Malaysia’s Creeping Islamization—and Dimming Prospects for Covenantal Pluralism

For countries with religiously diverse populations that have a record of tense relations with each other, the notion of a covenantal pluralism, if successfully established and entrenched as an organizing principle for society, offers an opportunity to break out of the cycle of mutual mistrust and suspicion. Yet, the reality is that the effectiveness of covenantal pluralism as not just an idea but a framework will depend, among other things, on the structural nature of these relationships between religious constituencies and the processes that shape them, as determined by the configuration of political power. This paper proposes that this is precisely the case in Malaysia, where a deeply entrenched narrative of affirmative action favoring the majority ethnic group has found expression in the spheres of politics, economics, social relations, and indeed, everyday life. Concomitantly, it is for this reason that the prospects for covenantal pluralism to gain traction in Malaysia will be profoundly difficult.