91 33 PB

Volume 30 Number 1 2022
Intellectual Discourse
Volume 30 Number 1 2022
Editor-in-Chief Associate Editors

Danial Mohd Yusof Anke Iman Bouzenita (Oman)
(Malaysia) Khairil Izamin Ahmad (Malaysia)
Saodah Wok (Malaysia)
Editor
Tunku Mohar Mokhtar Book Review Editor
(Malaysia) Mohd. Helmi Bin Mohd Sobri
(Malaysia)
Editorial Board
Abdul Kabir Hussain Solihu (Nigeria) Syed Farid Alatas (Singapore)
Badri Najib Zubir (Malaysia) Thameem Ushama (Malaysia)
Daniel J. Christie (USA)
International Advisory Board
Habibul H. Khondker (UAE)
Anis Malik Thoha (Indonesia)
Hazizan Md. Noon (Malaysia)
Chandra Muzaffar (Malaysia)
Hussain Mutalib (Singapore)
Fahimul Quadir (Canada)
Ibrahim M. Zein (Qatar)
Habib Zafarullah (Australia)
James D. Frankel (China)
John O. Voll (USA)
Kenneth Christie (Canada)
Muhammad al-Ghazali (Pakistan)
Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf (Malaysia)
Muhammad K. Khalifa (Qatar)
Rahmah Bt Ahmad H. Osman
Redzuan Othman (Malaysia)
(Malaysia)
Serdar Demirel (Turkey) Founding Editor
Afar Afaq Ansari (USA)
Intellectual Discourse is a highly respected, academic refereed journal of the

International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). It is published twice a year by
the IIUM Press, IIUM, and contains reflections, articles, research notes and review
articles representing the disciplines, methods and viewpoints of the Muslim world.
Intellectual Discourse is abstracted in SCOPUS, ProQuest, International Political

Science Abstracts, Peace Research Abstracts Journal, Muslim World Book Review,
Bibliography of Asian Studies, Index Islamicus, Religious and Theological
Abstracts, ATLA Religion Database, MyCite, ISC and EBSCO.
ISSN 0128-4878 (Print); ISSN 2289-5639 (Online)
https://journals.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse/index.php/id
Email: intdiscourse@iium.edu.my; intdiscourse@yahoo.com
Published by:
IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia
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Phone (+603) 6196-5014, Fax: (+603) 6196-6298
Website:http://iiumpress.iium.edu.my/bookshop
Intellectual Discourse
Vol. 30, No. 1, 2022
Contents
Note from the Editor 1
Research Articles
Understanding Malaysian Youth’s Social Media Practices
and Their Attitude towards Violent Extremism
Nurzali Ismail
Jasmine Mohamed Jawhar
Danial Mohd Yusuf
Anis Izzati Ismail
Raja Muhammad Khairul Akhtar Raja Mohd Naguib 5
Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case of Malaysia:

Evaluating Public Service Motivation in a Non-Homogenous
Society
Nadia Hezlin Yashaiya
Abdillah Noh 35
The Issue of the Elderly Homeless in Kuala Lumpur: Family

Neglect and Its Contributing Factors
Zulkhairol Shukri
Nik Norliati Fitri Md Nor
Nurul Raffiza Norzehan 59
Muslim Inventors of Reading and Writing Methods for

the Blind: Predecessors of Braille
Awad Al-Khalaf
Kassem Saad
Adam Abdullah
Mona Shehade
Najla Aljarwan 83
In the Name of Covid-19: Democratic Reversal and
the Return of Authoritarian Malaysia under Muhyiddin’s
Perikatan Nasional
Muhamad M.N. Nadzri 107
Confirmation Bias among Adherents of Red and Yellow

Politics in Thailand
Norachit Jirasatthumb
Phumsith Mahasuweerachai
Atchara Sorasing 135
Secularisation of Muslim Students: A Freirean Perspective on

Biological Evolution Teaching in Islamic Schools
Ahmad Naharuddin Ramadhan
Marzuki
Heru Nurcahyo
Bustami Subhan 157
The Role of Mass Media As A Channel To Learn About Islam

Among Muslims In Gombak
Kamaruzzaman bin Abdul Manan
Mohd Noh bin Abdul Jalil
Muhammad Ayman al-Akiti
Lihanna binti Borhan
Majdan bin Alias
Shukran bin Abd Rahman
Khamsiah binti Mohd Ismail 187
The Best Solution for Pandemic Prevention of Covid-19:

Important Notes in Light of the Quranic Perspectives
Abur Hamdi Usman
Muhd. Najib Abdul Kadir
Mohd Farid Ravi Abdullah 213
Propagating an Alternative Solution for Indonesia`s Problems:

A Framing Analysis on Hizb ut-Tahrir`s Narratives
Hasbi Aswar 237
Book Review
Al-Kawakibi, Abdul Rahman. The Nature of Tyranny
and The Devastating Results of Oppression. Foreword
by Leon T. Goldsmith. Translated by Amer Chaikhouni.
London: Hurst, 2021, 152 pp. Hardback.
ISBN: 9781787385481
Reviewer: Carimo Mohomed 255
Transliteration Table: Consonants
Arabic Roman Arabic Roman

‫ب‬ b ‫ط‬ Ï
‫ت‬ t ‫ظ‬ Ð
‫ث‬ th ‫ع‬ ‘
‫ج‬ j ‫غ‬ gh
‫ح‬ Í ‫ف‬ f
‫خ‬ kh ‫ق‬ q
‫د‬ d ‫ك‬ k
‫ذ‬ dh ‫ل‬ l
‫ر‬ r ‫م‬ m
‫ز‬ z ‫ن‬ n
‫س‬ s ‫ه‬ h
‫ش‬ sh ‫و‬ w
‫ص‬ Î ‫ء‬ ’
‫ض‬ Ì ‫ي‬ y
Transliteration Table: Vowels and Diphthongs
Arabic Roman Arabic Roman

َ◌ a ‫ ◌ًى‬،‫◌ًا‬ an
ُ ◌ u ‫◌ٌو‬ un
ِ◌ i ‫◌ٍي‬ in
،‫ ◌َى‬،ٰ◌ ،‫◌َا‬ É ْ‫◌َو‬ aw
‫◌ُو‬ Ë ْ‫◌َي‬ ay
uww, Ë
‫◌ِي‬ Ê ّ‫◌ُو‬ (in final position)
iyy, Ê
ّ‫◌ِي‬ (in final position)
Source: ROTAS Transliteration Kit: http://rotas.iium.edu.my

Intellectual Discourse, 30:1 (2022) 1–4
Copyright © IIUM Press
Note from the Editor
This issue of Intellectual Discourse (Vol. 30, No. 1) presents ten articles
on various topics, ranging from the social media to homeless elder
persons, and from the politics of authoritarianism to Qur’anic guidance
on health crisis. These articles are the outcomes of research carried out
by academics not only from Malaysia, but also from Thailand, Indonesia
and the United Arab Emirates. All but two of the research articles are
the results of collaborative efforts among researchers. In addition to
the research articles, this issue also includes a book review. The topics
covered in this issue reflects the diverse research interests in Islamic
revealed knowledge and the human sciences.
The first article (Understanding Malaysian Youth’s Social Media
Practices and Their Attitude towards Violent Extremism)—written by
Nurzali Ismail, Jasmine Mohamed Jawhar, Danial Mohd Yusuf, Anis
Izzati Ismail and Raja Muhammad Khairul Akhtar Raja Mohd Naguib—
examines Malaysian youth’s social media practices and those factors that
influence their attitude towards violent extremism in the social media.
Using online survey, their study finds that youth prefer video content to
written content, infographic and images. It also finds that information
or argument quality, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are
factors that could influence attitude. This research suggests that counter-
violent extremism efforts should further inspect youth’s social media
usage in order to understand different social media platforms, types of
content and message design.
In the second article (Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case of
Malaysia: Evaluating Public Service Motivation in a Non-Homogenous
Society), Nadia Hezlin Yashaiya and Abdillah Noh suggest that ethnic
heterogeneity matters in assessing an individual’s public service
motivation and the chances of joining the public service. Their study
is based on interviews with officers from Malaysia’s Pegawai Tadbir
dan Diplomatik (PTD – Administrative and Diplomatic Officers) of
different ethnicities. They argue that ethnic heterogeneity matters
2 Intellectual Discourse, Vol 30, No 1, 2022
because personal attributes are important in determining one’s public

service motivation, while an ethnically heterogenous environment with
the potential of producing numerous types of exclusive institutions
can influence one’s perception of the public service or even determine
one’s chances of joining the civil service. They further find that ethnic
heterogeneity influences an individual’s perception, motivation and
decision to join the public service.
Zulkhairol Shukri, Nik Norliati Fitri Md. Nor and Nurul Norzehan
explore the various reasons that lead the elderly to live a homeless life
in Kuala Lumpur in the third article in this edition (The Issue of the
Elderly Homeless in Kuala Lumpur: Family Neglect and Its Contributing
Factors). They conducted in-depth interviews to determine the reasons
these elderly persons live as homeless. Their findings suggest that while
almost everyone had family and drug- or health-related issues, there
was also a case where an elderly person simply decide to live as a part-
time homeless. The findings help raise awareness toward the plight of
the elderly homeless, and could help policy-makers to address the needs
and grievances of this often-neglected segment of the society.
The fourth article (Muslim Inventors of Reading and Writing
Methods for the Blind: Predecessors of Braille) authored by Awad
Al-Khalaf, Kassen Saad, Adam Abdullah, Mona Shehade and Najla
Aljarwan, highlight the contributions of three Muslim inventors—as
early as the 11th century—who created methods for the visually-impaired
to read and write. These inventors were Muhammad bin Abdul Warith
(d. 1106 CE), Zein-Eddine Al-Amidy (d. 1312 CE) and Wazir al-Sarraj
(d. 1736 CE). Like Louis Braille, these Muslim inventors used the sense
of touch to help the visually-impaired to read and write. Their methods
differed: Abdul Warith used embossed figures from pitch analogous to
the Arabic letters, Al-Amidy used fashioned paper-made letters, while
al-Sarraj created waxed letters as the reading and writing method. While
Braille alphabets are the standard system used by the visually-impaired
now, the contributions of Muslim inventors should also be appreciated.
In the fifth article, (In the Name of Covid-19: Democratic Reversal
and the Return of Authoritarian Malasia under Muhyiddin’s Perikatan
Nasional), Muhamad M. N. Nadzri argues that the fall of Pakatan
Harapan’s democratically elected government in February 2020 was
self-inflicted when one of its components, Bersatu—together with
disgruntled members of Parti Keadilan Rakyat—withdrew from the
EDITORIAL 3
ruling coalition. The succeeding government—Perikatan Nasional—

