RELIGION, NATIONALISM, AND CITIZENSHIP: Religion Majoritarian Approach (RMA) in Southeast Asia

Rifqi Nurdiansyah

doi:10.18860/ua.v25i2.28357

RELIGION, NATIONALISM, AND CITIZENSHIP: Religion Majoritarian Approach (RMA) in Southeast Asia

Rifqi Nurdiansyah

Abstract

The majority religion in Southeast Asian countries transcends the realm of personal belief and holds significance beyond individual privacy. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine the influence of the predominant religion in each Southeast Asian country on the development of distinct patterns of religion, nationalism, and citizenship. This article uses a qualitative research method based on literature study. The approach used is RMA (Religion Majoritarian Approach). This study demonstrates the presence of three distinct typologies of state relations and majority religion in Southeast Asian nations. The initial categorization of the majority religion served as the foundation for civil identity and nationalism in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Thailand. The second typology refers to the imposition of limitations on the majority religion and its alignment with the objectives of the state, as exemplified by the cases of Laos, Vietnam, and Singapore. The third typology, dominant faiths assume the role of an informal institution that also governs the state, as exemplified by the Philippines and Timor Leste, where the Roman Catholic Church holds significant influence.

Keywords

citizenship; nationalism; religion majoritarian approach (RMA)

References

Abellanosa, R. J. S. 2018. Setback in Secularization : Church and State Relations under the Duterte Administration. Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy, Special Issue:55-80. https://ses-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/3_Abellanosa_Special-Issue_Dec2018.pdf

Aljunied, K. 2019. Islam in Malaysia: An Entwined History (Online Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190925192.001.0001.

Azra, Azyumardi. 2018. Cultural Pluralism in Indonesia: Continuous Reinventing of Indonesian Islam in Local, National and Global Context. Asia Pacific Journal on Religion and Society, 2(2): 56-60. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24014/apjrs.v2i2.6399.

Bear, Lior, et al. 2021. Imagining Communities through Friction in the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, Laos. Tourism Geographies An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment, 25(2-3):450-466. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2021.1895297.

Bouté, V. 2021. Religious Changes, Ethnic Minorities and the State in Laos. Taiwan Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 16(2): 79-110. https://www.cseas.ncnu.edu.tw/plan-detail/0/16-2/

Bowser, Matthew J. 2021. 'Buddhism Has Been Insulted. Take Immediate Steps': Burmese Fascism and the Origins of Burmese Islamophobia, 1936-38. Modern Asian Studies, 55(4): 1112-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X20000323.

Brincat, Shannon. (September 9, 2024). Pope Francis’ Visit to Timor-Leste Is Powerful and Symbolic, but Also Political. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-timor-leste-is-powerful-and-symbolic-but-also-political-237977

Brown, B. E. & Tran, C. T. L. 2020. Introduction: Global Catholicism in Southeast Asia: Mobilities and Networks. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 35 (2): 197-216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/sj35-2a.

Bruckmayr, Philipp. 2017. The Birth of the Kan Imam San: On the Recent Establishment of a New Islamic Congregation in Cambodia. Journal of Global South Studies, 34(2): 197-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/gss.2017.0019.

Castro, N. T. 2019. The Interface between Religion and Politics in The Philippines Based on Data from Recent Philippine Elections. International Journal of Interreligious and Intercultural Studies, 2(2): 100-107. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32795/ijiis.vol2.iss2.2019.454.

Cholil, Suhadi. 2022. First Essay Freedom of Religion amid Polarization and Religious Moderation Policy. Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology, 6(2): 196-204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1558/isit.24603.

Duarte, Efatha F. B. et al. 2016. Hubungan Negara dan Agama (Studi Kasus Peran Aktor Religius Dalam Konstelasi Politik Timor Leste). Jurnal Nawala Politika, 1(1). https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/politika/ article/view/21668/14348

Dubus, Arnaud. 2018. Buddhism and Politics in Thailand. IRASEC: Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.irasec.2951.

Elson, R. E. 2013. Two Failed Attempts to Islamize the Indonesian Constitution. SOJOURN:Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 28(3): 379-437. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/sj28-3a.

Feener, R. Michael. 2019. Islam in Southeast Asia to c. 1800. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 1-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.40.

Foxeus, Niklas. 2019. The Buddha was a Devoted Nationalist: Buddhist Nationalism, Ressentiment, and Defending Buddhism in Myanmar. Religion, 49(4): 661–690. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2019.1610810.

