Muslim Professional Associations and Politics in Southeast Asia
NBR Analysis vol. 18, no. 3

Muslim Professional Associations and Politics in Southeast Asia

by Ann Marie Murphy, Robert W. Hefner, and Bridget Welsh
March 1, 2008

The essays in this issue of the NBR Analysis are products of the third year of a project by The National Bureau of Asian Research on Islamic education and professional associations in Southeast Asia, focusing on the relationship between Islamic education and professional associations in Southeast Asia’s two large Muslim-majority countries: Malaysia (60% Muslim) and Indonesia (87.8% Muslim). The authors’ aim was to examine more closely how Islamic professional associations shape their membership’s attitudes and behavior, not least of all as regards attitudes toward non-Muslims and the place of Islamic law (sharia) in public life.