did not have the people’s mandate and therefore, relied simply on the
royal mandate that lent it legitimacy through constitutional provisions,
according to Nadzri. While that government resorted to authoritarianism,
in the name of Covid-19 no less, it lacked regime sustainability due to
its failure to establish any semblance of performance legitimacy.
Still on politics, but this time in Thailand, Norachit Jirasatthumb,
Phumsith Mahasuweerachai and Atchara Sorasing study confirmation
bias in the sixth article (Confirmation Bias among Adherents of Red
and yellow Politics in Thailand). They study red and yellow shirts’
confirmation bias through experiments and Principal Component
Analysis (PCA). They find that despite ideological orientations, their
research participants from the red and yellow shirts are not strictly
driven by such ideologies. Their political convictions may change after
some experimental treatments, suggesting that exposure to positive
and negative information about red and yellow politics can help the
participants to make more informed choices despite their confirmation
bias.
The seventh article (Secularisation of Muslim Students: A Freirean
Perspective on Biological Evolution Teaching in Islamic Schools)
written by Ahmad Naharuddin Ramadhan, Marzuki, Heru Nurchayo and
Bustami Subhan examine Paulo Freire’s critical education paradigm and
its significance and relevance for criticising the teaching of evolution
in Indonesian Islamic schools. Materials for the teaching of evolution
in these schools are centralised from the national curriculum, and
include contestable concepts and ideas from the evolutionary theory.
Using six key ideas from Paulo Freire—the inseparability of education
from political content, the displacement of the values and culture of the
oppressed through education, the neutrality of science, three categories
of human consciousness, the concept of alienation, and critical literacy
programmes—this study argues for decolonisation of education and
challenges the neutrality of such scientific ideas.
In the eighth article (The Role of Mass Media as a Channel to Learn
about Islam among Muslims in Gombak), the authors—Kamaruzzaman
bin Abdul Manan, Mohd. Noh bin Abdul Jalil, Muhammad Ayman al-
Akiti, Lihana binti Borhan, Majdan bin Alias, Shukran Abdul Rahman
and Khamsiah binti Mohd. Ismail—examine the mass media use for
learning about Islam among Muslims in Gombak. Through their survey,
they find that Muslims use various media as a means to learn Islam and
there are differences in media platform preferred by Muslims of different
gender, age group, educational background, occupational background,
and frequency of praying in the mosque. They conclude that the role of
the media—conventional and new—should not be underestimated as a
vehicle of da’wah.
The ninth article (The Best Solution for Pandemic Prevention of
Covid-19: Important Notes in Light of the Quranic Perspective), written
by Abur Hamdi Usman, Muhd Najib Abdul Kadir and Mohd Farid Ravi
Abdullah, explores guidance and commands from the Qur’an in the
face of a pandemic such as the Covid-19. In addition, the study also
includes the prophetic traditions of Prophet Muhammad and lessons
from Muslim history as practical guidance in addressing and preventing
the spread of any pandemic. The article suggests that there are many
lessons from the Qur’an, prophetic traditions and Muslim history that
are useful for humanity in facing health crises. Such lessons can be the
basis for sustainable health policies in the Muslim World.
Finally, the tenth article (Propagating an Alternative Solution
for Indonesia’s Problems: A Framing Analysis on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s
Narratives) by Hasbi Aswar analyses the propagation of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Indonesia’s (HTI) political ideology through the use of framing theory.
He shows that HTI rejects practically all man-made ideologies and
institutions, and calls for the re-institutionalisation of the caliphate.
In propagating these ideas, HTI used methods not dissimilar from
the framing approach. Due to HTI’s radical ideology, the Indonesian
government banned HTI in 2017 to protect the nation’s unity.
On a personal note, this is the first issue of Intellectual Discourse
that I helped manage as an editor. I would like to express my utmost
appreciation to Danial Mohd. Yusof, Editor-in-Chief of Intellectual
Discourse, for his generous tips and guidance in managing the publication
of this journal. I would also like to thank all the contributors for their
thought-provoking articles. Finally, I could not thank the anonymous
reviewers enough for their immense contributions in improving the
quality of the articles in this issue. Thank you very much.
Tunku Mohar Mokhtar

Editor
Understanding Malaysian Youth’s Social

Media Practices and Their Attitude towards
Violent Extremism
Nurzali Ismail*
Jasmine Mohamed Jawhar**
Danial Mohd Yusuf***
Anis Izzati Ismail****
Raja Muhammad Khairul Akhtar Raja Mohd Naguib*****
Abstract: The exploitation of social media to spread propaganda and violent

extremism has become a serious issue, including in Malaysia. This study
attempted to examine youth’s social media practices and factors that influence
their attitude towards violent extremism on social media. To achieve the study
aim, an online survey involving 400 respondents was conducted. The findings
revealed that, youth like video content the most, followed by written content,
infographic and images. Information seeking continues to be an important
purpose for using social media. While youth’s attitude towards violent
extremism is moderate, this study found that, information or argument quality,
perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are factors that could influence
*
Lecturer, School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
Email: nurzali@usm.my
**
Research Officer, Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism
(SEARCCT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia. Email: jasminejawhar@
gmail.com
***
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, AHAS Kulliyah of
Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic
University Malaysia (IIUM). Email: danialmy@iium.edu.my
****
Matriculation Lecturer, Centre for Foundation Studies, International Islamic
University Malaysia (IIUM). Email: anisizzati@iium.my
*****
Research Assistant, Extremism Analytical Research Unit (EARU) ISTAC-
IIUM. Email: khairulakhtar93@gmail.com
attitude. Considering that social media technology is constantly changing, it

is proposed that, future studies in countering violent extremism to continually
look into youth’s social media usage, particularly in understanding different
social media platforms, types of content and message design.
Keywords: Social media, countering violent extremism, Technology

Acceptance Model, attitude, youth
Abstrak: Penyalahgunaan media sosial untuk penyebaran propaganda,

keganasan dan extremism telah menjadi suatu isu serius termasuk di Malaysia.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meneroka amalan penggunaan media sosial dalam
kalangan belia dan faktor yang mempengaruhi sikap mereka terhadap keganasan
dan ekstremisme dalam media sosial. Bagi mencapai objektif kajian, kaji selidik
dalam talian yang melibatkan seramai 400 responden telah dilaksanakan.
Dapatan kajian mendapati belia paling menyukai kandungan video, diikuti
oleh penulisan, infografik dan gambar. Pencarian maklumat dalam talian terus
menjadi antara tujuan utama penggunaan media sosial. Walaupun sikap belia
terhadap keganasan dan ekstremisme hanya berada pada tahap sederhana, ia
boleh dipengaruhi oleh informasi atau hujah berkualiti, tanggapan kebergunaan
dan tanggapan mudah diguna. Mengambil kira kemajuan aplikasi media
sosial yang sentiasa berubah, adalah dicadangkan supaya kajian membenteras
keganasan dan ekstremisme pada masa hadapan terus menumpukan kepada
penggunaan media sosial dalam kalangan belia, terutamanya bagi memahami
platform yang berbeza, jenis kandungan dan reka bentuk mesej.
Kata kunci: Media sosial, membenteras keganasan dan ekstremisme, Model

Penerimaan Teknologi, sikap, belia
Introduction
In recent years, internet penetration rate in Malaysia has significantly
increased (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission,
2020). In 2020, internet penetration rate in the country was over 93%, a
continuous increase throughout the last decade (Nurhayati-Wolff, 2020).
Malaysia is also considered to be among the countries with the highest
social media penetration in the world, as it was ranked first in Southeast
Asia in 2020 at 84%, followed by Singapore (79%), and Thailand (75%)
(Moore, 2020). In terms of social media usage frequency, Kemp (2021)
reported that, Malaysians in general, spent an average of 9 hours online
daily, of which, 3 hours were spent on social media.
Understanding Malaysian Youth’s Social Media Practices and
Their Attitude towards Violent Extremism 7
Although high internet penetration is a welcome development,

the liberating nature of social media opens the possibility for violent
extremism to breed. Unlike the traditional media outlets such as
television, radio or newspapers that are more expensive, difficult to
penetrate into and are operating on mainly one-way communication,
social media is a cheaper option, easily accessible to everyone and
is offering two-way communication (Apuke, 2016). This makes
social media an ideal platform for violent extremist organisations to
disseminate messages and engage their target audience (Bender, 2019).
Youth are considered the main target online. This is a major concern
as youth aged 13 to 34 consist of over 80% of active social media users
in Malaysia (Ismail, Ahmad, Noor & Saw, 2019). In a study to identify
the usage of social media among youth in Malaysia, communication and
socialisation showed to be the most important purposes online (Yusop
& Sumar, 2013). The ease of internet allows continuous and limitless
access to information and interactions (Omar, Ismail & Kee, 2017),
exposing youth to violent extremist content online.
Over the years, many cases were reported involving the usage of
social media for violent extremism and terrorism in Malaysia. These
include using social media to promote ideology, radicalise, and to recruit
new members (Zolkepli, 2018; Baharudin, 2021). Even though the
number of reported cases were relatively small compared to the general
population of the country, the threat of violent extremism through the
exploitation of social media should not be undermined.
Hence, without thorough understanding of the role of social media
towards violent extremism, particularly among youth, it would be
difficult for policymakers, researchers and experts to formulate effective
strategies to counter such threat. This study therefore, attempted to
understand Malaysian youth’s social media practices, and the factors
that could influence their attitude towards violent extremism.
Social media and violent extremism
The study into the use of social media by violent extremist groups have
been gaining ground for many years, particularly with the rise of Daesh
(Thompson, 2012; Gill et al., 2017; Ganesh & Bright, 2020). In recent
times, authorities and researchers alike have warned of an increased
usage of social media by terrorist and violent extremist groups (Ismail,
2020; Crump, 2020). This is owed to the current global pandemic that
has led many countries to impose movement control orders, which
essentially make people spend more time at home and online (Ismail,
2020; King & Mullins, 2021).
COVID-19 pandemic has not only demonstrated fear of
increased usage of social media by violent extremist groups, but it has
also been used as a platform to justify violence. The pandemic was
exploited by extremist groups from various political spectrums, from
the far-left, to the far-right ideologies (Kruglanski, Gunaratna, Ellenberg
& Speckhard, 2020). According to a report published by the Institute for
Strategic Dialogue, a large number of social media postings were made
by the far-right movements to exploit the pandemic situation (Crawford,
2020). Most of the social media postings attempted to link the pandemic
with immigration, Islam, Judaism, LGBT community, and the elite
society (Crawford, 2020; Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2020).
Although our study did not intend to examine the link between
COVID-19 and the use of social media by violent extremist groups,
it was nonetheless important to note, how the pandemic has elevated
concern on the exploitation of social media, particularly the way how
violent extremist groups conducted their activities online (Kruglanski et
al., 2020). Thus, it made this study even more relevant, to understand
youth’s attitude towards violent extremism on social media.
The usage of social media by violent extremist groups is not only
limited to mobilise propaganda, radicalisation and recruitment. It is
also used to facilitate activities such as to gain funding, communicate,
build networks, and to coordinate attacks (Jawhar, 2016). While violent
extremists’ usage of social media to promote ideologies is eminent (Von
Behr, Reding, Edwards & Gribbon, 2013), its direct influence remains
inconclusive. In fact, literature has suggested that the role of social
media is merely as a facilitator or enabler vis-a-vis violent extremism,
rather than being the direct cause of it (Von Behr et al., 2013; Pauwels
et al., 2015; Vermeersch, Coleman, Demuynck and Dal Santo, 2020).
It should be noted that knowledge in this area is still limited. Violent
extremism within the new media environment is complex, contextual,
fast changing and dynamic (Schomerus, El Taraboulsi-McCarthy &
Sandhar, 2017; Hardy, 2018; Holmer, Bauman & Aryaeinejad, 2018).
As argued by Seraphin, Frau-Meigs and Hassan (2019), the link between
social media and violent radicalisation is at best limited and still