Foxeus, Niklas. 2022. Buddhist Nationalist Sermons in Myanmar: Anti-Muslim Moral Panic, Conspiracy Theories, and Socio-Cultural Legacies. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 53(3): 423-449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2022.2032801.

Gutter, Peter. 2021. Laos: Symbiosis of Communist Politics and Buddhist Culture? In P. Marques-Morgado & P. Boele van Hensbroek (Eds.) Essays in Development Studies (pp. 67-77). Groningen: Globalisation Studies Groningen, University of Groningen.

Hasyim, S. & Saat, N. 2020. Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs under Joko Widodo. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/9789814951241.

Hefner, Robert W. 2010. Religious Resurgence in Contemporary Asia: Southeast Asian Perspectives on Capitalism, the State, and the New Piety.” Journal of Asian Studies, 69(4): 1031-1047. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911810002901.

Heikkilä-Horn, Marja-Leena. 2015. Religious Discrimination and Women in the Asoke Buddhist Group in Thailand. Enabling Gender Equality: Future Generations of the Global World (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 181-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520150000023013.

Hodge, Joel. 2013. The Catholic Church in Timor-Leste and the Indonesian Occupation: A Spirituality of Suffering and Resistance. South East Asia Research, 21(1): 151-170. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2013.0134.

Hoon, Chang-Yau & Kumpoh, A. 2024. Minorities in Brunei Darussalam : Intersecting Religion and Ethnicity. ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ISEAS_Pers pective_2024_49.pdf.

Houben, V. J. H. 2003. Southeast Asia and Islam. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588(1): 149–170. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716203588001010.

Kaufman, Stuart J. 2013. The Limits of Nation-Building in the Philippines. International Area Studies Review, 16(1): 3-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865913476704.

Kobayashi, Satoru. 2005. An Ethnographic Study on the Reconstruction of Buddhist Practice in Two Cambodian Temples: With the Special Reference to Buddhist Samay and Boran. Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 42 (4): 489-518. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20495/tak.42.4_489.

Ladwig, Patrice. 2014. Worshipping Relics and Animating Statues. Transformations of Buddhist Statecraft in Contemporary Laos. Modern Asian Studies, 49(6): 1875-1902. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000486.

Larsson, Tomas. 2020. Royal Succession and the Politics of Religious Purification in Contemporary Thailand. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 52(1): 2-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2020.1849775.

Lawrence, Benjamin. 2022. Saffron Suffrage: Buddhist Monks and Constitutional Politics in Cambodia. Journal of Law and Religion, 37(2): 259-283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2022.16.

Liow, Joseph Chinyong. 2022. Islam and Political Power in Indonesia and Malaysia: The Role of Tarbiyah and Dakwah in the Evolution of Islamism. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108669047.

Lukmanulhakim, N. N. & Samuri, M. A. A. 2023. The Religious Identity of Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia. Studia Islamika: Indonesian Journal for Islamic Studies, 30(3): 439-468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36712/sdi.v30i3.32095.

Miller, Jack. n.d. Religion in the Philippines. Asia Society, https://asia society.org/education/religion-philippines.

Miner, William. (October 6, 2023). In Singapore, Religious Diversity and Tolerance Go Hand in Hand. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/06/in-singapore-religious-diversity-and-tolerance-go-hand-in-hand/

Moe, David Thang. 2017. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theology of Breaking Boundaries and Building Bridges between Christianity and Buddhism in Myanmar. Exchange, 46(2): 103-128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/1572543X-12341434.

Musa, M. F. 2022. Freedom of Religion in Malaysia: The Situation and Attitudes of "Deviant" Muslim Groups (Online Ed.). Trends in Southeast Asia, 16: 1-29. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.

Nguyen, Thoi. 2023. Vietnam’s Religious Policy: Navigating the Path to Religious Freedom. Qeios. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32388/t8ix52.2.

Nong, Nguyen Bang. 2019. New or Old Religions: Changing Religious Policy in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 8(6): 13-24. https://www.ijicc.net/images/vol8iss6/8602_Nong_2019_E_R.pdf

Perez, Nahshon. 2020. Hegemonic Religions, Majoritarianism, and the Legitimate Limits of Governmental Religious Bias. Religions, 11(9): 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090438.

