysia in the early 20th century. The British established rubberplantations and tin mines and controlled economic matters while theMalay royalty maintained control over most other matters with theguidance of the British colonial administration (Nagata 1997). British colonial policies are largely responsible forMalaysia's current multi-ethnic citizenry. While the Malay eliteheld administrative positions and ordinary Malays continued to subsist sub��sist?v. sub��sist��ed, sub��sist��ing, sub��sistsv.intr.1. a. To exist; be.b. To remain or continue in existence.2. on fishing and small scale agriculture, the British imported Chineselabor primarily from Fujian and Guandong provinces to work as tradersand in tin mines and Indian labor to work in the bureaucracy and onrubber plantations. This division of labor stemming from the Britishcolonial legacy is mirrored in the contemporary stereotyping ofMalaysian ethnic identities--Malays control politics, Chinese controleconomics, and Indians are prominent in manual labor on plantations andin the professions (Lockwood 2003, Nagata 1997). At the end of the 19th century, many Hadramouts (from what is todayYemen) and Indian Muslim merchants and scholars immigrated to Penang andSingapore and started to question the Islamic legitimacy of the rule ofthe Malay sultans and the form of Islam practiced by ordinary Malays.Known as the Kaum Muda, or the Young Faction, they utilized print mediaand linguistic symbolism to criticize the ruling sultans and encouragethe reorientation Noun 1. reorientation - a fresh orientation; a changed set of attitudes and beliefsorientation - an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs2. reorientation - the act of changing the direction in which something is oriented of Malay Muslims towards the wider Muslim ummah(Nagata 1997). The Kaum Muda, in combination with the ideas of theIslamic modernists that also made their way to Malaysia via print media,set the stage for Malaysia's later revival of Islamic identity. British colonial policies were also increasingly eroding the powerof the sultans. Following World War II, this policy reached an apex whenthe Japanese occupied British Malaya. The British returned with aproposal for a new policy treating the three ethnic groups equally thatwould undermine any remaining political authority of the sultans. Thisproposal, though never implemented, heightened popular Malay resentmentof the Chinese as did the formation of predominantly Chinese communistrebel groups (Nagata 1997, Voll 1994). In response to this proposal, two Malay parties formed and led ananti-British movement. In 1945, the Malayan National Party (MNP (Microcom Networking Protocol) A family of communications protocols from Microcom, Inc., Norwood, MA, that have become de facto standards for error correction (classes 2 through 4) and data compression (class 5). In 1997, Compaq acquired Microcom. ), theprecursor of today's leading Islamic political party PAS (PattiIslam Se-Malaysia), was established. The following year the UnitedMalays' National Organization (UMNO UMNO United Malays National Organization (Malaysia)) formed. Both groups advocatedMalay preeminence and were anti-communist (Voll 1994). These two parties answered the identity question of "who isthe Malay?" differently. The MNP defined Malayness in terms ofreligion, race, and language. In contrast, UMNO used race, language, andcustom. The place of Islam for Malay identity, then, became the definingdifference between the MNP (now PAS) and UMNO and continues to shape theidentity politics in Malaysia (Safi n.d.). (2) Over the next decade, UMNO, which formed an alliance with thenon-communist Chinese and Indian elites, became the leading Malaypolitical party. This coalition swept national elections in 1955 and hasruled Malaysia, then Malaya, ever since gaining formal independence in1957. North Borneo North Borneoor British North Borneo:see Sabah, Malaysia. and Singapore joined in 1963 and Singapore withdrewin 1965 leaving Malaysia in its current configuration (Voll 1994). Early Malay activism focused around Malay language Malay language:see Malayo-Polynesian languages. Malay languageAustronesian language with some 33 million first-language speakers in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and other parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. rights, e.g.,the use of Bahasa Malayu rather than English as the official language ofthe country and in all governmental institutions. However, by the early1970s, Islam became the central focus of debates over Malay identity(Nagata 1997, Voll 1994). Several events laid the foundations for the Islamic resurgence. Themost dramatic triggering event Triggering EventA certain milestone or event that a participant in a qualified plan must experience in order to be eligible to receive a distribution from a qualified plan. was the Malay-Chinese race riots This is a list of race riots by country. AustraliaBurrangong (1860-1861) - Lambing Flat riots Broome (1905,1914,1920) - Broome riots Redfern (2004) - Redfern riots Palm Island (2004) - Palm Island death in custody riot in 1969.Malay-Chinese tensions remained hidden under the surface of peacefulcooperation for more than a decade after independence. However, on May13, 1969, these Malay-Chinese tensions, held in check to that point byBritish authorities and the ruling alliance led by UMNO erupted intoopen conflict on the streets of Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur(kwä`lə lm`pr), city (1990 est. pop. . These race riots stemmedfrom economic inequalities between the ethnic Malays and Chinese thatoriginated from British colonial immigration immigration,entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. and labor policies, andChinese participation in the communist movement Communist Movement (in Spanish: Movimento Comunista, in Basque: Mugimendu Komunista, in Catalan: Moviment Comunista, in Galician: Movemento Comunista) was a political party in Spain. . Significantly, theriots highlighted the limitations of the alliance government formaintaining inter-racial harmony, a key element underlying popular Malaysupport of secularist-leaning UMNO following independence (Nagata 1997,Voll 1994). The 1969 race riots demonstrated that a coalition government alonewas insufficient to maintain inter-community harmony. One major responseto these riots was the New Economic Policy (NEP NEP:see New Economic Policy. ) in 1970. The NEP wasdesigned to create national unity by attacking major sources ofinter-community tensions. First, the NEP aimed to eradicate povertyregardless of race. Second, the NEP aimed to eliminate the linkagesbetween race and economic function. This second aspect essentiallyprovided the Malays with an affirmative action affirmative action,in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. program that mandatedquotas for ethnic Malays in education and hiring because they wereeconomically worst off as a group. The overall strategy was to eliminatemany of the barriers between ethnic groups thus promoting greater unity(Government of Malaysia 1971, Khoo Boo Teik 2003, Williamson 2002). The NEP enabled thousands of Malays to study abroad where theyencountered Muslim students from around the world. Many of thesestudents participated in groups like the MSA (Muslim StudentAssociation) in the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and returned to Malaysia with astronger sense of their identity as Muslims. The ideas of Muslimactivists and scholars like Ismail AI-Faruqi, S. H. Nasr, Sayyid Qutb Sayyid Qutb (IPA pronunciation: ['saɪjɪd 'qʊtˁb]) (also Seyyid, Sayid, Sayed; also Koteb, Kutb) (Arabic: سيد قطب; October 9, 1906 ,Hassan AI-Banna, and Ali Shariati Ali Shariati (Persian: علی شريعتی‎) (1933–1977) was an Iranian sociologist, well known and respected for his works in the field of sociology of religion. also returned in these students mindsas well as in printed form. Syed Naquib AI-Attas, an Indonesian born andEuro-American educated Malaysian scholar of Hadramout descent, alsobecame influential from his post at the University of Malaya The University of Malaya (or Universiti Malaya in Malay; commonly abbreviated as UM) is the oldest university in Malaysia, and is situated on a 750 acre (3.0 km2) campus in southwest Kuala Lumpur, the capital city. (Voll1994). The dakwah movement also emerged at this time. "Dakwah"is the Malay term used to describe a wide variety of Islamicallyoriented Malay groups of which the most influential is ABIM (AngkatanBelia Islam Malaysia or Malay Muslim Youth League Muslim Youth League is the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League. ). ABIM was founded byAnwar Ibrahim Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (born August 10, 1947) is a former deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia. Early in his career, he became a protege of the former prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad, but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of around the issue of Malay language rights before shiftingtowards an Islamic focus. In 1982, Anwar accepted an invitation from thethen newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and joined UMNO.Anwar's Islamic credentials legitimized UMNO in the face of theIslamic revival "Islamic revival" is a revival of the Islamic religion throughout the Islamic world, that began roughly sometime in 1970s and is manifested in greater religious piety, and community feeling, and in a growing adoption of Islamic culture, dress, terminology, separation of the sexes, and his presence had an immediate and tangible impact as"Islamization" became official government policy in 1984(Lotfalian 1999). The 1980s and 1990s saw the implementation of a number of formaland informal Islamically-oriented government sponsored programsincluding an Islamic Bank, a Shariah judicial system parallel to thesecular judicial system, the International Islamic University International Islamic University may refer to: The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) The International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) , theNational Mosque, and the general encouragement of integrating Islamicsymbolism into architectural designs. During the same period, however,the government has also cracked down on many Islamic organizations. Thisseemingly contradictory behavior should be interpreted as the UMNO ledgovernment's co-optation of Islam and Islamic symbolism for its ownpurposes, including battles with PAS and other Islamic groups andindividuals over Malay and Malaysian identity. This brings us fullcircle to Malaysian modernity. Malaysian Modernity and the New Malay For the Malaysian government, economic development, first in theform of the National Economic Policy (NEP) and later the NationalDevelopment Policy (NDP NDP New Democratic Party (Canada)NDP National Development Plan (Republic of Ireland)NDP National Development PlanNDP National Democratic Party (Barbados)) that was incorporated into Vision 2020, is in avery real sense a social policy designed to create national unity and aMalaysian