inconclusive, particularly in the field of information and communication
sciences. Hence, this present study attempted to address the knowledge
gap.
The Malaysian situation
Malaysia also has the experience dealing with cases related to the
exploitation of social media by violent extremists, particularly those
who have been labelled as suspected terrorists. For instance, in 2018, the
Malaysian authorities were reported to monitor more than 3,800 social
media accounts believed to be actively promoting extremist ideologies
and recruiting terrorists (“Almost 4,000 FB accounts being monitored”,
2018). It was also reported that, 240 individuals were arrested, while
800 social media accounts were blocked to curb the spread of militant
ideologies in the country (“Almost 4,000 FB accounts being monitored”,
2018).
Lim (2018) reported that, a series of counter-terrorism operation in
the country saw the arrests of suspected terrorists, including a 17-year-
old student. The minor planned to conduct attacks on churches, Hindu
temples and entertainment outlets using Molotov cocktails (Lim, 2018).
While it was not clear how the minor was radicalised, he exploited
different social media platforms to upload warning videos of his terror
plots to groups with links to Daesh (Lim, 2018). In a separate news
report, a housewife was nabbed for her alleged plot to ramp into non-
Muslim voters during the 2018 Malaysian General Election (Chew,
2018). Prior to her arrest, she recruited 10 followers using different
social media platforms (Chew, 2018).
McLuhan’s (1967) proposition of the creation of global village,
which characterises social media and the way how it gets people
connected, presents both opportunities and threats (Arriagada &
Ibanez, 2020; Pennycook, Bear, Collins & Rand, 2020). For instance,
there were cases in Malaysia involving individuals who tried to seek
spiritual knowledge for transformation on social media, only to get
connected with violent extremists and terrorists who then radicalised
them (Mohamad, 2020).
While the Malaysian authorities remain vigilant and are committed
towards weakening the threats of violent extremism and terrorism in the
country, the danger is far from over. The ‘post-Daesh’ misconception that
leads to the thinking that the threat of violent extremism and terrorism
has weakened is naïve and overly simplistic (Sinatra, 2020). According
to Jawhar (2020), propaganda, radicalisation process, recruitment and
networking are still actively taking place in Malaysia and throughout
the region by utilising various communication spheres, making the
danger even more difficult to identify.
Understanding attitude towards violent extremism on social media
In this study, we employed the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM)
to aid understanding on youth’s attitude towards violent extremism
on social media. TAM which originated from the Theory of Reason
Action (TRA), underlines the fundamental premise that, technological
acceptance is influenced by two integral factors; perceived usefulness
(PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) (Davis, 1989). According to
Davis (1989), PU refers to one’s own belief that using a new technology
would help to improve job performance, taking into consideration its
advantages and disadvantages, while, PEOU emphasises on how a new
technology would help to make job performance easier.
Based on TAM and the earlier studies related to the role of social
media in facilitating violent extremism (Von Behr et al., 2013; Zolkepli,
2018; Baharudin, 2021), the following hypotheses were tested:
H1 PU has a positive and significant effect on youth’s attitude
towards violent extremism on social media.
H2 PEOU has a positive and significant effect on youth’s
attitude towards violent extremism on social media.
TAM as a standalone model, is very robust in predicting one’s acceptance

of new technologies (Weerasinghe & Hindagolla, 2017). However, it is
limited to the functional factors only based on PU and PEOU (Legris,
Ingham & Collerette, 2003). Due to this limitation, many studies have
extended TAM by incorporating other external variables to make it
more comprehensive (Legris et al., 2003; Van Eeuwen, 2017; Jimenez,
Garcia, Violante, Marcolin & Vezzetti, 2021). In regard to this present
study, we included two other variables which are, the information/
argument quality and perception towards violent extremism.
Information/argument quality was a source factor derived from the
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). It refers to the quality of a social
media message and how it can influence one’s attitude and behavior
(Winter, 2019). According to Lee (2017), information/argument quality
can help to improve the persuasion of a social media message, and more
importantly influence attitude and behaviour. Based on this premise, the
following hypothesis was tested:
H3 Information/argument quality has a positive and
significant effect on youth’s attitude towards violent
extremism on social media.
Perception towards violent extremism was another variable included in

this study. It generally refers to how youth regard violent extremism.
This stems from their own knowledge and experience, which can be
influenced by a number of social-psychological related causes such
as, education level and standards of living (Zinchenko, Perelygina &
Zotova, 2016). According to Villa-Vicencio, Buchanan-Clarke and
Humphrey (2016), community’s perception towards violent extremism
varied and it can be shaped by insecurity feeling, drivers such as
poverty, unemployment and other socio-economic issues, and the types
of exposure received from the extremist groups. Hence, the following
hypothesis was tested:
H4 Youth’s perception towards violent extremism has a
positive and significant effect on their attitude towards
violent extremism on social media.
According to TAM, attitude is crucial in influencing one’s behavioural

intention towards actual usage of the technology (Davis, 1989;
Yang & Yoo, 2004; Sujeet & Jyoti, 2013; Hussein, 2017). Attitude
as a psychological concept is defined as an evaluation of any object
including ideologies, values and people, which is based on beliefs,
emotions and past behaviours. In relation to violent extremism, attitude
can be evaluated through the way one endorses or justifies related risky
behaviours (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2014; Nivette,
Eisner & Ribeaud, 2017).
In regard to this study, we took the starting position by assuming
that attitude towards violent extremism was influenced by PU, PEOU,
information/argument quality and perception towards violent extremism.
Taking into account the discussion on TAM and the other variables, the
following framework was proposed (Figure 1).
Figure 1. The proposed framework of the study
This study addressed the following research objectives:

1. To explore the effect of PU and PEOU on youth’s attitude
2. To examine the effect of information/argument quality on
youth’s attitude towards violent extremism on social media.
3. To investigate the effect of youth’s perception towards violent
extremism on their attitude towards violent extremism on social
media.
Research methodology
This study employed the quantitative research method. According to
Babbie (1998), a quantitative approach enables a huge population to
be reached and described. Specifically, in this study, a cross-sectional
online survey was conducted to understand Malaysian youth’s social
media practices and factors that influence their attitude towards violent
The main advantage of an online survey is that it allows data
collection across geographical location, more manageable and cost
effective (Fricker & Schonlau, 2002). In comparison to a longitudinal
study, the findings of a cross-sectional study are not definite. The same
study if being conducted at other times and contexts may yield different
outcomes (Davies, 1994). The main advantage of such a study is that it
allows data to be collected within a short time and different variables to
be measured (Davies, 1994).
The instrument development
An online survey was created and distributed using the Survey Monkey
application. It was prepared in both Malay and English languages. There
were nine categorical variables: age, gender, education, social media
experience, duration of usage daily, devices, choice of platforms, types of
content and purpose of usage; and five continuous variables: perception
towards violent extremism, PU, PEOU, information/argument quality,
and attitude towards violent extremism on social media.
Every categorical variable was coded numerically. As for the
continuous variables, they were measured using the five-point Likert
scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = not sure, 4 = agree, 5
= strongly agree). Four measurement items were included in each
continuous variable. They were adapted based on past studies related
to violent extremism, social media acceptance and usage and TAM
(Bhattacherjee & Sanford, 2006; Chen & Lee, 2008; Rauniar, Rawski,
Johnson & Yang, 2013; Li & Suh, 2015; Nivette et al., 2017; Dixit &
Prakash, 2018). This is demonstrated in Table 1 below.
As proposed by Elangovan and Sundaravel (2021), prior to the
actual data collection procedure, the researchers have consulted two
panel of experts to assist with the face and content validity of the survey
instrument. In addition, a pilot study was carried out to measure the
reliability of the survey instrument. An online pilot survey involving 50
respondents was conducted. The data from the survey was analysed using
the Cronbach’s alpha test. This was to ensure the internal consistency of
the survey instrument.
The accepted value for Cronbach’s alpha test as proposed by Cooper
and Schindler (2008) is 0.700 and above. Greater score of Cronbach’s
alpha value implies higher internal consistency of the construct (Cooper
& Schindler, 2008). In regard to the instrument of this study, each
construct was measured above 0.700, hence they were accepted. This is
presented in Table 2 below.
Table 1: Variables and Measurement Items

Perception on violent extremism
No. Items Sources
1 It is necessary to react by showing anger Nivette et al., (2017)
against injustice.
2 It is not wrong to have violent radical
ideas as long as they remain as thoughts
and not actions.
3 Sometimes people have to resort
to violence to defend their values,
convictions, or religious beliefs.
4 It is not wrong to support groups that
use violence to fight injustices.
PEOU
No. Items Sources
1 Social media is flexible to interact with. Rauniar, et al., (2013)
2 I find it easy to do many things using
social media.
3 It is not difficult to become skilful at
using social media.
4 Communication is made easy using
social media.
PU
No. Items Sources
1 Using social media enables me to get Rauniar, et al., (2013)
re-connected with people that matters to
my life.
2 Social media enhances my
communication effectiveness.
3 Social media makes it easier for me to
get the latest news and information.
4 Social media enables me to get
information related to my social
group(s).
Argument/information quality
No. Items Sources
1 It is important that information on social Bhattacherjee &
media is convincing and influential. Sanford, (2006); Chen &
2 I prefer social media information that is Lee, (2008); Li & Suh,
emotionally appealing. (2015)
3 I like social media information that is
intellectually engaging.
4 I like social media content that is
attractive and visually appealing.
Attitude towards violent extremism on social media
No. Items Sources
1 Social media is a good platform for me Rauniar, et al., (2013);
to find friends who share similar views Dixit & Prakash (2018)
as I do.
2 Social media is useful for me to get
information related to injustices around
the world.
3 Social media is a useful platform to
communicate with other members of my
social group(s).
4 I find myself to be easily influenced by
social media postings, including those
that promote violence in the name of
faith and religion.
Table 2: Cronbach’s Alpha Results Based on the Pilot Study Data

Construct Cronbach’s alpha
Perception on violent extremism 0.769

PEOU 0.808
PU 0.743
Argument/information quality 0.747
Attitude towards VE 0.742
The sample
The data collection procedure involved 400 respondents. They were
Malaysians, aged 18-34. The rationale for choosing respondents aged
18-34 was supported by past studies that reported, youth made up the
vast majority of social media users (Ahmad & Ismail, 2016; Anderson
& Jiang, 2018). The sample size was decided using sampling calculator,
based on the Malaysian population of over 33 million people. It also
took into consideration the 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of
error. Convenience sampling was employed in this study, mainly due to
its flexibility which allows individuals who fit the criteria of the study
to participate (Fricker, 2008).
The procedure
Call for participation in this study was advertised on social media.
Specifically, the study was advertised in various social media groups
and communities. This included promoting the study on Facebook and
WhatsApp groups. Potential respondents who fulfilled the criteria of
the study were invited to participate in the online survey. The criteria
to participate in the online survey were; the respondents must be
Malaysians, 18-34 years old and have at least one year of social media
experience.
Consent for participation was sought before the start of the survey.
The respondents were made aware that their participation was voluntary
and they had the opportunity to quit at any time before the survey was
submitted. Once the survey was submitted, it was no longer possible to
identify the respondents and their responses due to the anonymity. There
was no identifiable information included in the survey. Participation in
the online survey took approximately 15-20 minutes.
Findings and discussion
Demographic characteristics
A huge majority of the respondents who participated in this study were
Malays (88.2%), followed by Chinese (7.8%), Indian (3%) and others
(1%). The large number of Malay ethnic respondents was expected,
considering that the survey may possibly be shared on online platforms
where participants are predominantly Malays. The lack of participation
among respondents from other ethnic groups is addressed in the
limitations and suggestions for future studies section.
Table 3: Demographic Findings

