Malaysian Modernities: Cultural Politics and the Construction of Muslim Technoscientific Identities (Technoscience IN ISLAMIC Societies) (Report‪)‬

Malaysia is in the midst of enormous societal transformations, and Malay identity is a key locus for these transformations. The Malaysian government, led by the recently retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad between 1981 and 2003, has a goal of unifying the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and religiously plural nation in Southeast Asia and becoming a fully developed nation by the year 2020. (1) This national plan, known as "Vision 2020," is developing within the context of local/global debates about Islam, science, and modernity and is best conceptualized as a project aimed at reconstructing Malaysian economy, society, and identity. I call this project in social engineering Malaysian modernity. Malaysian modernity is not without its critics, however. Malaysians are asking themselves two questions--questions they have been asking repeatedly (see Rashid 1993, Raslan 1996). What does it mean to be Malaysian? And what does it mean to be Malay? The debates surrounding these very basic but profound questions are rooted in the local, national, and global forces that have shaped the historical development of Malaysia and continue to shape its future.