identity. This is a process that Benedict Anderson Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (born August 261936 in Kunming, China) is a scholar of nationalism and international studies. BiographyAnderson was born in Kunming, China, to an Anglo-Irish father and English mother. (1991)described as creating an imagined community. Mahathir's Vision 2020 is now 15 years into a 30-year longplan. Originating as an address to the Malaysian Business Council in1991 titled "The Way Forward," Mahathir (1991) outlined whathe meant by a fully developed nation and how his definition differedfrom Western definitions that relied solely on economic criteria.Mahathir's definition included all aspects of society. This isclearly evident in "The Way Forward" and in the 1995 book TheVoice of Asia co-authored with Shitaro Ishihara, who was then PrimeMinister of Japan, in which Mahathir stated (1995:20): In formulating Vision 2020, we had to define what we meant by "developed country." Does the term refer simply to a per capita income of at least US$16,000, or does it also imply stability and solid cultural values? All these factors have to be considered, but it is clear that wealth alone does not constitute development. No country is really developed, for instance, if it has money but no technology.... Nor is a country developed, in our sense of the word, if it has money and technology but lacks firm moral values. Many Western societies, for example, are morally decadent. There is diminishing respect for the institutions of the family and marriage, and some even permit same-gender marriages. To us, that is not development. You must maintain cultural and moral values. We do not want to be just a rich country. For Mahathir, then, developed status requires three things: money,technology, and moral values. Moral values are critical to combatWesternization west��ern��ize?tr.v. west��ern��ized, west��ern��iz��ing, west��ern��iz��esTo convert to the customs of Western civilization.west in both a general sense and in the sense of what manyMalaysians view as a decline in moral values associated with the rise ofmodernity in the West. Gaonkar (2001), for example, identifies two strands of modernity inclassic social theory derived from studies of the West: (1) societalmodernization and (2) cultural modernity. Societal modernizationinvolves both social and cognitive transformations. The socialtransformations include "the emergence and institutionalization InstitutionalizationThe gradual domination of financial markets by institutional investors, as opposed to individual investors. This process has occurred throughout the industrialized world. ofmarket-driven industrial economies, bureaucratically administeredstates, modes of popular government, rule of law, mass media, andincreased mobility, literacy, and urbanization" (Gaonkar 2001:2).The cognitive transformations include "the growth of scientificconsciousness, the development of a secular outlook, the doctrine ofprogress, the primacy of instrumental rationality Two views of instrumental rationality can be discerned in modern philosophy: one view comes from social philosophy and critical theory, another comes from natural philosophy. , the fact-value split,individualistic understandings of the self, contractualistunderstandings of society, and so on" (Gaonkar 2001:1-2). Thesocietal modernization strand of modernity is linked to the developmentof capitalism in the West and is well described by Max Weber Noun 1. Max Weber - United States abstract painter (born in Russia) (1881-1961)Weber2. Max Weber - German sociologist and pioneer of the analytic method in sociology (1864-1920)Weber (1958[1904]) among others. This view of modernity corresponds well to Vision2020's plans for economic and technoscientific development thoughit does not address the question of values. Cultural modernity rose in opposition to societal modernizationprimarily in the aesthetic realm of literature and art beginning in thelate eighteenth century and expanded via the popular media,entertainment, commercial arts, and advertising. Advocates of culturalmodernity turned away from the middle class ethos towardsself-exploration and self-realization through creative and experientialtransgressions of middle class norms and sensibilities.Baudelaire's valorization val��or��ize?tr.v. val��or��ized, val��or��iz��ing, val��or��iz��es1. To establish and maintain the price of (a commodity) by governmental action.2. of modernity as "the transient, thefleeting, the contingent" condition of everyday life in oppositionto the contemplative, the eternal, and the idealized--"nearly allour originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon oursensibility" (cited in Gaonkar 2001:4)--exemplifies well the notionof cultural modernity. Baudelaire's vision celebrates the spectacleand novelty of modern life. However, Baudelaire's modernity canalso lapse into narcissism narcissism(närsĭs`ĭzəm), Freudian term, drawn from the Greek myth of Narcissus, indicating an exclusive self-absorption. In psychoanalysis, narcissism is considered a normal stage in the development of children. and hedonism hedonism(hē`dənĭz'əm)[Gr.,=pleasure], the doctrine that holds that pleasure is the highest good. Ancient hedonism expressed itself in two ways: the cruder form was that proposed by Aristippus and the early Cyrenaics, who believed due to its lack of normativelimits. This is the type of modernity and Westernization that Mahathirand most Malaysians fear and which accounts for the centrality of valuesin all the discourses of modernity in Malaysia. For Vision 2020 to succeed, Malaysia's GDP GDP(guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. must average 8%growth annually over the 30 years of the plan. In order to achieve this,according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Mahathir, requires a transformation to a knowledge-basedeconomy (or K-economy). Science and technology are central to Malaysia's plans tobuild a knowledge-based economy. Education and training, research anddevelopment, and infrastructure are important locations for governmentinvestment. Among the government's investments in infrastructureare the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) (IATA: KUL,ICAO: WMKK) is Malaysia's main international airport and is situated in Sepang district, in the south of the state of Selangor, about 50km from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. (KLIA KLIA Kuala Lumpur International Airport ), a Light RailTransit The name Light Rail Transit is used by the following specific light rail systems, either as an official name or otherwise: Light Rail Transit, Metro Manila, Philippines Rapid KL Light Rail Transit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (LRT LRT Light-Rail TransitLRT Likelihood Ratio TestLRT Light Rapid TransitLRT Lower Respiratory TractLRT Lehrstuhl f��r RaumfahrttechnikLRT Long Range TransportationLRT Light Railway TransitLRT London Regional TransportLRT Loving Relationships Training ) monorail monorail,railway system that uses cars that run on a single rail. Typically the rail is run overhead and the cars are either suspended from it or run above it. in and around Kuala Lumpur, a second Protonfactory (Proton is the national car manufactured in cooperation withMitsubishi), Putrajaya (Malaysia's new capital) and the MultimediaSuper Corridor (MSC (1) (MSC.Software Corporation, Santa Ana, CA, www.mscsoftware.com) Founded in 1963 by Richard H. MacNeal and Robert G. Schwendler, MSC is the world's largest provider of mechanical computer aided engineering (MCAE) strategies, simulation software and services. ). Of particular note is the MSC, designed to attract high-tech,multinational corporations and push Malaysia into the forefront of theinformation based economies of the 21st century. The MSC is acenterpiece of national pride and symbolizes Malaysia'smodernization program. Stretching 50 km from Kuala Lumpur to KLIA andCyberjaya (a brand new, totally wired Cyber city) and 15 km wide, theMSC is projected to cost approximately RM50 billion and represents ahuge investment for a nation of 22 million people with a 1998 federalbudget of just over RM64 billion or just under US$17 billion. (3) In a sense, this technoscientific development (at least in terms ofits physical infrastructure) is easier to accomplish than remakingMalaysian identity. Building the MSC with its smart schools in smartcities located on former agricultural plantations primarily requirescapital (substantial as that may be) to build facilities designed by arelatively small group of Malaysian and foreign businesspeople,thinkers, scientists, and engineers using new but fairly establishedtechnology imported from abroad. Remaking the Malaysians to thrive insuch an environment while retaining their cultural and moral valuesseems a much larger challenge. The question of Malay nationalism is intertwined with and at timesat loggerheads log��ger��head?n.1. A loggerhead turtle.2. An iron tool consisting of a long handle with a bulbous end, used when heated to melt tar or warm liquids.3. with the goal of national unity and creating a Malaysianidentity. The NDP and Vision 2020 extend the economic and structuralgoals of the NEP to the remaking of the Malay identity. The success ofMalaysia's economic and social transformations requires atransformation in Malay identity to what the popular press hascharacterized as a new breed of Malay and Mahthir has called the "Melayu Baru" or"New Malay" (Thompson 2003). According to Mahathir, this newmodel citizen is a highly educated, self-confident, rational, andtolerant Muslim who can combat neo-colonialism while simultaneouslyunderstanding and developing Malaysia's new information basedtechnologies and economy. The new Malay also conforms to descriptions ofmodern citizens in classic social theory in that the new Malay is anurbanized participant in the industrialized economy and isentrepreneurial (Thompson 2003). This image of the new Malay represents a complete rupture with theearlier image of the Malay peasant living in a kampung (village)surviving by subsistence farming subsistence farmingForm of farming in which nearly all the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and his family, leaving little surplus for sale or trade. Preindustrial agricultural peoples throughout the world practiced subsistence farming. and fishing. Mahathir (1970) has beenhighly critical of Malay peasants. Despite this, he argues that Malaysmust retain their cultural and moral values as they otherwise transformthemselves into New Malays. What, however, are these cultural and moralvalues that need to be retained? Old and New Malay Values Mahathir is a leading advocate for "Asian values Asian values was a concept that came into vogue in the 1990s, predicated on the belief in the existence in Asian countries of a unique set of institutions and political ideologies which reflected the region's culture and history. ." Thenotion of Asian values developed from the earlier concept"Confucian values" promoted in the 1970s by then PrimeMinister of Singapore The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore (and prior to 9 August 1965, the State of Singapore). As outlined in the recent constitutional amendment in 1991, the prime minister is appointed by the president from sitting Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew(lē kwän y, yü), 1923–, prime minister of Singapore (1959–90). and others as an explanation for therapid rise and success of capitalism in Singapore, Hong Kong Hong Kong(hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , andTaiwan. The transformation to Asian values emerged as Asian economiesincreasingly integrated and regional groups like the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN), organization established by the Bangkok Declaration (1967), linking the nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. (ASEAN ASEAN:see Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEANin full Association of Southeast Asian NationsInternational organization established by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand in ) were formed and as Japanese foreigndirect investment increased. For Mahathir, Asian values like hard work, family, and communitysolidarity are central to Malaysian development. In order to promoteAsian values among the citizenry of Malaysia, the Ministry of Educationin its Integrated Curriculum has identified sixteen "universalvalues In philosophy, universal values is an attempt to establish a finite set of concepts that are recognized by all human beings as morally good.The discussion of universal values is quite unsettled (often controversial), and therefore, can start from many different places: " which the ministry believes are compatible with allreligions, cultures, and norms of Malaysian society and are to beinculcated in all disciplines including in specific moral and Islamiceducation courses which make up 10% of instruction time at the primarylevel and 14% at the secondary level. These values are:compassion/empathy, self-reliance, humility/modesty, respect, love,justice, freedom, courage, cleanliness of body and mind,honesty/integrity, diligence, co-operation, moderation, gratitude,rationality, and public spiritedness (Hashim 1996). The Malaysian government is actively trying to integrate thesevalues with science and technology at the National Science Center. Therecently opened National Science Center located in the suburbs of KualaLumpur is a museum that emphasizes hands-on exhibits attractive tochildren and exhibits that document the contributions of Muslimscientists Science in the Islamic world has played an important role in the history of science. There have also been some notable Muslim scientists in the present day. The following is an incomplete list of notable Muslim scientists. and engineers. Indeed, even the architectural design This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. , whichresembles a mosque without minarets, reflects government efforts to linktechnoscientific development and cultural and moral values. This linkage is made extraordinarily clear as one walks into thelarge exhibition space under the glass dome. Straight ahead is anexhibit on space exploration that includes information onMalaysia's first communications satellite communications satellite artificial satellite that functions as part of a global radio-communications network. Echo 1, the first communications satellite, launched in 1960, was an instrumented inflatable sphere that passively reflected radio signals back to while flying high aboveis a large, traditional Malay kite. The message is obvious--we may havestarted off from humble roots, but we have come far and can achieve evengreater things. Indeed, much of the new skyline of Kuala Lumpur is architecturallydesigned to link Islamic values explicitly to the urban landscape. ThePetronas twin towers The Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are the world's tallest twin buildings. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural and the KL Tower are prime examples. Bothstructures draw on traditional Islamic symbolism and motifs while theirfunctions and construction in steel and glass are related to high-techindustries. The twin towers house the Petronas oil company and animmense shopping mall at their base, while the KL Tower serves as acommunications relay tower. (4) While the values listed above hardly contradict Western norms andvalues, Mahathir (1995) devotes a chapter to the contrasts he seesbetween "Western Modernism and Eastern Thought." Mahathirargues that the West has separated religious and secular life andreplaced religious values with hedonistic he��don��ism?n.1. Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses.2. Philosophy The ethical doctrine holding that only what is pleasant or has pleasant consequences is intrinsically good. ones like materialism, sensualgratification, and selfishness that are leading the West to "animpending collapse" (1995:81). This belief makes Mahathir's decision to build the MSC evenmore daring. Because the development of a knowledge-based economyrequires the free flow of information and ideas on a global scale,Mahathir has no choice but to allow the Western ideas and consumerismthat he fears into Malaysia via the internet and other communicationmedia. Mahathir has no choice because he needs the assistance of globalcorporations and their capital if the MSC is to succeed. And one of themajor promises made to attract these corporations is a policy of nocensorship of the internet. (5) Mahathir and other Malaysians developing the MSC recognize manypotential implications, both benefits and dangers, inherent with a freeflow of information. Azzman Sheriffadeen, a Malaysian CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and futuristtrained in engineering, recognizes that the MSC can contribute immenselyto the Malaysian economy because information technology services are notspacially Spa´cial`lyadv. 1. See Spatially. constrained. Thus, these services can be produced anywhere (inthis case in Malaysia) and consumed globally due to the cheap andunfettered flow of information via the internet and other communicationmedia (Azzman Shariffadeen 1994). Azzman Shariffadeen also recognizes the social implications of thefree flow of information: "Knowledge is a double-edged sword.Improper use can lead to destruction--destruction of self, society, oreven civilizations" (Azzman Shariffadeen 1997:10). He also statesthat social, cultural, and political institutions and mechanisms do notexist to counter the potential abuse of knowledge. However, in the end,he believes that if the citizenry is enculturated with strong moral andethical values, then Malaysia's MSC experiment can enable atransformation of Malaysian society along utopian lines, meaning aself-regulating society with unlimited access to information in whichrulers are wise and citizens actively participate in their owngovernance--a society in which human dignity Human dignity is an expression that can be used as a moral concept or as a legal term. Sometimes it means no more than that human beings should not be treated as objects. Beyond this, it is meant to convey an idea of absolute and inherent worth that does not need to be acquired and forms the foundation forindividuals' rights not to live in poverty or hunger (AzzmanShariffadeen 1997). The Discontents There are voices, however, within Malaysia, opposed toMahathir's vision for Malaysian modernity. This does not mean thatthey want Malaysia to reject economic, technological, or socialdevelopment, nor does it mean that they want Malaysia to be Westernized.Rather, these discontents, if you will, have a different interpretationof which values ought to be valorized, promoted, and acted out. Thefault line between Malaysian modernity and its discontents should not bedismissed simply as a political struggle for power between Mahathir andthe ousted and then jailed former Deputy Prime Minister A Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the real Prime Minister is temporarily absent. and heirapparent heir apparentn. the person who is expected to receive a share of the estate of a family member if he/she lives longer, or is not specifically disinherited by will. (See: heir) Anwar Ibrahim. While this is certainly an important aspect ofthe disagreements over Malaysian modernity, I think that it goes beyondthis to the questions of Malay and Malaysian identity. At a veryfundamental level, the issues in the struggle for political control ofMalaysia and the questions of Malay and Malaysian identity are the same.What role can and should Islam play in the contemporary world andspecifically in Malaysia? And how does one define Islam? One of the leading discontents is Chandra Muzaffar. Muzaffar was aprofessor at the University of Malaya until he was fired in the wake ofthe Anwar controversy. He has been an outspoken human rights activistfor some time and is now the vice president of the opposition NationalJustice Party (Keadilan) led by Anwar and his wife Wan Aziza. Muzaffar has been critical of many government policies. In aposition paper, Muzaffar (1996) addressed the Asian values debate. Hemade the point that the values cited as Asian, e.g., hard work,discipline, thriftiness, family solidarity, community cohesiveness, andloyalty to authority are only partly responsible for Asian economicgrowth, are not uniquely Asian, and are only a partial representation ofthe values that Asians hold. He notes that other factors like thecirculation of Japanese capital in East Asia East AsiaA region of Asia coextensive with the Far East.East Asian adj. & n. , focus on human resourcedevelopment, the existence of sound infrastructural facilities, emphasison export oriented industrialization industrializationProcess of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and , and general peace and stability inthe region were also important in East Asian development He notes thatwhile these values may be on the decline in the West in the face ofindividualism they are not limited to Asians. And most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent"above all, most especially ,Muzaffar notes that these economic and political values described asAsian ignore other Asian values derived from religion. He calls for are-interpretation of religious doctrine in order to emphasize the"universal spiritual worldview world��view?n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung.1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. and its perennial moral values"in each religion in order to foster inter-civilizational dialogueincluding Western secularism sec��u��lar��ism?n.1. Religious skepticism or indifference.2. The view that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education. . Muzaffar (1996) concludes: "When sucha transformed, reformed religion becomes a way of life, Asian valueswill cease to be synonymous with synonymous withadjective equivalent to, the same as, identical to, similar to, identified with, equal to, tantamount to, interchangeable with, one and the same as hard work or loyalty to authority, andwill be equated, as it [sic] should be, with justice, compassion