ABSTRACT
The concept of political development has been almost as widely accepted among social scientists who study the non-Western world as economic development has been accepted among contemporary economists. This chapter examines the changing role of Islam in Malaysia and to evaluate its impact upon the modernization of the political system. Government policies are more likely to support the traditional Islamic value system than to challenge it. In the traditional Malay political system, religion helped to symbolize the unity of the state. Malays exhibited strong parochial identity with their state, symbolized more by their sultan than by their religion. While the presence of Western traders and trading posts from the beginning of the sixteenth century on made some impact on Malay society, the most significant changes came only after the extension of a colonial administration over the Malay States. Islamic religious courts were established in each state to enforce Muslim and adat law.
