ABSTRACT
The role of Islam in the shaping of politics in contemporary Muslim states
has assumed greater significance in recent times. Additionally, develop-
ments taking place across Muslim-dominated societies outside the immedi-
ate Islamic heartland of the Middle East have garnered increasing attention
in scholarship as well as the media. Over the past two decades, Islam has
exercised a mounting and significant influence on the Malaysian political
terrain, blurring the boundaries between religion and politics in the process. This phenomenon has been captured most profoundly in what has come to
be known as the ‘Islamisation race’ – the struggle between UMNO (United
Malay National Organisation) and PAS (Party Islam se-Malaysia) to cap-
ture the pivotal vote of the Malay-Muslim community, which constitutes
almost 60 per cent of the Malaysian population.