andlove." In an interview with Muzaffar, he told me that Mahathir'sAsian values were nothing more than a screen to hide the fact thatMahathir is a "crass capitalist" who uses old,anti-colonialist rhetoric to stay in power rather than being the greatnationalist and anti-colonialist he represents himself as. Muzaffar saidthat Mahathir's real Asian values were what he called the "6Ms": money, market, machines, media, mega-ism, and Mahathirism.This then is Muzaffar's alternative characterization of Malaysianmodernity (Personal communication). According to Muzaffar, Islam is also a screen for Mahathir.Mahathir has instituted a system of Islamic banks operating withoutinterest to complement the extent banks. He was also instrumental inMalaysia's opening of the International Islamic University ofMalaysia (IIUM IIUM International Islamic University Malaysia ) in cooperation with the Organization of IslamicConference (OIC "Oh, I see." See digispeak. (chat) OIC - oh, I see. ). However, Muzaffar views these actions as cynical movesto maintain popular support from ethnic Malays as Islam has becomeincreasingly important for ethnic Malay identity (Personalcommunication). In contrast, Muzaffar believes Anwar's advocacy of Islam ismore sincere than Mahathir's. The distinction Muzaffar drawsbetween Asian economic and political values and universalistic moral andreligious values is similar to the differences between Mahathir'sAsian values and Anwar's Asian renaissance concept. According toAnwar (1996:17-18): By Asian Renaissance we mean the revival of the arts and sciences under the influence of the classical models based on strong moral and religious foundations; a cultural resurgence dominated by a reflowering of art and literature, architecture and music and advancements in science and technology. Thus, Anwar's vision of society is founded not upon economicand political imperatives but upon education and religious values. Two other oppositional political parties vocally oppose Malaysianmodernity. The Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) is the mainIslamically-oriented party and a direct descendent of the firstpolitical party founded in Malaysia and older by a year or so thanMahathir's party, the United Malay National Organization (UMNO),which has ruled continuously since independence in 1957. PAS has longcalled for an Islamic state The term Islamic state refers to groups that have adopted Islam as their primary faith. Specifically: A Caliphate in Sunni Islam An Imamah in Shia Islam A Wilayat al-Faqih for the Shia in the absence of an Imamah . While PAS has yet to outline what thismeans in practical terms beyond the institutionalization of Shariah(Islamic law), it is gaining popular support among ethnic Malays and nowcontrols two state governments. PAS is concerned about UMNO'sIslamic commitment in policy. This concern is not new originating as itdoes with PAS's and UMNO's definition of "Malay."PAS argued for religion, race, and language as the criteria, while UMNOargued for race, language, and custom. However, this charge has a newsalience sa��li��ence? also sa��li��en��cyn. pl. sa��li��en��ces also sa��li��en��cies1. The quality or condition of being salient.2. A pronounced feature or part; a highlight.Noun 1. given Anwar's 1998 ousting and imprisonment ImprisonmentSee also Isolation.Alcatraz Islandformer federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]Altmark, theGerman prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. since mostMalays saw him as the main source of Islamic legitimacy within UMNO. As was noted previously, recently retired longtime Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad and the Malaysian government have used the islamicUniversity and similar large-scale projects like the building of mosquesand instituting an Islamic banking system to legitimize le��git��i��mize?tr.v. le��git��i��mized, le��git��i��miz��ing, le��git��i��miz��esTo legitimate.le��git the governmentwith Malay Muslims. Another strategy for legitimation with thisconstituency was bringing Anwar Ibrahim into the government apparentlywith the urging and support of Ismail Al-Faruqi who was a consultant onIslamic and educational concerns for the Malaysian government andfounded the International Institute of Islamic Thought The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is a privately held non-profit organization concerned with issues of Islamic thought. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, the Institute was founded in 1981 AC (1401 AH) with seed money from the Muslim Brotherhood (IIIT IIIT International Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad; formerly Indian Institute of Information Technology)IIIT Indian Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad)). (6) Anwarhas been strongly influenced by the ideas of the IIIT and by otherleading proponents of Islamic science like S.H. Nasr and Syed NaquibAl-Attas. The second opposition party is the Democratic Action Party (DAP).Though it is not officially an ethnically-based party like UMNO, DAP isthe primary Chinese opposition party. DAP has challenged Mahathir andUMNO regarding the inclusiveness of its policies towards non-Malays. Whyfor example is Mahathir concerned about creating the so-called New Malaythey ask? What about the ethnic Chinese, Indians, and indigenous peoplesthat together make-up roughly half of Malaysia's citizens? Andwhile there remain serious differences among the opposition parties, notleast of which is the role of Islam and Shariah in governing Malaysia,the three opposition parties are working together. IIUM The International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) was foundedin 1983 by the government of Malaysia and co-sponsored by theOrganization of Islamic Conference (OIC) specifically in order tointegrate Islamic values and knowledge during a period when Islam wasundergoing a renaissance in Malaysia (Nagata 1984). IIUM is a site atwhich the discourses of Vision 2020, alternative Malaysian discourses,and Malaysian and global Islamic discourses intersect as IIUM explicitlyattempts to integrate knowledge and Islamic values. Educationalinstitutions in the Muslim world are excellent sites in which to examinediscursive relationships among Islam, modernity, globalization, andidentity grounded within a highly localized setting as Lukens-Bull(Lukens-Bull 2005) has demonstrated for Java and for similar reasonsthat Peletz (2002) suggests for the case of Islamic courts in Malaysia.Thus, IIUM provides an ideal site within which to examine the tensionspresent in attempts to construct a Malaysian modernity, Malaysianidentity, and Malay identity. In 1984, the Third International Conference on the Islamization ofKnowledge Islamization of knowledge is a term which describes a variety of attempts and approaches to synthesize the ethics of Islam with various fields of modern thought. Its end product would be a new ijma ("consensus") among Muslims on an appropriate fiqh ("jurisprudence") and a convened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Co-sponsored by the IIITand the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Culture, this conference wasalso important for bringing the IIIT's ideas to Malaysia. Oneparticipant at this conference was Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad whostated his support for the IIIT's approach to Islamization (IIIT1989). Following the success of the Malaysian conference, the IIITopened a branch office in Malaysia associated with IIUM. As Minister ofEducation, Anwar became the President of IIUM and recruited AbdulHamidAbuSulayman from the IIIT to become Rector of the university and run theday-to-day operations in 1988. The IIIT even briefly considered movingtheir headquarters to Malaysia in the mid-1990s. (7) The goal of integrating knowledge and Islamic values is quiteevident in Anwar Ibrahim's "President's Message" inthe IIUM catalog where he talks about the importance of revitalizing theintellectual tradition of the ummah, integrating Islamic learning as abasis for intellectual creativity, and integrating Islamic and worldoriented approaches in each individual's personality. According toAnwar Ibrahim (International Islamic University Malaysia The International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM)(Arabic:الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية 1998:v): The survival of the Muslim civilisation will and must be a work of scholarship, a scholarship that is not merely abstract but also informed by and sensitive to the pressing problems and concerns of the world in which we live. Knowledge is the most important resource of the present day global economy. If Muslims do not equip themselves to succeed and thrive in the new economy of knowledge they will fall further behind. If Muslims do not learn how to enter the new economy of knowledge through the conceptual world of Islam they consign themselves to a future that is as fractured and problem ridden as has been our recent past. It is also clear that the discourse of Vision 2020/Malaysianmodernity has shaped greatly the discourse of legitimation of IIUM.Islam is good not just for individual Muslims, it is critical forsuccess in the new global economy. In the first paragraph on page onethe catalog states (International Islamic University Malaysia 1998:1): IIUM regards knowledge as a trust from Allah to be utilised, in accordance with his guidance, for the benefit of life ... By integrating sources of revealed knowledge with an arts and sciences curriculum the University contributes both to the enrichment of the intellectual tradition and the advancement of the individual and society. And furthermore, the longest subsection in the "GeneralInformation" section is titled "Job Prospects" anddetails the types of jobs a graduate from each of the kulliyas orcolleges might expect. The mission of IIUM intersects with the goals of Vision 2020 andwith the plan to reconstruct Malay identity. At the same time, however,they are not identical. While Mahathir may view the mission of IIUM asproducing Malaysian and particularly Malay citizens with 21st centuryskill sets accompanied by Islamic values, the goal of IIUM is unifyingIslamic values and knowledge and instilling this unified Islamicorientation or world view in students--Muslim Malay students, Musliminternational students, and potentially to non-Muslim Malaysian studentsas well. The intersection of these overlapping but differing agendas hascreated difficulties at IIUM of accomplishing their primarygoal--providing a curriculum that unifies Islamic values and knowledgeand instilling it in students. The situation is further complicated in that at least two differentstrands of Islamization of knowledge are represented at IIUM. The firstand more dominant strand is the IOK IOK Internationales Olympisches Komitee (German: International Olympic Committee)IOK Indian Occupied Kashmir derived from Ismail AI-Faruqi andthe IIIT. The second strand is present in the thought of Syed NaquibAI-Attas and his colleagues at the International Institute of IslamicThought and Civilization (ISTAC ISTAC