For Muslims to fully practise their rights by conviction and free choice, it can only be actualised in a secular state. The secular state acts as a safeguard against the hegemonic enforcement of the Shariah that opposes the universal values of Islam. The secular state is also intended to nurture and regulate the role of Islam in public life through the shaping of ethical norms that can be reflected in public institutions, policies and social relations (pp. 1-3).
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Book Review: Piecing Together the History, Heritage, and Contributions of Indian Muslims in Singapore
Indian Muslims in Singapore: History, Heritage and Contribution, a newly released publication by Ab Razak Chanbasha, is an ambitious attempt to document the history and contributions of Indian Muslims in Singapore from the period of the arrival of the British to present day. This is no doubt a formidable task to achieve in eight chapters considering the depth and extent of contribution and influence that Indian Muslims have left and continue to create in Singapore.
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Book Review: Singa-Pura-Pura is Present, Plural and Problematises Tradition
Singa-Pura-Pura is necessary reading for anyone remotely interested in any given configuration of ‘Singapore’, ‘Malay’ and ‘literature’. From academics more accustomed to poring over manuscripts to even non-Malay neophytes, there is something for everyone to chew on in this especially colourful anthology of short stories. Responding to the dearth of Singaporean Malay authors writing in English, the project as spearheaded by Nazry Bahrawi is said to lay the seeds for a loose, non-organised aliran (movement), anticipating an imminent flood of more bilingually proficient writers.
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Book Review: The Primordial Modernity of Malay Nationality by Humairah Zainal and Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir
In 1994, Stuart Hall spoke of the “fateful triangle” between race, ethnicity, and the nation. “Identity is not a matter of essence but of positioning, and hence, there is always a politics of identity, a politics of position,” Hall provoked[1]. In 2010, Charles Mills, a contemporary of Hall, reminded his audience that race is socially constructed, built for particular political projects rather than an intrinsic reality of biology.
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Book Review: Hidayah Amin’s Sang Nila Utama & Tun Seri Lanang: Singapore’s Last Malay Schools
Sang Nila Utama & Tun Seri Lanang: Singapore’s Last Malay Schools by Hidayah Amin is a narrative about Singapore’s last Malay schools, Sang Nila Utama Secondary School (SNU) and Tun Seri Lanang Secondary School (TSL). The book shares more than just the history of the two schools. It includes the experiences, feelings and stories of students who had attended the schools and how their time there had shaped them to become who they are today, including the challenges that the schools faced. Both of the schools obtained their names from Southeast Asia’s historical personalities.
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