Item Category Frequency (n) Percentage (%)
Ethnicity Malay 353 88.2
Chinese 31 7.8
Indian 12 3
Others 4 1
Age 18-24 215 53.9
25-34 184 46.2
Gender Male 165 41.4
Female 234 58.6
Education Postgraduate 53 13.3
qualification
Bachelor’s degree 224 56.1
Diploma 94 23.6
School certificate 28 7
In term of the respondents’ age, 53.9% of them were 18-24 years

old, while, the remaining 46.2% aged 25-34. Female made up 58.6%
of the respondents, while male respondents consisted the remaining
41.4%. As for the respondents’ highest educational qualification, 56.1%
had bachelor’s degree, 23.6% diploma, 13.3% postgraduate degree and
the remaining 7% had school certificate. The demographic findings are
presented in Table 3.
Social media practices
Most of the respondents of this study (92.5%) had more than 5 years of
experience using social media, 6% had between 3-4 years using social
media and the remaining 1.5% had 2 years or less experience. In terms
of their duration of social media usage daily, 44.3% used social media
more than 4 hours daily, 24% between 3-4 hours, 18.5% between 2-3
hours and the remaining 13.3% used it for less than 2 hours.
Table 4: Social Media Experience, Duration of Usage and Device
Social media 5 years > 370 92.5
experience 3-4 years 24 6
< 2 years 6 1.5
Duration of usage 4 hours> 177 44.3

daily 3-4 hours 96 24
2-3 hours 74 18.5
<2 hours 53 13.3
Device Mobile phone 391 97.8
Other devices 9 2.25
Most of the respondents (97.8%) indicated that they accessed social

media mainly using smartphone. The remaining 2.25% used other
devices such as laptop, personal computer and tablet. The findings
related to the respondents’ social media experience, duration of usage
daily and their devices are reported in Table 4.
This study found that the respondents most frequently used
WhatsApp (49%), followed by Instagram (20.3%), Twitter (11.5%),
Facebook (10%), YouTube (6%) and others (3.25%). In term of their
preferred types of content on social media, 35.6% preferred video,
written content (26.1%), infographic (13.3%), image (12%), video story
(7.3%) and others (5.8%). The findings related to the respondents’ most
frequently social media platforms and their preferred types of content
are presented in Table 5.
Table 5: Respondents’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and Types of Content
Social media WhatsApp 196 49
platform Instagram 81 20.3
Twitter 46 11.5
Facebook 40 10
YouTube 24 6
Others 13 3.25
Preferred types Video 142 35.6
of content Written content 104 26.1
Infographic 53 13.3
Image 49 12
Video story 29 7.3
Others 23 5.8
Respondents in the 18-24 age group preferred Instagram, while

those in the 25-34 age group favoured Facebook and Twitter more.
A closer examination using chi-square analysis found that there was
a significant relation between respondents’ age and their choice of
frequently used social media platforms X2(1, N = 400) = 9.581, p < .05.
The finding is presented in Table 6. However, a separate examination
revealed that there was no significant relation between respondents’
gender and highest education qualification with their choice of social
media platforms.
Table 6: Chi-square Test – The Most frequently
Used Social Media Platforms According to Age
Value Df Asymptotic
Significance
(2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 9.581 a
7 .024
Likelihood Ratio 10.121 7 .182
Linear-by-Linear Association 3.468 1 .063
N of Valid Cases 400
a. 4 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
.46.
Chi-square test was also conducted to examine the respondents’

preferred types of social media content with their age, gender and
highest education level. The results revealed that, there was a significant
relation between respondents’ age and their preferred social media
content X2 (1, N = 400) = 28.218, p < .05. This finding is shown in
Table 7.
Table 7: Chi-square Test – Preferred Types of
Social Media Content According to Age
Value df Asymptotic
Significance
(2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 28.218 a
8 .018
a. 6 cells (33.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .46.
Table 8: Chi-square Test – Preferred Types of Content

According to Education Qualifications
Value df Asymptotic
Significance
(2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 37.300a 32 .038
Linear-by-Linear Association .001 1 .976
Similarly, there was a significant relation between respondents’

preferences of social media content and their level of education X2
(1, N = 400) = 37.3, p < .05. The respondents with higher education
qualifications (postgraduate and bachelor levels) preferred written
content more, while those with lower education qualifications (diploma
and school certificate) liked video content. The chi-square test finding
is presented in Table 8.
A significant relation was also reported between respondents’
preferences of social media content and gender X2 (1, N = 400) = 18.849,
p < .05. It was found that, a bigger percentage of male respondents
(42.4%) preferred video content compared to female (30.8%). On the
contrary, more female respondents (28.6%) preferred written content
compared to male (22.4%). The chi-square test finding is reported in
Table 9.
Table 9: Chi-square Test – Preferred Types of Social
Media Content According to Gender
Value df Asymptotic
Significance
(2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 18.849a 8 .016
When probed on their main purpose for using social media, it was
found that 50% of the respondents used it to get the latest news and
information, 21.5% for entertainment, 11.5% to share information with
family and friends, 7.3% to build and maintain relationship, 6.8% for
learning and the remaining 3% for other purposes. This is presented in
Table 10.
Table 10: Purposes for Using Social Media
Purpose Frequency (n) Percentage (%)
To get the latest news/information 200 50
Entertainment 86 21.5
Sharing of information 46 11.5
Building/maintaining relationship 29 7.3
Learning 27 6.8
Other purposes 12 3
Factors influencing youth’s attitude towards violent extremism on

social media
The findings revealed that, youth respondents who participated in this
study had a moderate attitude towards violent extremism on social media
(M = 3.50, SD = .585). Breakdown of findings for the four independent
variables tested showed that PEOU recorded the highest mean score
(M = 4.08, SD = .588), followed by information/argument quality (M
= 3.43, SD = .632), PU (M = 3.32, SD = .764) and perception towards
violent extremism (M = 2.45, SD = .854).
Next, we conducted the multiple linear regression statistical analysis
to measure each variable and their relationship with attitude towards
violent extremism on social media. All four independent variables were
entered and analysed simultaneously to identify the main predictor for
attitude towards violent extremism on social media.
The findings presented in Table 11 indicate that, information/
argument quality, (p = <.001, b = .600), PU (p = <.001, b = .283) and
PEOU (p = <.001, b = .112) were significant predictors for attitude
towards violent extremism on social media, R2 = .426, F (3,395) =
97.51, p < .05. However, perception was not found to be a significant
predictor for attitude (p = .461, b = .026).
Table 11: Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

Multiple linear regression analysis of factors influencing attitude
towards violent extremism on social media
Variables Attitude
Ba βb t Sig. (p-value)
Perception .018 .026 .739 .461
PEOU .128 .112 3.386 .001
PU .221 .283 6.664 .000
Information/ .348 .600 8.802 .000
argument quality
R2 .426
Adjusted R2 .421
F 97.51
Based on the findings of the multiple linear regression analysis

conducted, this study supported Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2 and
Hypothesis 3, while Hypothesis 4 was not supported. This is summarised
in Table 12.
Table 12: Hypothesis Testing Result
Hypothesis Result
PU has a positive and significant effect on youth’s attitude Supported
PEOU has a positive and significant effect on youth’s attitude Supported
Information/argument quality has a positive and significant Supported
effect on youth’s attitude towards violent extremism on social
media.
Youth’s perception towards violent extremism has a positive Not
and significant effect on their attitude towards violent supported
Discussion
Social media continues to be important for youth. Increased frequency
of social media usage among youth lead to enhanced exposure of
violent extremist information. Even though it was argued that exposure
to violent extremism on social media does not directly translate to
individuals being radicalised (Conway, 2017), it still needs to be treated
with caution, considering that social media can help to facilitate the
radicalisation process (START, 2018). Continuous exposure to the

extremists’ content leads to increased consumption, dissemination of
information and communication with the extremists (START, 2018).
This study found that WhatsApp and Instagram were favoured more
compared to Facebook and Twitter. A closer examination revealed,
younger respondents who were in the 18-24 age category preferred
Instagram more, while those in the 25-34 age category favoured
Facebook and Twitter. This finding is similar to Alhabash and Ma
(2017) who reported that, Instagram is preferred more by younger social
media users due to the motivations provided such as entertainment,
social interaction and convenience. This study also suggested that
youth preferred video content the most, followed by written content,
infographic and images. This, however, does not imply that visual is
more important than verbal. Instead, both visual and verbal elements
are equally important, as social media preferences can be influenced
by various considerations including personality traits (Mwaba, Saini &
Abratt, 2017).
It is also worth noting that youth’s preferences of social media
platforms and types of content are influenced by gender, age and
educational qualifications. For instance, when compared between
genders, it was found that male respondents liked video content more,
while female respondents preferred written content. This is explained
by Karatsoli and Nathanail (2020) who indicated that the usage of social
media between genders may differ in terms of liking and practices.
Information seeking continues to be the main purpose for accessing
social media. This particular finding echoed the literature (Wok, Idid &
Misman, 2012; Hamat, Embi & Hassan, 2012; Baboo, Pandian, Prasad,
& Rao, 2013; Yin, Agostinho, Harper, & Chicaro, 2014). Youth’s
preferences to consume quick stories and to get insider information on
social media, particularly during crisis situation (Ismail et al., 2019),
open the possibility for extremists’ exploitation (Kruglanski, et al.,
2020). This also led to misinformation and disinformation of news on
social media which can create confusion (Close, 2021).
PU, PEOU and information/argument quality were found to be
crucial factors that can influence youth’s attitude towards violent
extremism on social media. This was explained by Gerrand (2020)
who indicated that, a conducive environment, including the easy-
to-use social media technology can encourage youth towards violent