Information Systems Technical Advisory CommitteeISTAC International Institute of Islamic Thought And Civilization ), a special, fully autonomouspost-graduate teaching and research unit attached to IIUM when I wasthere. (8) I first examine the situation at IIUM in general beforeexamining the specific case of ISTAC. At IIUM, the exact mechanism of the integration of Islam andknowledge is still being worked out. In theory, the integration takesplace through a combination of required courses on Islamic civilization,Islamic content in all courses, and informal sessions held weekly.However, in practice this model has had mixed results at best.Initially, the Center for Fundamental Knowledge (CFK CFK Clausenengen Fotballklubb (Clausenengen Football Club; Norway)CFK Computer Forum KaHo (Computer Aiding Center)CFK Charles Foster Kane (movie, band, White Stripes lyric)) organized andtaught the formal core courses on Islamic civilization, implementedcompulsory weekly halaqah tarbiyah al-Islamiya (Islamic educationmeetings), and 'ibadah seminars held each semester. The CFK becamethe Department of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Heritage in theKulliyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (IRKHS) asIIUM expanded from 180 students into a major university. And while thedepartment now offers its own degree program, its influence beyond itsown students is substantially reduced (Haneef and Amin 1997). Few of the faculty members I spoke with about how theyoperationalized the integration of Islam and knowledge in the coursesthey taught even said they made a substantive effort in this direction.In many courses, the Islamization of the curriculum meant assigning oneor two relevant IIIT publications or then rector AbuSulayman's(1993) book Crisis in the Muslim Mind. (9) One professor of sociologyand anthropology who taught for 30 years in the United States beforeaccepting a post at IIUM told me that he taught his courses exactly ashe taught them in the United States and he gave me syllabi syl��la��bi?n.A plural of syllabus. for courseson Criminology and Deviant Behavior as evidence (Personalcommunication). One non-Muslim graduate student in political science told me thatuntil she took the course "Islamization of Political Science,"which I also attended, she had no idea what IIUM meant when they said"Islamization" because all of her courses were similar tocourses she took at the secular university where she had completed herundergraduate degree. This student was a Malaysian citizen of Indiandescent. She said she came to IIUM to get a Masters degree and did notthink about the Islamic orientation of the university at all whendeciding where to apply and attend. Interestingly, a fellow politicalscience graduate student who was Muslim and a friend of this woman didnot know that she was not a Muslim until she told me this in herpresence because she chose to wear a head scarf while at IIUM "outof respect" (Personal communication). In a detailed analysis of the Islamization of knowledge focusing onthe economics department at IIUM, Haneef and Amin (1997) describe thedecline in Islamic content and integration in the economics curriculum.For example, they noted that the core courses on Islamic civilizationhave been reduced from 22 credit hours to 12 credit hours. Similarly,they conducted content analysis on final exam questions in economicsclasses and found that while Islamic content was high in courses dealingspecifically with economics from an Islamic perspective in coursesdealing with "conventional," i.e. non-Islamic, economics thatIslamic content had declined steadily between the 1984-85 and 1993-94school years (Haneef and Amin 1997). As the curriculum changed from a structured model in which studentshad to take particular courses during particular years and semesters oftheir studies to a flexible system in which students could take anycourse at anytime as long as they met the prerequisites, Haneef and Amin(1997) found that students' attitudes towards the Islamic corecourses had changed. In the former system, students took the requiredcore courses on Islamic civilization early in their studies and couldthen more easily relate Islamic concepts to economics. With theinstitutionalization of the flexible system, students tended to delaytaking the required Islamic courses until their final year and thereforehad much less background in Islamic heritage to help them conceptualize con��cep��tu��al��ize?v. con��cep��tu��al��ized, con��cep��tu��al��iz��ing, con��cep��tu��al��iz��esv.tr.To form a concept or concepts of, and especially to interpret in a conceptual way: the relevance of Islam to economics. At the same time, students startedviewing the required economics courses as the essential core curriculumrather than the courses on Islamic civilization which they now viewed asunimportant or even "irrelevant." As Haneef and Amin (1997)summarized, "Clearly they spend more time and effort on theireconomics courses, considering them of direct relevance in their futurecareers." To a great extent, the administration recognizes and acknowledgesthis situation. At one point before I was in Malaysia, IIIT'sMalaysian office played an explicit advisory role. By the fall of 1998,however, IIUM was relying on several faculty members who at one time oranother had been associated with the IIIT or Association of MuslimSocial Scientists. For example, Dr. M'hand Berkouk, an Algerianpolitical scientist and Head of the Department of General Studies atIIUM, was developing faculty-training sessions on how to offerintegrated courses. Berkouk became aware of IIIT when he was invited toparticipate in an IIIT conference at the University of Southampton In the most recent RAE assessment (2001), it has the only engineering faculty in the country to receive the highest rating (5*) across all disciplines.[3] According to The Times Higher Education Supplement inthe United Kingdom where he was on the faculty. At the time, he was theonly Muslim teaching political science in the United Kingdom. He enjoyedthe intellectual environment at the conference and eventually becameinvolved with IIIT's London office and networking to establish theEuropean Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He was invited to jointhe faculty of IIUM because of his work with IIIT. He came to IIUM inSeptember 1997 in order to get exposed to different ideas and develop adifferent side of his personality by learning more about Islam despitegetting only 20% of his previous salary teaching at the University ofSouthampton. (10) According to Berkouk, two special diploma programs were beingdeveloped for faculty in order to help them better integrate the socialand human sciences with the Islamic sciences in their teaching. Thefirst diploma program is for social and human science faculty in orderto introduce them to the principles and methods of the Shariah sciencesincluding: Qur'anic studies, Sunnah studies, Usul al-Din, Fiqh Fiqh (Arabic: فقه) is Islamic jurisprudence. It is an expansion of Islamic law, complemented by the rulings of Islamic jurists to direct the lives of Muslims. , andUsul al-Fiqh. The course will culminate with a seminar on theintegration of knowledge. The "ultimate objective" of thisdiploma is "the Islamization of Knowledge with the aim to usher inan ideal world order for humanity at large." (11) The second diploma program is for faculty teaching in the Islamicrevealed knowledge program. This diploma offers an overview of thetheory, concepts, and methods of the social and human sciences throughsix modules including: psychology, sociology and anthropology, politicalscience, communications, social research methods, and comprehensiverelational studies. (12) This course culminates in a seminar on theintegration of knowledge as well. The goal of this diploma program is toenable faculty to "acquire and develop rational and integratedapproaches to knowledge and teaching." (13) Each of these special diplomas consists of 120 contact hours with80% attendance and passage of a final examination required to receivethe diploma. The diploma programs were voluntary at first though planscalled for them to become compulsory over time. Berkouk said that therewas significant resistance to requiring the diplomas for faculty.However, in the end, the faculty senate agreed to the new initiative(Personal communication). (14) The difference between the goals of the two diploma programs isboth interesting and illuminating. The goal of the diploma program forthe social and human science faculty is both broad and utopian. It aimsto transform society along Islamic lines for all humanity. In contrast,the goal of the diploma program for the Islamic studies faculty isnarrow and mundane--essentially coming down to improving scholarship andteaching. The differences stem largely from the differences in theperspectives of the two faculties. Social and human scientists I spoketo at IIUM, and particularly faculty trained and previously living inthe West, often noted that they came to IIUM and Malaysia in order tolearn more about Islam and make a personal contribution to the successof Muslim civilization. For example, Berkouk's comment aboutdeveloping another side of his personality is relevant here. And while Ido not have a specific example to support this claim, I suggest that theIslamic studies faculty holds attitudes more similar to that of PAS, themain Islamic party in Malaysia, which argues that the key totransforming society is the implementation of Shariah. At the same time, Berkouk also said that a course forundergraduates that unified Islamic and social sciences was to beoffered the following semester. This course would include materialrelated to the philosophy of science, philosophy of social science,Islamic methodology, and Islamic epistemology. Other courses onquantitative analysis Quantitative AnalysisA security analysis that uses financial information derived from company annual reports and income statements to evaluate an investment decision.Notes: and statistics from an Islamic perspective and"reformed Islamic sciences not traditional Islamic sciences"were planned for the following fall semester (Personal communication). In the fall of 1998, however, with faculty training sessions andunified courses only on paper or at the discretion of individualprofessors, the primary means of providing students an Islamicperspective is through half-day required study sessions each Fridaymorning. Generally led by graduate students, the students I spoke toabout these sessions were generally underwhelmed. According to studentsserious about Islam, these sessions were generally considereduninformative un��in��for��ma��tive?adj.Providing little or no information; not informative.unin��for . According to students who were not serious about Islam,these sessions were generally considered time that could be better spentat study or recreation. Students often also participate in student organized and ledhalaqah groups which read, memorize, and discuss the Qur'an. Iattended several sessions of one halaqah group. The group at anyparticular session consisted of between six