Malaysia: Islam and multi-culturalism

How to create a 21st Century Muslim democracy in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society - that is the challenge faced by modern Malaysia. The country is known as one of South East Asia's most successful "tiger" economies. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a dynamic, hi-tech city - its famous Petronas twin towers a symbol of its aspirations.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Malaysia's course was charted by its ambitious Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. He and his ruling Umno party pursued a modernisation programme based on two guiding principles. First, they gave Islam a new pre-eminence in public life. This meant stressing Muslim values and identity, building up Islamic institutions and forging new links with the wider Muslim world.

Second, they continued the "affirmative action" policies, begun in the 1970s, which gave the ethnic Malays - who form some 60% of the population - a privileged position in government, education and the bureaucracy. But where do these twin goals leave the Chinese, Indians and others who form the non-Muslim minority? Can a society based on these two principles also be genuinely democratic?

Adapted from BBC news, Article by Roger Hardy, February 2005

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