extremism. In addition, we found that information/argument quality
to be the strongest factor that could influence attitude towards violent
extremism. According to Machdar (2019), information/argument quality
is important as it can influence other relating factors with regard to the
usage of social media.
This study reported that perception towards violent extremism is not
a crucial factor in influencing youth’s attitude towards violent extremism
on social media. This is partly explained by Charkawi, Dunn and Bliuc
(2021) who indicated that perceived injustice does not necessarily lead
to support towards violent extremism. In fact, social identity, sense of
belonging and resilience are more crucial indicators that can influence
one’s support towards violent extremism (Charkawi et al., 2021).
In regard to the use of TAM in this study, PU and PEOU have
provided useful lens to understand youth’s usage of social media and
their attitude towards violent extremism on social media. However,
TAM as an information system theory alone is not adequate to explain
the behavioural and relational factors that could also influence youth’s
social media adoption. Hence, a more holistic understanding of new
technology acceptance needs to consider not only the functional factors,
but also the psychological factors which require the extension of TAM
(Park, Kim & Ohm, 2015).
Limitations and suggestions for future studies
While this study has provided useful preliminary understanding on
Malaysian youth’s social media practices and their attitude towards
violent extremism, it also has limitations that should be acknowledged
and addressed.
This study mainly involved Malay respondents. Low participation
among respondents from other ethnic groups was due to limited
advertisement of the study and restricted distribution of the survey. This
study which was conducted as part of an international collaboration
short term research project had to consider suitable sampling method
and recruitment strategy based on the available resources. Even though
the quality of this study in general was not impacted as it was not meant
to explore ethnicity, it is proposed that future studies consider a more
inclusive participation among respondents from different ethnic groups
based on the demographics of the country. This is to provide a more

balanced representation based on the country’s ethnic composition.
It should also be noted that the findings of this study could not be
generalised. Hence, future studies that aim to explore further on youth’s
social media practices and their attitude towards violent extremism
can consider using probability sampling method that provides equal
opportunity for the population to be part of sample for the study
(Taherdoost, 2016). Probability sampling can help to minimise bias and
enable generalisability of research findings (Taherdoost, 2016).
In addition, this study also has a number of important suggestions
related to developing a more thorough understanding on youth’s social
media practices, factors that influence their support towards violent
extremism and how to counter the threat online. First, it is proposed
that future studies address further on youth’s preferences of the types of
social media content. In order for future countering violent extremism
programs on social media to be successful, knowledge of the various
types of content to be used for different audiences is necessary (Lua,
2021).
Second, as shown in this study, information/argument quality is an
important factor that can influence attitude towards violent extremism
on social media. Hence, future studies on countering violent extremism
need to develop a deeper understanding on the social media message
design aspect. The message design aspect is crucial to ensure the success
of countering violent extremism campaign on social media (Bodine-
Barone, Marrone, Helmus & Schlang, 2020).
Third, it is proposed that future studies adopt alternative methods
including the projective research techniques. As violent extremism
is a sensitive topic, respondents may possibly be more careful when
answering direct questions pertaining to the issue during survey or
interviews. Projective techniques which aim to unravel true feelings
among respondents can help to overcome this problem. In fact, the
application of projective techniques is not new, especially in psychology,
marketing and crime related research (Garb, Wood & Nezworski, 2000;
Piotrowski, 2015).
Last, it should be understood that social media practices are dynamic
and constantly changing. Hence, it is important that new studies
continue to be conducted to understand the usage pattern in relation

to violent extremism. In Malaysia, the extremists would initially reach
out to their target audience using open social media platforms with
the aim of maximising reach (Yasin, 2017). This is followed up by a
more private communication, mainly targeting selected individuals to
radicalise (Yasin, 2017). As pointed out by Jani (2017), despite recent
crackdowns, the extremists continue to use social media to spread their
ideologies online and this remains a huge threat to the nation (Jawhar,
2020).
Acknowledgement
This research was an initiative of the Extremism Analytical Research
Unit (EARU) ISTAC-IIUM and was funded by the MSI-Tetra Tech.
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Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case

of Malaysia: Evaluating Public Service
Motivation in a Non-Homogenous Society
Nadia Hezlin Yashaiya*

Abdillah Noh**
Abstract: Drawing works on Public Service Motivation (PSM), heterogeneity

and institutions, this article suggests that in assessing an individual’s PSM
and chances of joining the public service, ethnic heterogeneity matters. It
matters because while personal attributes – like education, personal values and
identity, political beliefs, socialisation – are important in determining one’s
public service motivation, an ethnically heterogeneous environment with the
potential of producing numerous types of exclusive institutions can influence
one’s perception of the public service, alter one’s motivation to serve in the
public service or even determine one’s chances of joining the civil service. This
study is based on interviews among 28 officers who were attending training
at the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. This study found that ethnic heterogeneity influences an individual’s
perception, motivation and decision to join the public service.
Keywords: Public Service Motivation, Heterogeneity, Institutions, and

Malaysia.
Abstrak: Merujuk kepada teori Motivasi Perkidmatan Awam (PSM), faktor

kepelbagaian dan institusi, artikel ini mencadangkan bahawa dalam menilai
PSM dan peluang individu untuk menyertai perkhidmatan awam, kepelbagaian
*
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford; Centre for Advanced
Research, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Email: hazzline@yahoo.com
**
Department of History and International Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences
Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Email: abdillah.noh@ubd.edu.bn; abdillahnoh@
googlemail.com (corresponding author)
etnik adalah penting. Ia penting kerana walaupun sifat peribadi – seperti

pendidikan, nilai peribadi dan identiti, kepercayaan politik, sosialisasi –
boleh menentukan motivasi perkhidmatan awam seseorang, persekitaran
yang pelbagai seperti latar belakang etnik juga boleh mewujudkan pelbagai
jenis institusi eksklusif yang boleh mempengaruhi persepsi seseorang
terhadap perkhidmatan awam, mengubah motivasi mereka untuk berkhidmat
dalam perkhidmatan awam sekaligus menentukan peluang seseorang untuk
menyertai perkhidmatan awam. Kajian ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan
kaedah tembubual dengan 28 orang PTD yang sedang menjalankan latihan
di Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara (INTAN) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hasil
kajian menunjukkan kepelbagaian etnik mempengaruhi persepsi, motivasi dan
keputusan untuk berkhidmat di perkhidmatan awam.
Kata kunci: Motivasi Perkhidmatan Awam, Heterogeniti, Institusi, dan

Malaysia.
Introduction
There have been great efforts to identify and examine a special class
of motivation – Public Service Motivation (PSM). In layman’s term,
public service motivation (PSM) can be described as individuals’
tendency to serve in public institutions and organisations rather than
in the private organisation. Perry and Wise (1990) and later Perry
(1996) seminal work that conceptualised and neatly categorised PSM
into various dimensions, triggered many works that addressed various
concerns. Some of these include identifying antecedents to PSM
such as gender, leadership, age or education (Naff and Crum, 1999;
Bright, 2005; DeHart-Davis, Marlowe et al., 2006; Steijn and Leisink,
2006; and Moynihan and Pandey, 2007), examining the influence of
social institutions – like family, religion, and profession – on PSM
(see (Houston, 2000; Brewer, 2003: and Perry, 2007), examining the
relationship between whistleblowing and PSM (Brewer and Selden,
1998) or studying causal link between job satisfaction and PSM (Naff
and Crum, 1999).
Despite the extensive efforts, investigations on PSM have intuitively
assumed a homogeneous setting. Though there are efforts to examine
demographics – like gender, age, educational qualification, professions
– with PSM, these works have implicitly assumed that respondents
Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case of Malaysia: Evaluating
Public Service Motivation in a Non-Homogenous Society 37
are guided by the oneness of values or national value and not by

disparate cultural, ethnic or religious values (Minkov and Hofstede,
2012). This obviously begs an important question: Does an ethnically
heterogeneous setting produce PSM responses that are different from
that of homogeneous settings?
We need to ask this question because there is a growing literature
– that lies outside the PSM literature – that suggests that heterogeneity
can affect the quality of public good delivery. (Sachs and Warner, 1995).
Ethnic heterogeneity, for instance, produces social and political division
that leads to rent-seeking and inferior policy choices (Easterly and
Levine, 1997). Ethnically fragmented societies also tend to post lower
social activities (Alesina and Spolaore, 1995; Alesina and La Ferrara,
1999; and La Ferrara and Alesina, 2000) and impede the provision of
the public good. There is also work that found a negative relationship
between heterogeneity and technical efficiency because of a polarised
society (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes et al., 1999). These findings suggest
the possibility that individuals raised in institutional silos – ethnically,
culturally or religiously – may develop different interpretations of PSM
dimensions like “commitment to the public interest,” “compassion,”
“self-sacrifice” or even the idea of “attraction to public policy” which
ultimately affect their delivery of the public good.
Another reason to undertake such an exercise is that a quick search
on “heterogeneity and PSM” in major journals of public administration
produced no result. To be fair, there are works that have alluded to the
need to factor heterogeneous considerations (Van der Wal, 2015).
Van der Wal and Yang (2015) two-country study of Dutch and Chinese
public sector workers found that Dutch and Chinese bureaucrats had
different ideas on what they deemed as “realistic values of bureaucracy.”
Chinese civil servants, for instance, ranked highly “Chinese political
ecology,” the “rule of man has more weight than rule of law” or
“serve the superior or special group” while their Dutch counterparts
were more concerned on public sector management and the idea of
efficiency, transparency, and accountability. Chinese civil servants
also saw the importance of loyalty, obedience, and propriety; unlike
Dutch civil servants who saw independent ideas and innovativeness as
important considerations (Van der Wal and Yang, 2015). There are also
accomplished scholars on PSM who have increasingly emphasised on the
importance of context and institutions when assessing PSM (Moynihan

and Pandey, 2007; and Perry and Hondeghem, 2008). They describe,
“good science is said to be contextual” and argue, “although PSM is
measured at the individual level, it should never be seen apart from
its institutional environment.” (Moynihan and Pandey, 2007; Kim and
Vandenabeele, 2010; Moynihan, Vandenabeele et al., 2013; Moynihan,
Vandenabeele, Perry and Jens Blom-Hansen, 2013, p. 289; Pandey and
Moynihan, 2007, p. 41). Kim and Vandenabeele also alluded to the idea
of explaining that PSM is a product of both “individual and societal
phenomenon.” (Kim and Vandenabeele, 2010; and Vandenabeele, 2010,
p. 103).
Does heterogeneity matter when we assess an individual’s PSM? If
ethnic heterogeneity promotes exclusive institutions – ones that maintain
ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity – do such institutions affect how
individuals view ideas like “public service,” “public good” “community”
or “civil service”? Or are individuals guided by a dominant generalised
value – the same set of rationality and socio-psycho behaviour – and not
coloured by heterogeneous values? Will a heterogeneous environment
impose different barriers for individuals that will affect their perception
and employment chances in the public service?
To address the above concerns, we examined PSM among higher
civil servants in a highly plural or ethnically-heterogeneous society,
Malaysia. In-depth interviews were conducted on Malaysia’s Pegawai
Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD) or higher civil servants. Content analysis
was adopted, and as far as possible, the work employed thick description
to obtain greater insights into officers’ motivation. To improve the
validity of data, interviews were conducted in an iterative manner, where
similar questions were remodelled or reframed to ensure consistency of
responses. It needs mentioning too that this is an exploratory study – a
validation for the need to factor heterogeneity – one where the analysis
would inform a larger project on motivation involving higher civil
service officers in such setting.
The article is set out as follows. The first part will discuss the
concepts used; specifically definitions of public service motivation,
heterogeneity, and institutions. The second part will provide a brief
description of Malaysia’s public administration, the purpose of which
is to provide the institutional and historical context to Malaysia’s civil
service practice. The next part of the article will explain the methodology
used and the details of the research where the paper will discuss the
findings of the research.
Putting into context
We define public service motivation (PSM) as “individuals’ disposition
to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public
institutions and organisation” (Perry and Wise, 1990). Perry and Wise
(1990) describe that PSM can be defined into three categories. The
three categories include rational (where individual action is based on
utility maximisation); normative (where actions are based on the need
to conform to societal norms) and affective (where behaviours are based
on an individual’s emotional response to social context). This definition
is adopted because it subscribes to not only utilitarian reasoning but also
imbues the importance of context and socio-psycho behaviour. Despite
factoring context, the definition intuitively assumes that an individual’s
PSM is persuaded by a general consideration of the society and not
persuaded by his ethnic identity. Going by this definition, an individual
might view his motivation to serve in the public service purely from a
utilitarian perspective, that is, in his ability to formulate public policy
and hence independent of his ethnic identity. Taking into account such
consideration we adopt the hypothesis that:
H1: Individual’s public service motivation (PSM) in an
ethnically heterogeneous society- be they utilitarian,
normative and affective – is independent of ethnic identity.
Besides PSM, there are two other concepts that need addressing –
heterogeneity and institutions. By heterogeneity, we mean a society
that is plural in nature. We are persuaded by Furnivall (1948) definition
where he describes a plural society as “a medley of people” where:
“…they mix but do not combine. Each group holds by its
own religion, its own culture and language, its own ideas and
ways. As individuals, they meet, but only in the marketplace,
in buying and selling. There is a plural society, with different
sections of the community living side by side, but separately,
within the same political unit. Even in the racial sphere, there
is a division of labour along racial lines.” (Furnivall 1948,
p. 304)
To simplify, Malaysia’s “medley of people” can be divided into

