Sensitive Issues, Complex Categories, and Sharing Festivals: Malay Muslim Students’ Perspectives on Interfaith Engagement in Malaysia

Abstract

Within the religiously and ethnically diverse secular state of Malaysia, the ethnic and religious identities of the Malay Muslim majority group are constitutionalized. This, together with the official classification of religious issues as “sensitive,” provides a distinctive context for the political psychological analysis of Islam and interfaith relations. The qualitative study presented in this article examines how Malay Muslims who are students in the United Kingdom perceive and experience engagement with other religious groups in Malaysia. Four focus group interviews were undertaken with 18 participants. Interview transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis. Three themes were developed: “Perceived sociopolitical influences on interfaith engagement in Malaysia”; “Individual and group barriers to engagement with other religious traditions”; and “Potential pathways toward positive interfaith engagement.” These are elaborated and discussed in terms of the social categorization processes used to conceptualize and navigate interfaith relations. It is recommended that future research in the political psychology of religion should attend closely to the complexity of religious groups’ social identities and the implications this might have for recategorization efforts as a means of encouraging and facilitating interfaith contact.