The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

Due to its strategic location, maritime Southeast Asia serves as an economic hub that connects the East and the West, with the Straits of Malacca serving as an important route for business access. Maritime Southeast Asia remains essential today, if not more significant, as the economies within the region continue to grow faster than many other regions in the world. Its strategic location and the advancement of its combined economy make the region a premiere meeting point, offline and online, for many people worldwide as more people look for investment opportunities and leisure activities in more prosperous Southeast Asia.

Apart from its economic and strategic positioning, maritime Southeast Asia is a significant area for analysis as the region also serves as a hub for the cross-pollination of ideas. During the Cold war period (1945–91), Southeast Asia became the battleground for the forces of neo-liberal capitalism and communism. But an equally interesting scope of scholarly interest is the development and exchange of religious ideas, particularly concerning Islam. Azra’s (2004) study The Origins of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia, among others, remain one of the most important contributions capturing the network of Malay-Indonesian and Middle Eastern ideas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Maritime Southeast Asia is home to the largest Muslim society in the world, namely Indonesia. Eighty-nine per cent of its 281 million people are Muslims. However, the community is not homogenous, depending on where they live, and the extent to which they immerse cultural and ethnic influences into their religious life. Some would reckon that the country is also changing, from one that was referred to as the smiling face of Islam to one that is currently experiencing a conservative turn (Van Bruinessen 2013; Feillard and Madinier 2011); or a hotbed of political Islam and radicalism (Ayoob 2008).

Maritime Southeast Asia is also home to the relatively homogenous and traditional Islamic polity of Brunei Darussalam, which ties the concept of the monarchy to Islam and Malay culture. Based on its 2021 census, Brunei has a population of 333,600 citizens, 89 per cent of which are Malays (Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, Brunei 2023).

Introduction

Islam is closely tied to the cultural identity of Singapore Malays. Based on the 2021 census report, the Malays constitute 15.1 per cent of Singapore’s 5.5 million population (“Population in Brief 2021” 2021), of which 98.0 per cent profess Islam. The religious elite—the ulama (Islamic religious scholars), religious teachers, and preachers—wield significant influence on the religious community regarding spiritual matters. However, their authority has been somewhat challenged in the new media and digitization age. What does this mean for their future and the quality of religious discourse in Singapore? This chapter focuses on the movers and shakers of the Singapore Malay/Muslim community’s religious discourse and outlook.

As the religious elite ride on new digital mediums of instruction, they easily migrate from the traditional print, radio, and television platforms to the new digital ones. They utilize the Internet and have become social media savvy. Consequently, the local religious elites must venture beyond conventional ways of preaching and compete with preachers from different parts of the world as religious learning is no longer confined to the mosques and madrasahs. The pressure to apply new forms of preaching does not apply to Islamic elites only. According to Naim (2013), the rise of new Pentecostal and charismatic churches has also redefined religious authority in Christianity. He also argues that while the arrival of these micropowers does not undermine traditional authority, the “big players” can no longer take their power for granted (ibid., pp. 196–97).

However, I contend that the religious elite’s digital ventures are not necessarily accompanied by shifts in their thinking. The dominant religious orientation continues to manifest traditionalism. This orientation is now ushered by capitalism and populism, presented and repackaged with sophistication via the new media, and sustained by the growth of the Muslim middle class. The middle class riding on Islamic symbolic commodities and reaping financial incentives to raise their social positions (Muzakki 2008, p. 205) further complicates any possibility of reform. Significant changes in the discursive arena are further slowed by state policies that accord the asatizah (religious teachers) the sole authority to speak on Islamic matters. Through occupational licensing, this legitimacy given to the theologians resulted from the state’s attempt to tackle radicalism through the religious lens. Yet, moderate Islam discourse ignores attention to other aspects of modernization and development: tackling irrationalism and addressing inequality.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Trends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policymakers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

Introduction

The previous chapter examines prevalent types of Islamic education found in the religious educational landscape in the Muslim world. It highlights the dominance of the confessional type that has remained influential in religious teaching and learning. The salient traits of dominant modes of religious orientations evident in these institutions vis-a-vis competing ones, factors conditioning them and their ramifications on the nature of Islamic studies programmes were also examined.

While the types and orientations of religious education have direct implications on conditioning the religious outlook of graduates with ramifications on the well-being of the community and larger society, there remains a lack of serious discourse shedding insights into why Singapore’s religious studies graduates have chosen to study religion in the selected universities abroad, the kinds of religious education which they have obtained from abroad, the impact of dominant religious orientations which permeate the culture of teaching and learning in the institutions they attended on the formation of their religious outlook and perspectives, the problems and challenges they encountered in the course of their learning and upon returning from abroad.

Yet, dominant discourse on religious studies graduates persistently reveal two major issues of concern: the need for asatizah to contextualize religious teachings to the condition of Singapore society and the imperative to professionalize them through upskilling training programmes that will equip them for employment relevant to the needs of the community and larger society. The rise of radicalism and terrorism in the name of Islam globally and in the region, which has generated much discourse on its potential adverse ramifications on social cohesion of the nation, underscores these concerns. President Halimah Yacob’s speech at the meeting with Singapore’s religious studies students studying in Kuwait while on an official visit there in November 2019 encapsulates these concerns. Her advice to asatizah to the effect that they must adapt what they had learnt in Kuwait to promote social cohesion in multiracial and multi-religious Singapore resonates with such concerns (Koh 2019, A12).

Though data on asatizah are pertinent in understanding current problems in religious education and planning for its progress that will serve the needs and conditions of the Muslim community and the country while improving asatizah’s development, these remain scarce, disparate and fragmented, not easily accessible.