two groups; indigenous and non-indigenous. Indigenous peoples of
Malaysia are known as the Bumiputeras (sons of the soil). There are two
subcategories within the Bumiputeras category. The first, are Malays
that form the largest group and the second, are native tribes that together
make up about 10-12 percent of the population. The non-indigenous
group comprises of the Chinese, Indian and Eurasian or people of mixed
percentage. According to the Malaysian census of 2010, the population
of Malaysia is made up of 54.6% Malay, 24.6% Chinese, 7.3% Indian
and Others 12.8% (mainly other indigenous natives).
Very much in keeping with Furnivall’s (1948) definition, Malaysia’s
“medley of people” are not only culturally heterogeneous but have
also developed diverse and highly exclusive institutional setups in the
realms of education, recreation, economy, and politics(Furnivall, 1948).
Despite 62 years of independence, Malaysians mostly attend different
types of schools that are ethnically, linguistically and religiously defined.
They go to different places of worship, live in different areas and are
concentrated in certain employment sectors. Malays, for instance,
dominate the civil service; Malays make up 67 percent of total civil
servants, with Chinese making up 20 percent and Indians making up
7 percent. The Chinese, however, dominates Malaysia’s private sector.
Lim (2013) found that Chinese make up 56 percent of private-sector
professionals while they made up only 20 percent of public sector
professionals.
While it is impossible to detail Malaysia’s heterogeneity given the
limited space here, suffice it to say that the country’s heterogeneous
nature is a product of a number of factors: colonisation, migration,
creation of spatially and ethnically defined industrial or employment
activities, neglect of nation-building during colonial rule and a
segregated and diverse educational institution that persisted even after
independence. Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP), formed in
1971, perhaps captures the challenges that come with having a highly
plural society. While the policy aimed to reduce the economic and
social imbalance between indigenous and non-indigenous groups and
to eliminate the identification of economic functions to certain groups,
the NEP, in fact, deepened ethnic polarisation. Edwards (2005) found
out that despite the NEP being successful in reducing overall poverty
level, it also ended up producing concentration of groups “in particular
sectors of the economy” (Edwards, 2005, p. 9), one where the private
sector became overly concentrated with non-indigenous population
(Chinese and Indians) and the public sector seeing high concentration
of the indigenous group (Malays).
The heterogeneous nature of Malaysian society is propped by
ethnically-defined institutions, which are products of the country’s
historical, political, economic, social development. By institutions,
we mean the set of informal constraints (sanctions, taboos, customs,
traditions, and codes of conduct) and formal rules (constitutions,
laws, property rights) that facilitate or constraint how societal actors
behave (North 1990). Institutions distinguish between appropriate
and inappropriate, “right “and “wrong,” “possible” and “impossible”
actions. They determine social behavioural patterns, roles, rules, values,
ceremonies and they are embedded by way of religion, family and
other social structures that provide order, stability, and predictability to
behaviour (Perry and Hondeghem, 2008, p. 71; March and Olsen, 1989).
Such institutions are maintained through socialisation where individuals
identify themselves with significant others and assume a distinct social
identity in order to become members of the institution (Vandenabeele,
2007, p. 548). Given a heterogeneous setting, socialisation is a powerful
force that preserves and promotes the formation, maintenance, and
distribution of particular institutions. For the purpose of establishing a
basic understanding of PSM in a heterogeneous Malaysian context, we
provide below a short background of the Malaysian civil service.
Background of Malaysia’s Public Administration
Malaysia’s public administration is a product of centuries of historical,
socio-cultural and institutional experiences. Before British colonial rule,
Malaysia (Malaya) had an elaborate administrative structure, called the
adat Temenggong, where the Malay sultans were both the administrative
head as well as the head of government. British colonial rule brought
a modern professional civil service, one where Malay aristocrats were
reassigned new positions in the professional service and entered the
wage economy for the first time (Siddiquee, 2013).
British indirect rule in Malaya meant British retention of Malay
de jure power (by virtue of Malay rulers being heads of state and
highest authority in the state council), which effectively saw continued
incorporation of Malay considerations in the civil service. Throughout
British colonial rule, the administration catered to the demands of

Malay royal houses with the unintended consequence of retaining a
Malay character in the bureaucracy. There are many examples of this.
In 1910, aristocratic elites demanded that Malays be exposed to the
rigours of modern administration, which led to the introduction of an
elite service called the Malay Administrative Service (MAS). To ensure
that there would be a steady supply of Malay officers in the MAS, the
colonial administration established the Malay College Kuala Kangsar
(MCKK) in 1912, a boarding school that catered initially to children of
aristocrats.
The twentieth century saw Malay aristocrats demanding more places
be provided for Malays in the civil service. There was no objection
from the administration mainly because there was indeed the need to
engage Malays into the modern sector economy. There was the worry
that Malays were not heavily involved in the private sector, unlike non-
Malays who were highly represented in the private sector - as workers in
the tin mines or agricultural plantations or as traders and professionals
(Puthucheary, 1978) and such trend could create underemployment and
unemployment (Tilman, 1968). Such was the concern that the British
administration imposed a preference policy for the appointment of Malay
officers. In 1922 – in the midst of a slump in the global economy - the
Retrenchment Commission recommended that the ratio of Malays to the
local-born-non-Malays appointment in the civil service be kept to seven
Malays to three non-Malays (Roff, 1965). This policy was amended in
1952 where the new ratio was four Malays to one Non-Malay (Haque
2003). Despite having such preference policy Malays only dominated
junior positions (Tilman, 1968). At the time of independence in 1957,
Malays made up only 14.1% of senior officers compared to non-Malays
(which also included many retained British officers) who made up about
24.8% of senior officers (Puthucheary, 1978).
The above historical accounts are important because it provides the
background to understanding the present character of the Malaysian
civil service. Several themes can be drawn from the above description,
for instance, that of the persistence of Malay dominance, the skewed
nature of public and private sector employment that is coloured by
ethnic considerations or even the increasing returns that come from
continued investment in mutually exclusive institutions. While scholars
are understandably quick to attribute low non-Malay participation to
the preference policy (four “Bumiputera” to one “non-Bumiputera” )

the above historical readings also give indications that there are reasons
to believe that non-Malays also prefer the private sector. Alatas (1977),
for instance, points out that the improvement in the economy and the
expansion of the private sector provided non-Malays with lucrative
returns that make joining the public sector a lesser option. Woo’s (2014)
more recent analysis confirms the find when she found that the paucity
of non-Malays in the public sector was due to non-Malays opting for the
private sector. Kuan Heong’s (2018) latest work also found that given
a choice between private and public sector employment, the majority
of respondents (non-Malays final year university students) would opt
for the private sector. The analysis also found support in Lim’s (2013)
earlier findings which found that tertiary-educated Chinese preferred
private sector employment; Chinese in fact made up 56% of private-
sector professionals as compared to 20% of public sector professionals.
The above description informs us of the concerns raised in this study.
We proceed now with the details of the research.
The discussions above – the Malaysian civil service, deliberations
on the idea of heterogeneity and a plural society and the impact of
institutions – raise a number of points that this study will be addressing:
the relevance of ethnic heterogeneity in assessing one’s motivation for
public service, the importance of institutions, specifically, the prevalence
of mutually exclusive institutions in shaping one’s socialisation
process, perception of the civil service and preference for the particular
employment sector. Taking these concerns, we hypothesise that:
H2: In an ethnically- heterogeneous society, one’s ethnic
identity does not determine one’s capacity to develop
public service motivation because every ethnic community
experiences a similar socialisation process.
H3: Perception of the civil service in a heterogeneous society
is independent of one’s ethnic identity.
H4: Individual’s preference to join the public sector (or
private sector) is similar between indigenous and non-
indigenous officers.
Demographics
Qualitative research was employed to elicit a detailed response from
higher civil service officers on their motivations to join the public service.
Twenty– eight higher civil servants or Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik
(PTD) or Administrative and Diplomatic Officers were involved. These
officers are considered crème de la crème of Malaysia’s civil service
officers as they are targeted to take on important policy roles in the
administration. The interviews were conducted in the second quarter of
2017 when the PTD officers were attending a 10-month training at the
National Institute of Public Administration or Institut Tadbiran Awam
Negara (INTAN).
The study chose PTD officers at INTAN because having officers
in one setting helped ease administrative challenges. This is because,
given the strict civil service code of privacy and confidentiality of data,
the administrative procedures needed to obtain the interviews were
onerous. The process of obtaining permission for the interviews was
challenging and the challenge would be even more should the interviews
be carried on officers spread in the various ministries and agencies.
Purposive sampling was carried out. We requested that INTAN
provide the maximum number of non-indigenous officers available
given that there were only 40 (11%) non-indigenous officers (non-
Malays) among the 378 officers in the cohort attending training. Thirty
officers were initially requested – 10 each from the major ethnic groups.
The non-indigenous group was split into two subgroups – Indian and
Chinese officers. For indigenous officers, officers were chosen on a
random basis due to their large numbers. In all, 28 officers agreed to
participate in the interview, giving a response rate of 93 percent. Out of
the 28 officers, 18 were non-indigenous officers, nine Chinese and nine
Indian officers. Each interview lasted about one hour. The interviews
took six months to complete and were all conducted on the INTAN
campus.
Out of the 28 respondents, 16 had worked in the private sector, eight
had worked in the public sector as non-PTD officers, two had previously
worked in not-for-profit organisations and two had no job experience
prior to joining the scheme. The eight respondents who had previously
worked in the public sector held normal officer positions and were not
under the PTD scheme. Only one respondent did not have any work
experience. With regards to qualifications, nine have Masters Degrees,