and eight students. Theparticular group I met with was made up of primarily internationalstudents studying at IIUM though there was at least one Malay member.The group met once a week on Friday afternoons at the IIUM mosque. Weall sat on the marble floor in a circle, which is why the groups arenamed halaqah groups because halaqah is the Arabic word for circle. Thestudents were to read and memorize a short section of the Qur'aneach week. After students took turns reciting a few verses each, onestudent who was assigned the task the previous week would present abasic translation from Arabic to English (15) and an overview of theverses followed by an interpretation of the text usually drawing upon anauthoritative source. This would be followed by a general discussionwith individuals free to pose questions or offer comments on the text,the interpretive presentation, or any related matter. Other students join the Malaysian Muslim Youth League (ABIM).Founded by Anwar Ibrahim in 1971 as a student, ABIM organized around theissue of Malay language rights before transforming into an Islamic groupadvocating a Malaysia oriented toward Islam but with freedom of religionat its core. ABIM is not directly linked with the Islamization ofknowledge debate though the ABIM chapter at IIUM was forming an IOKCircle discussion group. (16) There was also a general IOK Circle group that met about twice amonth in the evening in an IIUM classroom in addition to the ABIMaffiliated IOK Circle discussion group. Two undergraduate studentsincluding the son of a Pakistani diplomat and the nephew of a leadingfigure at the IIIT organized the IOK Circle meetings. Each meetingfeatures one or more invited speakers who present a lecture on a topicrelated to the Islamization of knowledge or a commentary on a book(often by the author) central to the Islamization of knowledge.Approximately 20 students and faculty attended each of the IOK Circles Iwas present at with students representing the vast majority ofattendees. At one of the meetings, I was invited to give a commentary on theIIUM Rector Abdul Hamid AbuSulayman's (1993) book Crisis in theMuslim Mind. I was a last minute substitute for the Rector himself whowas on a trip out of the country. (17) I was fairly critical of the bookin my presentation. I began with a basic summary of AbuSulayman'smain argument that Islamic civilization is in a state of crisis, thecrisis is a crisis of thought, and he recommends an action plan toreunify re��u��ni��fy?tr.v. re��u��ni��fied, re��u��ni��fy��ing, re��u��ni��fiesTo cause (a group, party, state, or sect) to become unified again after being divided. knowledge and spread this knowledge throughout society. Then, Iread the following quote outlining AbuSulayman's criteria forevaluating knowledge and scholarship more generally: The kind of knowledge to be sought and used ... is that which issound in its principles, aims, and structure. Knowledge without thesecharacteristics will be worthless when measured against the standards ofIslamic teachings and principles. Any structure of Muslim knowledge thatdoes not provide the Muslim mind with the means to achieve the bestpossible understanding and performance is not a true Islamic structureor methodology for thought, knowledge, or life. (AbuSulayman 1993:99) I then used AbuSulayman's own criteria to critique the book. Idid not critique the aims of the book, i.e., to revitalize Islamiccivilization from within. However, I did argue forcefully that in termsof principles and structure the book failed to meet the standards ofeither Western or Islamic scholarship. (18) Louay Safi then gave a second commentary on the book. (19)Safi's presentation took a different approach to my own. Safiargued that AbuSulayman's book ought to be viewed as"intellectual activism" rather than as scholarship in a strictsense. He then outlined several points where he agreed or disagreed withAbuSulayman. A question and answer session followed Safi's presentation.The audience reaction was quite spirited as some individuals defendedAbuSulayman and others agreed with at least some of the critiques Safiand I made. The importance of recounting this episode is that ithighlights the strong feelings of attachment that many students have toboth AbuSulayman and this book and to Islam in general. The students whoattended the IOK Circle meetings were already interested in theIslamization of knowledge and for many of them it was specificallybecause of AbuSulayman's Crisis in the Muslim Mind. Crisis in theMuslim Mind is required reading in courses throughout IIUM and moststudents encounter it more than once. And, for a few at least, Crisis inthe Muslim Mind has transformed their way of thinking about the Islamicheritage. For example, one student before reading works published byIIIT, including AbuSulayman's Crisis in the Muslim Mind, advocateda Salafi interpretation of Islam and wore a long beard. After readingthe works of the IIIT, he is clean-shaven and is willing to criticallyexamine the Islamic heritage including Salafi interpretations (Personalcommunication). A second theme in the question and answer session was whether Icould legitimately criticize AbuSulayman's book. Related to thistheme were the issues of my familiarity with the Islamization ofknowledge and also whether I had read Crisis in the Muslim Mind in itsoriginal Arabic or the English translation of the original. (20) Ideflected both issues successfully and had some support doing this froma few individuals in the audience. The underlying question was thequestion of authenticity as it relates to authority. The question of authenticity and authority also resonates with thecivic debates in Malaysia about the place of Islam and on who has theauthority to represent Islam. In a separate interview, Safi discussedthe question of authenticity. Sail argued that all scholarship dependsupon a particular worldview and is thus not value free: "there isno escape from metaphysical understanding.... you cannot say that peoplecan do research without having any metaphysical commitments or anyontological understanding." Thus, religion is central to researchbecause religion "gives answers to the most basic and profoundquestions about life--who we are, where we come from, where we areheading, what is the purpose of what we see around us." Therefore,those researchers who hold an Islamic understanding of the universe mustrelate their scholarship to their metaphysical beliefs "orotherwise something will be missing there. You can never be authentic ifyou ignore those fundamental things that influence your outlook inlife." When I then suggested that this leads logically to the pointthat Westerners could not do Islamic social science, Sail agreed partly.According to Sail, the West can critique Islamic scholarship but notadvance it. He stated, "You can critique something you don'tbelieve in, something you don't agree with, but you can'tbring it to heart. So, definitely, Western scholars can be authenticonly if they were true to their own experiences and consciousness." The question of authenticity also is relevant for Muslims workingin the Western tradition. According to Safi, the result of Muslimindividuals working within the Western tradition is inauthenticscholarship that mimics others. This also relates back toAbuSulayman's view, and that of IIIT, that there is a crisis ofthought originating in the separation of Islamic and modern sciences. Inan interview, AbuSulayman told me that the reason education needs to bereformed in the Muslim world is because there is no church in Islam.Therefore, in contrast to Christianity where there is both a church anda state, the only sources for the enculturation enculturationthe process by which a person adapts to and assimilates the culture in which he lives.See also: SocietyNoun 1. enculturation of Islamic values areeducation and the family. Without an institutionalized church toenculturate values, education and thought become critical and this ispartly why he wrote Crisis in the Muslim Mind (Personal communication). AbuSulayman, contrary to my commentary on the book, felt thatCrisis in the Muslim Mind is scholarly, systematic, and comprehensive.He did say, however, that the book was based more upon reflection thanresearch. AbuSulayman noted the difference in tone between his book,which is highly critical of the Islamic heritage, and the work ofAl-Faruqi, which is generally positive toward the Islamic heritage.AbuSulayman said this difference relates to the context in which eachwas writing and the intended audiences. AbuSulayman was writing inArabic for Muslims from within the Muslim world while AI-Faruqi wasliving in the West and writing for a Western audience (Personalcommunication). These differences in location and audience are alsocritical for understanding the episode of the closing of the Malaysianbranch office of IIIT that was housed at IIUM and led by Louay Safi. While I was in the midst of my Malaysian fieldwork, the IIITM IIITM India Institute of Information Technology and Management (Gwalior, India)(IIITMalaysia) branch office was closed. Given that a mere four years hadpassed since the IIIT had seriously considered moving its headquartersto Malaysia, this was a big surprise both to me and to students whoparticipated in the IOK Circle discussion groups and the rumors wereflying. The main thrust of all the rumors was that IIITM was closedbecause of its close ties to Anwar Ibrahim--Anwar invited IIIT personnelto work at IIUM and open a branch office, sits on the Board of Directorsfor IIIT affiliated organizations, and IIIT related individuals like Dr.Taha Al-Alwani spoke out publicly in defense of Anwar. There were evenrumors that all of IIUM would be closed due to the loyalty of IIUMstudents to Anwar. The rumors concerning the closing of IIITM being related to theAnwar crisis certainly seemed plausible since no one I had spoken tobefore the news broke had mentioned there was even a possibility ofIIITM closing and the students I spoke to had no foreknowledge fore��knowl��edge?n.Knowledge or awareness of something before its existence or occurrence; prescience.foreknowledgeNounknowledge of something before it actually happensNoun 1. either.However, according to four different individuals who were present at themeeting who I asked repeatedly over a two year period, IIITM closedbecause it was felt that IIUM had fully adopted the same goals as theIIIT and therefore IIUM no longer needed the guidance and consultationof IIIT. While in the end, the closing of IIITM apparently was unrelatedto the Anwar situation, the students' reading of the episodehighlights the discursive entanglements present when closely examinedwithin particular sites. The second strand of IOK at IIUM is that of Syed Muhammad NaquibAl-Attas Syed Muhammad al Naquib bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Muhsin al Attas (born September 5, 1931) is a prominent contemporary Muslim philosopher and thinker from Malaysia. