This volume is a compilation of revised papers presented at a symposium in Frankfurt in 2008. It is part of a book series by the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at Frankfurt University, which, alongside other similar series, indicates an active field of area studies in Germany. As often is the case with conference proceedings, however, the chapters of Islam und Staat are only loosely connected and there has been no editorial attempt to pull the whole collection together in the form of a substantial introductory or concluding essay. A total of 11 essays are presented, six written in German and five in English; only two authors have a non-German background.
After a short introduction, in which it is argued that the theme of connections between Islam and the state is complex but still understudied, the first chapter by Herrmann, Pitz and Ziegenhain looks into the position of Islam in the various constitutions and legal systems of the Southeast Asian countries. This overview suggests that majority and minority Muslim countries in the region can be juxtaposed, with Indonesia as an exception where, despite having a Muslim majority, no state religion has been adopted. Then three chapters on Indonesia follow. Ahmad-Norma Permata gives an overview of political Islam, drawing heavily on political science classifications and adopting the view that Muslims are among the main actors of the current democratisation in Indonesia. Schulze is rather more reserved in this respect, since his short study of the Islamic welfare system in Indonesia seems to suggest that the ineffectiveness of the state sector here empowers private actors, some of which seem not to condone democracy. Büchler, in an abridged version of an article published elsewhere, looks into the issue of Shari'a bylaws and argues that these are driven by local politics of power accumulation and corruption since alms have been made compulsory and the funds go to vote brokers as well as militias.
The sixth and seventh chapters of this volume concern Malaysia, Warnk giving an overview of how the intertwinement of state and Islam in this country is connected to the power struggle between UMNO and PAS, which in turn is epitomised by the terms Negara Islam versus ex-premier Badawi's Islam Hadhari. Derichs offers a case study on Malaysian family law, showing how a process of regression with regard to the rights of Muslim women provoked a female counter-movement of transnational dimensions. Chapters 9 and 10 deal with Thailand, Amporn Marddent giving an overview of the situation in Southern Thailand, where fundamentalist Islam clashes with a unitary Thai state, also discussing Muslim women's movements in the area. Helbardt takes a security studies approach, on the basis of interrogation reports of members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, suggesting that the ‘insurgents’ there follow a rational strategy. Finally, chapters 5, 8 and 11 deal with so-called minor Muslim countries, Tschacher writing on the frustrations of Muslims of Indian descent in Singapore, Müller on the reciprocal penetration of authoritarian state and Islam in Brunei and Zöllner on what he sees as the non-engagement between these two in Myanmar.
On the whole, the contributions in this volume are all connected to the overall theme but there is substantial variation in the approach adopted, with regard to the level of generalisation, sophistication and the disciplinary perspective taken, whereby country approaches seem to contrast with essays informed by political science theory. Taken together, however, Southeast Asia emerges as a unit for fruitful intra-regional comparison and readers might be attracted to the themes of individual chapters. The more specialised contributions based on case studies thereby provide the most new insights.