two have PhDs with the rest having bachelor’s degrees. Besides
academic qualifications, three of the respondents were holders of the
Perdana Fellowship. This is a six -month fellowship scheme where top
young graduates would shadow ministers to gain first-hand experience
on matters of policymaking. Among the 28 respondents, 10 were also
government scholars. These officers were given scholarships to study
at the undergraduate level at reputed overseas universities where upon
graduation they are required to serve a bond with the Malaysian public
service for five years. From the interviews, we found that the five-year
bond is not strictly adhered to. Officers spoke of friends who were
government scholars but who chose not to return home. The officers
said that this was possible because there had been no legal cases brought
by the government against bond breakers. We turn now to the specifics
of the interviews.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were employed. Six questions were posed
to the 28 PTD officers. The questions were designed to provide a
comprehensive universe of motivations that guided officers’ choice
of employment. Additional questions were also asked. In carrying
out the follow-up questions, prompts and probes were used, keeping
in mind officers’ various motivations and their relevance to issues of
heterogeneity. To ensure consistency of responses an iterative method
was adopted. This is when at the “end” of the interview, the recorder
was turned off and at this point, the interviewer would pose the same
six questions - with slight variances or reframing - for the purpose of
validating respondents’ earlier taped responses. We discuss now the
details of the findings.
Findings
The six questions were broad questions that asked respondents on what
it means to make a positive difference to society, the reasons for people
to do good, the dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) that
best reflect their choice of joining the service, their motivations to join
the higher civil service and the people who have been instrumental in
making them consider the scheme. There are also questions on officers’
past employment sectors and working experience as well as their
assessment of the experience applying for the scheme. The purpose
of doing so was not only to examine different aspects of motivation

of these officers but also to find out the relevance of heterogeneity as
an important consideration when assessing public service motivation
among individuals in a highly plural society.
Content analysis was carried out. We used two broad categories
from which to understand the relevance of heterogeneity to an
individual’s motivation. The first category was on individuals’ sense of
public duty or service (H1). Here we examined the text responses of
the two groups of officers – indigenous and non-indigenous – by noting
words associated with public duty or service and examining whether
there is a significant difference in responses between the two groups.
The second category was to examine the significance of institutions in
a heterogeneous setting. To examine the impact of institutions, we test
out the three hypotheses (H2, H3, and H4). Socialisation, perception of
the civil service, and the perception of the attractiveness of employment
sectors served as proxies to measuring institutions. They helped us
analysed the text and sort out words that best capture the impact of
institutions. To find out the impact of institutions and heterogeneity, we
then compared the responses of the two groups – indigenous and non-
indigenous officers. We look now at the findings for what it means to
do “good for society.”
The different meanings of doing “good for society.”
We found that there are distinct responses from both indigenous and
non-indigenous officers. For example, when assessing responses to
what it meant “to do good and to make a positive difference to society,”
indigenous officers and non-indigenous gave varied responses. All
indigenous officers except for one respondent talked of the need to
provide for the greater society. One indigenous officer, for example,
considered himself “as ambassador to improve public policies…make
a positive impact on people’s life.” Another officer spoke of “social
causes” and “to make Malaysia better.” Another officer pointed to serve
for the larger interest and “moving forward as one people (Malaysians).”
Another officer talked about improving “the way people work in the
government sector.” Another indigenous officer mentioned the “idea
that you are serving the society …is a strong motivator” and “I view
Malaysians as my customers.” The only exception was the response
from one officer who highlights he served because “part of it is because
of religion and ...another part is because of patriotism.”
The responses from non-indigenous officers were slight nuanced.

While all spoke about wanting to serve society, they also emphasised
the need for them to serve their specific community. One non-
indigenous officer remarked that “I once told a panel of interviewers
that the number of Chinese in this sector is so small” and he told the
interviewers that he wanted “to make some changes to improve my
community.” Another of the non-indigenous PTD officers remarked one
of her reasons to join the PTD was “… helping the community. Indian
population size is very small (less than 7%). I feel if I am there, I would
be able to help my community.” She also mentioned the perks of being
in such a service because “…the power is so immense. This is not being
racist. I tend to see it from an angle, if you are a Malay, you give back
to your community and uplift. If the Chinese get to do for their society
and uplift and Indians (also) get to do.”
Besides asking the officers about making a positive difference, the
officers were asked to identify a particular dimension of public service
motivation that best fit them after being briefed on each dimension
of PSM. Charlie, a non-indigenous respondent pointed to “attraction
to policymaking.” He chose the dimension because as an activist and
has worked for a not-for-profit organisation he felt that his community
(Indian) needed the most help. He elaborated that:
“I was very active in a movement to help my race in
applying to public universities… my community did not
get a place in public universities because many of them sent
incomplete documents that fail to secure them a place in
public universities… After years of effort in the movement,
I can see an increase in numbers of my race in the public
universities.”
Another non-indigenous officer chose the “ability to influence public
policies” reasoning that:
“It is my dream to work in the public sector because there is
so little percentage of Chinese in the bureaucracy. I am not
racist but if I am in the system, I can lead my community.”
Another non-indigenous respondent also shared the need to help his
community pointing out that:
“Indian population size is very small…I would be able to
help my community and at the same time help in whichever
department I am posted to.”
The responses from indigenous officers contrasted with that of non-

indigenous officers. Unlike non-indigenous officers, indigenous officers
used general terms like “serve the nation,” “responsibility to society”
or “the need to think of others.” Three indigenous respondents cited
compassion as a prime motivator. One officer pointed out that “as a
decision-maker in public policy, I will make sure that I will identify
other people’s need and it is my responsibility to serve our nation.”
Another officer pointed to the need “to help people because coming
from a non-privilege background” he did not know “the right channel to
communicate the need.” Another officer chose “commitment to public
value” as he felt that “as a public servant, I feel that I need to think
for others and everyone around me in terms of public values.” One
indigenous officer, however, took exception to the remarks posted by
other indigenous officers. The officer chose “attracting to public policy”
because he felt that the dimension best reflected the need to change the
life of his “people.” The respondent came from an indigenous tribe in
Sabah and felt that “once I am in a position to influence public policy,
I will look into some loopholes…especially the lack of public transport
in rural areas in Sabah. We need to revamp this policy.”
The responses generally affirm that when it comes to delivering
the public good, officers in a heterogeneous environment had a varied
idea of who the beneficiaries are. While indigenous officers – in general
targeted the larger community, the choices made by non-indigenous
officers were more qualified and directed toward serving specific
communities, not just the larger society. The responses indicate that in
a heterogeneous setting, evaluating PSM needs qualification. There is
every likelihood that “serving the public” could mean serving the public
in general as it is about serving a specific community. We turn now
to another important aspect of the study – the role of institutions in
influencing or determining an individual’s public service motivation.
Institutional quality and heterogeneity.
If institutions determine social behavioural patterns, roles, rules, values,
ceremonies and are embedded by way of religion, family and other social
structures that provide order, stability, and predictability to behaviour
(Perry and Hondeghem, 2008, p. 71), then the responses given by the
PTD officers demonstrate the huge influence that institutions exact on
individual’s PSM. As mentioned above, we used three subcategories
or proxies to measure the impact of institutions on an individual’s

motivation for public services. The proxies are – socialisation, views
of the civil service and choice of employment sector (H2, H3, and H4
respectively).
The responses demonstrate the significance of exclusive institutions
when examining one’s motivation to serve in public service. We found
that indigenous and non-indigenous officers underwent different
socialisation process that ultimately influenced their decision to serve
in the civil service. Seven out of eight indigenous officers mentioned
that they joined the PTD scheme because of primary socialisation. The
officers mentioned having parents, siblings, spouse or friends who were
public servants. Some officers remarked that they knew of jobs in public
service from an early age because they had either parent, husband,
cousins who are PTD officers.
The responses from non-indigenous officers were different. Unlike
indigenous officers where primary socialisation was instrumental,
non-indigenous officers noted that they joined the service because of
secondary socialisation. The officers said that if they were to rely on
primary socialisation, they would not have considered the public service.
The officers said that this is because they did not find encouragement to
join the civil service from people close to them. They only knew about
the civil service and decided to join the PTD scheme from secondary
socialisation – from university lecturers, supervisors and university
friends. In fact, fourteen out of eighteen non-indigenous respondents
mentioned that their family members did not support their application
to be PTD officers. They said that their loved ones did not see a career
in public service as something worth pursuing and urged them instead
to join the private sector for better pay and career opportunities or even
seek overseas employment. One respondent, for instance, remarked
that “my parents did not agree with my decisions to be part of this
scheme…my father thinks that I deserve a better job than working for
the government and my mother was telling me that I could go further by
staying away from Malaysia.”
One officer only got to know about the PTD scheme after clinching
a government scholarship. Another officer said that “I only know about
this scheme when I was appointed as Perdana fellow.” She went to say
that being a Perdana fellow and having to work alongside a minister was
an eye-opener that gave her a better appreciation of the inner workings

of the civil service. Another non-indigenous officer remarked on the
importance of secondary socialisation saying that “being a Perdana
fellow informed me of the PTD and other civil service schemes...
Before this, I did not know.” Only one non-indigenous officer took an
exception. The officer mentioned that her early exposure to the life of
a civil servant prompted her to opt for the scheme. She said “Back then
when my mum who was working in the Agricultural office, we used to
spend time in her office after school. That was the time when I saw the
ADO (Administrative Officer) now called PTD... the ADOs were very
friendly and warm to us…At that point, I knew that I would love to be
working in the public sector.”
The powerful impact of institutions in a heterogeneous setting is
also reflected when we probed the officers for their views of the PTD
scheme and their experience applying for the scheme. The question
was aimed to test H3, which is to gauge officers’ perception of the civil
service and their assessment of the fairness of the selection process
in the civil service given the common views of discriminatory hiring
practices. Nearly all non-indigenous officers - eighteen out of twenty
non-indigenous respondents - said that they secured a place in the
scheme on their first attempt.
The officers, however, acknowledged that they had initial
reservations when they applied for the scheme. All of them thought
that securing a job in the public sector was going to be difficult. After
successfully completing the selection process, one non-indigenous
officer remarked that the low number was because of perception, saying
that “Initially, I was sceptical, but I tried. I was the only one in my family
who applied for this scheme and surprised that I was selected.” She
elaborated that “People of my race perceived the government jobs very
negatively. They always assume that they will not be given a chance to
join the scheme, but no one applied. This proved that the system is fair
and we (Chinese) never tried applying for government jobs but claimed
that the system is unfair.” Another non-indigenous officer, also gave
a similar assessment, mentioning that there was a common perception
that non-indigenous applicants would not get a place in the scheme.
She reiterated that “I think those (non-indigenous applicants) who apply
stand a better chance of getting it because the numbers are so small. I
know. I am Indian, but it is true. They don’t apply.” Another respondent,
a graduate from an American university gave a similar remark saying

that “Our people do not know a lot about government jobs because the
pay is low. My parents think I should work in the private sector and earn
more money because I am a US graduate.”
The ease in gaining a place in the PTD scheme for non-indigenous
officers contrasted with that experienced by the indigenous group.
Indigenous officers felt that the recruitment process was far more
stringent. Only two indigenous respondents secured a place in the
scheme on their first attempt, five indigenous respondents secured
the place after attempting twice and one respondent who got into the
scheme on his third attempt.
The different responses from both non-indigenous and indigenous
demonstrate the significance of exclusive institutions in shaping
an individual’s perception of hiring practices in the civil service.
Malaysia’s social, historical and political experiences have created
exclusive institutions, one where the perception of the civil service –
discriminatory or otherwise – is determined along the ethnic dimension.
Left unchallenged the propagation of these institutions could well deter
individuals with latent PSM from joining the public service.
We also asked respondents on their choice of the public sector and
their experience of past employment sectors. This question test H4,
which is to measure the impact institutions have on an individual’s
employment chances in a different sector. We ask this because there
is a lot of work in the literature, described above, that suggests that
Malaysia’s employment sector is highly segregated along the ethnic
dimension.
On broad terms, there is no distinct difference between non-
indigenous and indigenous officers when it comes to reasons to join
the service; all officers displayed an almost similar mix of PSM.
Indigenous officers, for example, cited highly on items like “job
security,” “challenging job content,” “high salary,” “helping others” and
“accomplishing something worthwhile.” Among the non-indigenous
group, Chinese officers rated highly items like, “job security,” “and a job
that is useful to society,” “career development,” “prestige and status.”
Among the non-indigenous, Indian officers rated highly on items like,
“helping others,” “job that is useful to society,” “prestige and status.”
Despite the broad similarities, indigenous officers however listed