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is and several colleagues at ISTAC. Al-Attas first discussed theidea for ISTAC with Anwar Ibrahim, a former student of Al-Attas and thenMinister of Education, in 1986, and ISTAC was formally established in1987 with Al-Attas as Founder-Director (Mohd Nor Wan Daud 1991). (21) The administration of ISTAC has a particular institutional visionderived from the thought and research of Al-Attas himself. Wan, who haswritten extensively on ISTAC, told me that ISTAC "is not just acenter of learning .... It is a center of learning developed by aphilosopher and a scholar and based on a very strong philosophicalunderstanding" (Personal communication). Al-Attas (1993:44-45, orig.1978) defines Islamization as: The liberation of man first from magical, mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition, and then from secular control over his reason and his language. The man of Islam is he whose reason and language are no longer controlled by magic, mythology, animism, his own national and cultural traditions and secularism. He is liberated from both the magical and the secular world views .... It is also liberation from subservience to his physical demands which inclines toward the secular and injustice to his true self or soul, for man as physical being inclines towards forgetfulness of his true nature, becoming ignorant of his true purpose and unjust to it. Islamization is a process not so much of evolution as that of devolution to original nature .... His 'evolution' towards perfection is his progress towards realization of his original nature as spirit. This in the individual, personal, existential sense Islamization refers to what is described above in which the Holy Prophet represents the highest and most perfect Example; in the collective, social and historical sense Islamization refers to the Community's striving towards realization of the moral and ethical quality of social perfection achieved during the age of the Holy Prophet (may God bless and give him Peace!) who created it under Divine Guidance. The basic idea is that reality consists of differences created byAllah. Allah also created what might be called a natural order but inreality is a supernatural or divine order. For Al-Attas and hiscolleagues, when the world is organized based upon this divine orderthis constitutes justice and the result is justice, harmony, and peace.And the knowledge and discipline of that order is adab. As Professor Wanexplained, adab "is a key element in our identity. Adab is thediscipline of the mind--always wanting to put things in their rightplaces" (Personal communication). In summary, for Al-Attas and hiscolleagues, Islamization is the application of adab. Al-Attas intends to realize his definition of Islamization inpractice through ISTAC. As Al-Attas told me, he "tries to put ideasinto concrete reality" (Personal communication) and ISTAC is onesuch reality. Al-Attas was deeply involved in creating ISTAC. Al-Attasmade every important decision himself from the physical location whereISTAC was built to the architectural design and even the furnishings andthe landscaping. (22) The linkage between metaphysics and the everyday lived world isimportant for understanding Al-Attas. For Al-Attas and his colleagues,Islam is experienced in daily life if one lives according to the correctadab. Professor Wan, for example, almost always explained abstractconcepts like "Islamization," "adab," and"justice" by grounding them in terms of everyday interpersonalrelationships between husband and wife, between parents and children,between siblings, often using his family and friends as examples.Al-Attas and his colleagues argue that not only did Muslims live thisway in the time of the Prophet Muhammad but that many Muslims continueto live their lives this way right now. The goal is to have all Muslimslive according to the correct adab. Conclusion The conceptualization con��cep��tu��al��ize?v. con��cep��tu��al��ized, con��cep��tu��al��iz��ing, con��cep��tu��al��iz��esv.tr.To form a concept or concepts of, and especially to interpret in a conceptual way: of multiple modernities or alternativemodernities emerged to capture the variable ways in which modernityunfolds across time and space. Gaonkar (2001) notes how even within theWestern tradition the term modern has been differently conceptualizedacross time. In one conceptualization, the old instructs the new. Theold is the standard by which each age measures excellence and "mustseek to emulate under altered conditions without ever hoping to surpassit" (Gaonkar 2001:6). Anwar Ibrahim and many of the oppositionfigures and groups I discuss would take a similar stance. In the secondconceptualization, the modern is associated with progress in knowledgeand material well-being and is better than the past. This perspective isrepresented by Mahathir and Vision 2020. In the third conceptualization(post Baudelaire), modernity is associated with the present. Novelty andthe present are valorized and the modern neither looks to the past formodels or a standard nor claims the authority to "instruct thefuture" (Gaonkar 2001:6). This again is the conceptualization thatnearly all parties in Malaysia fear. Drawing on Foucault, Gaonkar(2001:13) suggests that what underlies each of these conceptualizationsof modernity is "an attitude of questioning the present." I use "modernity" in a comparative sense and as acultural space structured by the logic of capitalism in which Muslimsare making and re-making modernity--Malaysian, Malay, Islamic. Donhamcaptures well what I have in mind when he describes modernity as adiscursive space or public sphere in which "an argument takesplace" and "at least some actors invoke notions of the modernin claims to power" and where "ideas of tradition areconstructed and reconstructed" (Donham 2002:244-245, emphasis inoriginal). (23) While some scholars have questioned the utility of modernity as atheoretical construct given its empirical variability and use inpractice, I agree with Knauft (2002) and Gaonkar (2001) that the idea ofalternative modernities is theoretically productive. The Malaysianpoliticians and Muslim intellectuals engaged in the Islamization ofknowledge debate are critically engaging with notions of modernity bothin a comparative manner and are actively and creatively making andre-making alternative modernities and identities--Malaysian, Malay, andIslamic. The rise of identity-based groups within states, whether they arebased on religion, ethnicity, gender, or race, at one time thought tocontradict the homogenizing aspects of globalization must now be viewedas an outcome of globalization. Specifically, as state hegemonydeclines, the ability of the state to create citizen-based identitiesdeclines. As Friedman (2003:7) states: If the modernist nation-state is based on the identification of a subject population with a national project that defines its members, in principle, in terms of equality and political representivity, and which is future oriented and developmentalistic, when this project loses its power of attraction, its subjects must look elsewhere .... This leads to a range of cultural identifications that fragment and ethnify the former political units, from ethnic to religious to sexual, all in the vacuum left by a vanishing future. This, in turn, creates the conditions under which alternativemodernities can emerge and prosper. Malaysian modernity embodied in Vision 2020 and its plans to builda K-economy run by New Malays asserts one construction of Malay andMalaysian identity. In Malaysia, "official" Islam isentrenched in the national development agenda. The Islamization ofknowledge is thus interpreted within this context as an avenue toadvance the Malaysian economy. At IIUM, the Islamization of knowledge,while officially advocated, is often subordinated to rhetoric more inline with the Malaysian economic development agenda. If the IIITapproach to the Islamization of knowledge appears on the surfacecompatible with the Malaysian modernity embodied in Vision 2020, theapproach of Al-Attas is problematic in that it foregrounds the spiritualgoals of Islam while explicitly subordinating the "physicaldemands" of the secular world. Despite these apparent differences,both versions of the Islamization of knowledge have failed to transformIIUM or engage large audiences of Malaysians beyond the academic world.If at the IIUM, the IIIT version has failed due in some part to thesubordination of the goals of IIUM to the national development planVision 2020 and Al-Attas' version has failed to succeed as well,these and other Islamic and Malaysian discourses resonate withparticular Malaysian and international constituencies. The Centre for Public Policy Studies in Malaysia reports in arecent survey that 90 percent of respondents were proud to be Malaysian;however, only 45 percent of Malaysians considered themselves Malaysianfirst while 42 percent viewed themselves as members of their ethnicgroup first. Twelve percent considered themselves as equally Malaysianand a member of their ethnic group. Among Muslims, given a choicebetween being Malay, Muslim, or Malaysian as their primary identity,72.7 percent chose being Muslim (Centre for Public Policy Studies 2006). Ultimately, the question remains whether or not the Malaysiangovernment's top-down social engineering project or any of theother alternatives will succeed at unifying Malaysia. By utilizing adiscourse about modernity, Islam, and technoscience that is value-richrather than value-free, this debate raises anew the questions"Whose modernity? Whose values?" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Mazyar Lotfalian and two anonymous reviewersfor greatly improving the article. I would like to thank the NationalScience Foundation and the Graduate School for Islamic and SocialSciences for providing funding for my research on Islam, science, andmodernity. And, especially, I would like to thank everyone I met andworked with in Malaysia. REFERENCES AbuSulayman, Abdulhamid. 1993. Crisis in the Muslim Mind. Herndon,VA: IIIT. Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naquib. 1993. Islam and Secularism. KualaLumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization. Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on theOrigins and Spread of Nationalism. Revised ed. London: Verso ver��so?n. pl. ver��sos1. A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto.2. The back of a coin or medal. . Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions ofGlobalization. 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Edited by Parsons, Talcott. New York: Scribner's. Williamson, Thomas. 