Pirosa, Rosaria. 2021. The Majoritarian Epistemology on Religious Symbols a Religiously-Based Stereotyping Technique to Package Others’ Religious Rights. The Age of Human Rights Journal, 16: 278-291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17561/tahrj.v16.6085.

Pitpreecha, R. et al. 2016. Religion, Media and Marketing in a Complex Society. Bangkok: Faculty of Communication Arts, University of Chulalongkorn. https://ik.umy.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ Religion-Media-and-Marketing-in-a-Complex-Society_Thailand-version.pdf.

Pratama, F. S. et al. 2023. The Application of Malay Islamic Beraja in the State Life of Brunei Darussalam (Historical-Political Review). Journal of Islamic Civilization, 5(1): 44-65. https://journal2.unusa.ac.id/index. php/JIC/article/view/4084

Prihantoro, Hijrian A. 2019. Islam and The Humanity of The State: From Fiqh of Politics to Fiqh of Citizenship. Ulul Albab: Jurnal Studi Islam, 20(2): 364-387. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/ua.v20i2.5673.

Rahman, N. A. & Hamid, A. A. F. 2024. Examining Public Administration Through the Islamic Lens: A Glimpse of the Malaysian Experience. Ulumuna, 28(1): 281-312. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20414/ujis.v28i1.777.

Rasyid, Fauzan Ali et al. 2020. Kontestasi Agama dan Negara: Politik Hukum Penodaan Agama di Asia Tenggara (1st ed.). Bandung: LP2M UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

Raymond, Gregory V. 2020. Religion as a Tool of Influence: Buddhism and China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Mainland Southeast Asia. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 42(3): 346-371. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1355/cs42-3b.

Sapitula, M. V. J. 2019. Articulations of Religiously Motivated Nationalism within Philippine Catholicism: A Critical Assessment. Religion and Nationalism in Asia (1st ed.). London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429060922-4.

Scott, Rachelle M. 2006. A New Buddhist Sect?: The Dhammakāya Temple and the Politics of Religious Difference. Religion, 36(4): 215-230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2006.10.001.

Sharbawi, S. & Mabud, S. A. 2021. Malay, Muslim and Monarchy: An Introduction to Brunei Darussalam and Its National Identity. In: Phan, L.H., Kumpoh, A., Wood, K., Jawawi, R., Said, H. (eds) Globalisation, Education, and Reform in Brunei Darussalam. International and Development Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 45-66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77119-5_3.

Sirait, A. S. et al. 2024. Assessing Criminal Penalties in Marriage Law: A Comparative Study of Policy Frameworks within Indonesian and Malaysian Legislation. Al-Manahij: Jurnal Kajian Hukum Islam, 18(2): 255-270. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24090/mnh.v18i2.11208.

Soeung, B. & Lee, S. Y. 2017. The Revitalisation of Buddhist Peace Activism in Post-War Cambodia. Conflict, Security and Development, 17(2): 141-161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2017.1300356.

Tan, Xin Wei Andy. 2020. Religious Harmony in Singapore: Spaces, Practices and Communities. Singapore: CLC Publications. Available online on https://www.clc.gov.sg/research-.

Tappe, Oliver. 2013. Faces and Facets of the Kantosou Kou Xat - The Lao ‘National Liberation Struggle’ in State Commemoration and Historiography. Asian Studies Review, 37(4): 433-450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2013.770448.

Tonsakulrungruang, Khemthong. (August 7, 2018). Thailand’s Sangha: Turning Right, Coming Full Circle. New Mandala. https://www.newmandala.org/ thailands-sangha-turning-right-coming-full-circle/

U.S. Department of State. 2022. Vietnam International Religious Freedom Report. State. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ 441219-VIETNAM-2022-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf.

Wong, Briana. 2020. The Historical Interface between Buddhism and Christianity in Cambodia, with Special Attention to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1923–1970. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 40(1): 255-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/BCS.2020.0014.

Yusuf, Imtiyaz. 2018. Three Faces of the Rohingya Crisis: Religious Nationalism, Asian Islamophobia, and Delegitimizing Citizenship. Studia Islamika, 25(3): 503-542. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15408/sdi.v25i3.8038.

Yutthaworakool, Saittawut. 2017. The Politics of Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar: History, Legitimacy and Democratic Transition. Journal of Social Sciences, 47(2): 133-148. https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/cujss/ vol47/iss2/7.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/ua.v25i2.28357