2002. "Incorporating a MalaysianNation." Cultural Anthropology 17(3):401-430. Christopher A. Furlow University of Florida University of Florida is the third-largest university in the United States, with 50,912 students (as of Fall 2006) and has the eighth-largest budget (nearly $1.9 billion per year). UF is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. and Santa Fe College ENDNOTES (1) Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and religiouslyplural state in Southeast Asia located partly on the same peninsula asits northern neighbor, Thailand, and partly on the northern half ofBorneo that it shares with Indonesia and Brunei. Of the approximately 27million Malaysians, 53 percent are ethnically Malays, 26 percent areChinese, 8 percent are Indian, 12 percent are non-Malay bumiputras, andother ethnicities comprise the final 1 percent. In terms of religiousaffiliation, 60.4 percent are Muslim, 19.2 percent are Buddhist, 9.1percent are Christian, 6.3 percent are Hindu, 2.6 percent practicetraditional Chinese religion, and 2.4 percent either practice anotherreligion or no religion (Lockwood 2003). I refer to the ex-Prime Minister Mahathir throughout this articlebecause he was the primary mover behind Vision 2020 and was in powerduring my fieldwork in Malaysia and because current Prime MinisterBadawi has largely carried forward the Mahathir agenda. (2) Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution defines"Malay" as "a person who professes the religion of Islam,habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom" andwas either born or resided in Malaysia or Singapore before or on MerdekaDay (Malaysia's Independence Day) or the issue of such a person. (3) In the wake of the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997,Malaysia pegged the exchange rate of its national currency the ringgit ring��git?n.See Table at currency.[Malay.]Noun 1. ringgit - the basic unit of money in Malaysia; equal to 100 sen at RM3.80 to $1. The peg remained in place until Prime Minister Badawirefloated the exchange rate within hours of China's decision to dothe same. (4) For example see the websites for the Petronas Towers and KLTower where the Islamically-inspired architecture is discussed,www.petronastwintowers.com.my/internet/pett/pettweb.nsf/frm_home_hi?Open Frameset The HTML tag that divides a Web page into sections (frames). The following HTML divides the screen page into two horizontal frames with the top frame having 25% of the screen and the bottom frame having 75%. See frames.<frameset rows=25%, 75%"> </frameset> re> www.menarakl.com.my/e_Thetower.html (5) Malaysia's pledge of no censorship of the internet wasstrained in the wake of the political struggle between Mahathir and hisousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when Anwar supporters whofelt the traditional media outlets too closely reflected the governmentviews used the internet to post anti-government materials. While theMalaysian government did arrest some individuals within Malaysia whoposted material under the Internal Security Act, they have been unableto control most of the information posted on the internet. For a briefdescription see Nuttall (1998). (6) The IIIT is a think tank with headquarters in Herndon,Virginia, and branch offices in numerous Muslim and Western nations thatadvocates the Islamization of knowledge, the integration of Islamicvalues with modern knowledge, as a solution to the problems within theMuslim world. (7) Anwar Ibrahim has a long affiliation with the IIIT and IIIToffshoot, Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS GSISS Graduate School of Islamic and Social Studies ). He isa longtime member of the Board of Trustees for both IIIT and GSISS andwas (and may still be) Chairman of the Board of Trustees at GSISS when Iwas there in 1997. (8) ISTAC has since 2002 lost its independent status and isincorporated into IIUM as a Kulliyyah. (9) Crisis in the Muslim Mind is even assigned as required readingin some engineering courses. (10) It is also interesting to note that Berkouk, though apracticing Muslim, became involved with IIIT and then IIUM despitehaving had only three days of formal religious training at aQur'anic school when he was four years old (Personalcommunication). (11) The information and the quote are from an internal documentdetailing the diploma program put together by the Department of GeneralStudies at IIUM in the author's possession. (12) Comprehensive relational studies included sections oncomputers and scientific analysis, innovative thinking, economics in theage of globalization, and legal thinking. (13) The information and the quote are from an internal documentdetailing the diploma program put together by the Department of GeneralStudies at IIUM in the author's possession. (14) Interestingly, the idea behind the diploma programs harkensback to early ideas proposed by the IIIT. Specifically, the IIIT arguedfor the training of individuals with integrated perspectives combiningboth Islamic and modern knowledge who could then instruct futuregenerations of students in a similar manner. (15) The students came from a variety of linguistic backgrounds andwhile most students had some Arabic language training the relativeabilities were highly variable. Thus, the language of choice was Englishwhich is the language of instruction at IIUM and therefore common to allstudents. (16) ABIM did have some interaction with the MSA in the UnitedStates, however, at least during its formative period (Al-Attas,personal communication). Due to the political circumstances in Malaysiaduring the fall of 1998 with the ousting, arrest, and trial of DeputyPrime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the subsequent Reformusi movement, Iwas not able to interview a large number of Malaysian students includingrepresentatives of ABIM. Even some Malaysian faculty members werehesitant to speak in any detail about anything related to Anwarincluding his links to the Islamization of knowledge debate andparticipants in the debate and his support of Islamization at IIUM thatseemed completely separate from the political situation. In addition, Iwould like to note that my fieldwork in Malaysia was delayed a month andthen shortened due to the political situation and Anwar's closeties to many of the central figures and institutions I went to study.For example, Munawar Anees, a biologist and participant in theIslamization of knowledge debates from an Ijmali perspective and also aspeechwriter speech��writ��er?n.One who writes speeches for others, especially as a profession.speechwrit for Anwar, was among the individuals arrested for allegedlyallowing himself to be sodomized by Anwar. I had arranged to rentAnees' spare bedroom while in Malaysia which was one reason for thedelayed departure. The second reason was an email from a Malaysianprofessor I had met previously who recommended delaying my plansindefinitely because, as an American, I would likely be viewed as a CIA CIA:see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). agent. (17) I had heard mixed reviews about the book, and I onlyhesitantly agreed because I was unsure how my comments might affect myongoing research. At the same time, I decided that the most interestingdata is often gathered by full participation. The IOK Circle meetingoccurred at IIUM on the evening of November 6, 1998. (18) Without going into all the details of my critique, I notedfour main structural faults and two main faults in terms of principlesof scholarship. In terms of structural faults, I argued that (1) thetext is not logically ordered, (2) the text is quite repetitive andsignificant portions of the text are either tangential tan��gen��tial? also tan��gen��taladj.1. Of, relating to, or moving along or in the direction of a tangent.2. Merely touching or slightly connected.3. to the mainarguments or are ignored when AbuSulayman summarizes his arguments andproposes his action plan, (3) AbuSulayman seems to make severalcontradictory statements on several key issues at different palces inthe text, and (4) there are logical flaws in AbuSulayman'sargument. In terms of faults in terms of the principles of scholarship,I argued that (I) AbuSulayman presents no evidence to support hisassertions and (2) many of the assertions are problematic. (19) Louay Safi, a political scientist born in Syria but now anAmerican citizen, is a second example of someone connected to IIIT beingbrought in to IIUM. Safi participated regularly in the Association ofMuslim Social Scientists conferences as a graduate student at WayneState University Wayne State University,at Detroit, Mich.; state supported; coeducational; established 1956 as a successor to Wayne Univ. (formed 1934 by a merger of five city colleges). in Detroit. Through AMSS AMSS Aeronautical Mobile Satellite ServiceAMSS Auto Moto Savez Srbije (Yugoslavian)AMSS Automatic Message Switching SystemAMSS Air Mobility Support SquadronAMSS Army Materiel Status SystemAMSS Ammunition Management Standard System , Sail had met many individualsfrom the IIIT and IIUM. After completing his PhD in 1992, Sail wasoffered a position as an assistant professor of political science atIIUM, which he accepted. After teaching for two years, Sail joined thestaff of IIIT's Malaysian office (IIITM) as Deputy Director when itopened in 1994. Safi quickly rose through the ranks at IIITM and IIUMbecoming Executive Director of IIITM in 1996 and Dean of the ResearchCenter at IIUM in 1998. (20) Some individuals present were familiar with my research on theIslamization of knowledge debate and they supported my credibility onthe subject in general. In terms of language, I noted that I read theEnglish translation partly because I was asked only three days earlierand also because I knew the translator quite well and he had told methat the Arabic version, if anything, had more examples of the faults Ihad described in my presentation. In this, I also had some support fromindividuals present who had read the Arabic version or both versions. (21) Al-Attas was born in Indonesia in 1931. Of Hadramaut descent,he spent his childhood in Johore in the southern part of what is todaypeninsular Malaysia. After completing secondary school, Al-Attas joinedthe Malay Regiment and was selected for advanced military education atEton Hall and then the Royal Military Academy Royal Military Academy has been the name of two different institutions of the British Army.The original Royal Military Academy was at Woolwich in London and was established in 1741 to train engineering and artillery officers, whose skills were too complex to learn solely on in Sandhurst, England. Hesaw active duty fighting against the communists in Malaya. He resignedhis commission to pursue his education at the University of Malaya inSingapore. He went on for his MA degree at McGill University in Montrealand his PhD at the University of London For most practical purposes, ranging from admission of students to negotiating funding from the government, the 19 constituent colleges are treated as individual universities. Within the university federation they are known as Recognised Bodies . Al-Attas returned to theUniversity of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. He was among the founders of theNational University of Malaysia, the founder of the Institute of MalayLanguage, Literature, and Culture at the National University, and he isthe founder-director of ISTAC. This brief summary is based upon theintroductory remarks given by Professor Wan at the conferment of theAI-Ghazali Chair to Al-Attas at ISTAC (Mohd Nor Wan Daud 1994). (22) For an extended discussion of the history and philosophy ofISTAC see Wan (1991). (23) See also Lukens-Bull (2005).