“high salary” as the most important consideration when choosing the
public sector. This is in contrast with that of non-indigenous officers.
When probed, most indigenous officers said that the public sector pay
was more attractive than the private sector. While they displayed the
need to serve “society or Malaysians in general,” they also commented
that one reason for them joining the public service was because of
the difficulty of getting employment in the private sector. Indigenous
officers who had the experience of working in the private sector cited
“low pay” and “discrimination’ in the private sector. Some added that
it was the frustration of not getting a well-paying and rewarding career
in the private sector that drove them to consider the public sector. One
officer, who holds a Ph.D., told of her difficult experience working
in the private sector that eventually forced her to seek public sector
employment. She remarked that “There is bias in the private sector.”
She said that “I was treated and paid differently. In my experience, one
private sector that prefers non-Malays paid a consultant with lower
academic qualification (with a degree). He was paid more RM2000 a
month when I was paid lower than RM2000 with a Master’s degree.”
Another respondent who was a tax auditor in the private sector for
four years mentioned that it was, “racial discrimination in terms of pay
and job position,” which forced her to leave for a public sector job.
Another indigenous officer mentioned that joining the PTD scheme was
a better option because he faced discrimination in the private sector
when it came to job scope and pay and that he was not able to get a
job that matched his qualifications in law and governance. One officer
mentioned that despite being a degree holder, she held the position of
administrative clerk for four years in the private sector, mentioning that
“racial discrimination in terms of pay and job position” made her choose
the public sector. Another respondent, who used to work as a chemist in
a private firm for two years cited “challenging job scope” and “low pay”
as her reason to quit the private sector.
The responses contrasted with those of non-indigenous officers
who rated private sector perks as more attractive than the public sector.
Discrimination in the private sector was not mentioned by non-indigenous
officers. In fact, all non-indigenous officers felt that the private sector
gave an attractive salary. They cited that the reason that they left their
private job for the public sector was because of non-monetary benefits.
For the non-indigenous officers, many felt that the private sector
was attractive but chose the public sector because it gave them the
opportunity to serve the larger society and not narrow private interest.
One non-indigenous officer gave the reason that although the salary
and “job position” (private sector) were good, “I am only contributing
to one organisation. Another officer mentioned that she worked for a
private investment bank upon graduation but left after two weeks, saying
that it was not her calling, even though the pay was competitive. She
mentioned that her experience working with policymakers as a Perdana
fellow gave her a new perspective of the public service pointing out
that “I admire higher civil service officer’s role in the public service...
They put in so much effort in their duties to improve public service
delivery…The monthly allowance (Perdana fellowship) is high for a
fresh graduate.” There were other non-indigenous officers who wanted
to join the scheme to “try-out.” One officer who spent two years as an
engineer with an oil and gas company said he chose the PTD scheme to
explore different job scope. Another respondent (non-indigenous) who
used to work for a not-for-profit (NGO) organisation, mentioned that
even though the work culture and remuneration in the NGO were good,
he chose the public sector because working in an NGO gave him limited
power to improve the quality of life and deliver quality public good.
The responses above demonstrate the powerful impact of institutions
in influencing one’s employment option. Clearly, the responses show
that the Malaysian employment sector is highly segregated along
ethnic dimensions. The responses confirm earlier works that identify
a particular ethnic group with a particular employment sector. For
indigenous officers, joining the civil service was a better option. For
them, public service offers better pay since they felt discriminated in
the private sector. The case is different for non-indigenous officers.
They saw the private sector as a better option – if one considers the
remuneration – but chose to be in the civil service for non-monetary
reasons. An important lesson that can be drawn from this, that is useful
for personnel administration, is that the mutually exclusive nature of
Malaysia’s institutions – along ethnic dimensions – has denied both
employment sectors (public and private sector) from optimum human
resources. Unmistakably, the generation of exclusive institutions has
ended up denying both the public and the private sector of suitably
motivated individuals.
Conclusion
The findings disconfirm the four hypotheses. This study found
that individual’s public service motivation (PSM) in an ethnically
heterogeneous society is dependent on ethnic identity. This study also
confirms that an ethnically-heterogeneous society, one’s ethnic identity
determines one’s capacity to develop public service motivation because
every ethnic community experiences a different socialisation process. It
is also revealed that the perception of the civil service in a heterogeneous
society is dependent on one’s ethnic identity. This study also proved that
an individual’s preference to join the public sector (or private sector) is
different between indigenous and non-indigenous officers.
The responses show that heterogeneity matters when assessing an
individual’s PSM. A point to note is that heterogeneity matters because it
churns out exclusive institutions that produce a number of effects relating
to PSM. The findings reveal that a heterogeneous setting can generate
different versions of what it means to serve society. While the officers
highlighted the need to be of service to the general society, the term
“society” can take a more nuanced meaning. In a heterogeneous setting –
even while highlighting the need to serve others - officers mentioned the
need to be of service to their own community. The responses also show
that exclusive institutions produce different hurdles or incentives to
individuals. They demonstrate that socialisation is capable of generating
multiple perceptions of certain institutions (civil service) that affect an
individual’s choice of employment. The responses show that primary
and secondary socialisation can create different impressions of the civil
service and with it, affect an individual’s decision to be in the civil
service. Given the case, there is the likelihood that an individual’s PSM
might be suppressed because of socialisation. Heterogeneity and the
creation of institutions also create different views of social institutions
that either encourage or inhibit one from contributing to public service.
Unlike Rainey (1982) who suggested that individuals with high PSM
would naturally gravitate toward public sector employment, the
Malaysian experience suggests that in a heterogeneous setting, there
are other caveats to consider. This is because heterogeneity breeds
institutions that impose different hurdles and incentives for individuals
to join the service.
This study makes no pretence that it is an exploratory one; it is

part of a larger project that diagnoses the different motivational sets of
higher civil servants in Malaysia. Exploratory as it may be, the empirical
findings reiterate the need for more comparative and cross-national
research to improve the conceptualization and operational measurement
of PSM (Perry 2010). Perry et al., (2010) suggest that future works on
PSM demand that we be “attentive to linguistic, contextual and cultural
considerations.” (p. 687). Perhaps future work can attempt to probe the
relevance of PSM with issues from the fields of psychology, sociology,
leadership, management, politics and public policy.
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9(4): 545-556.
The Issue of the Elderly Homeless in

Kuala Lumpur: Family Neglect and Its
Contributing Factors
Zulkhairol Shukri*
Nik Norliati Fitri Md Nor**
Nurul Raffiza Norzehan***
Abstract: Issues concerning elderly neglect and depression among the elderly
have been frequently discussed. These issues include leaving the elderly alone
after their children migrate to the city, sending elderly parents to welfare
centres, leaving elderly parents in hospitals and disposing of parents without
mercy. Nevertheless, it is rare to read about senior citizens who choose to
live as homeless due to being dumped by their family members, including
their spouses, children or siblings, difficulty in getting a job and conflict with
family members. This qualitative study involved ten elderly homeless in Kuala
Lumpur (KL) city. They were subjected to in-depth interviews to determine the
reasons they live as homeless in KL city. Although they had become homeless,
deep in their hearts, they still expect their family members, especially their
children, to take care of their welfare and wish to stay with the family until
the end of their lives. This article is an initiative from the researchers to raise
awareness about the healthcare of the elderly especially among their children to
be more responsible and provide support to parents until the end of their lives.
Keywords: Elderly, Homeless, Kuala Lumpur, Children, Family support
*
Researcher, Geography Section, School of Distance Education, USM
(Universiti Sains Malaysia), Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Email: zulkhairol.pjj15@
student.usm.my
**
Senior Lecturer, Geography Section, School of Distance Education, USM
(Universiti Sains Malaysia), Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Email: nikfitri@usm.my
***
Researcher, Geography Section, School of Distance Education, USM
(Universiti Sains Malaysia), Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Email: raffiza22@gmail.
com
Abstrak: Isu pengabaian dan kemurungan dalam kalangan warga emas kerap
dibincangkan. Isu ini termasuk meninggalkan warga emas tinggal seorang
diri setelah anak-anak berhijrah ke bandar, menghantar ibu bapa tua ke rumah
kebajikan, meninggalkan mereka di hospital dan membuang mereka tanpa
belas kasihan. Namun, jarang terbaca mengenai warga emas yang memilih
untuk menjadi gelandangan akibat dibuang oleh ahli keluarga. Kajian kualitatif
yang dijalankan ini melibatkan sepuluh warga emas gelandangan di Bandaraya
Kuala Lumpur. Temubual mendalam telah dilakukan bagi mengkaji punca
mereka memilih untuk menjadi gelandangan di Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur.
Walaupun hidup sebagai gelandangan, namun jauh di sudut hati mereka
tetap mengharapkan ahli keluarga terutama anak-anak untuk menjaga dan
ingin tinggal bersama keluarga hingga ke akhir hayat. Artikel ini adalah satu
inisiatif daripada pengkaji untuk meningkatkan kesedaran tentang penjagaan
kesihatan warga tua terutamanya dikalangan anak-anak supaya menjadi lebih
bertanggungjawab dan memberikan sokongan terhadap ibu bapa sehingga ke
akhir hayat mereka.
Kata kunci: warga emas, gelandangan, Kuala Lumpur, anak-anak, sokongan

keluarga
Introduction
The issue of neglecting the elderly has recently gained attention from
various sections of the society. In general, neglecting the elderly
can be defined as the act of intentionally leaving the elderly, such as
leaving the elderlies in hospitals, nursing homes, or public places. Such
incidents are often linked to happenings whereby an individual feels
overburdened or inadequately experienced to care for the elderly. The
perpetrators, who neglect these elderlies, tend to justify their actions for
numerous reasons. Nevertheless, the elderly are inevitably in a state of
confusion and despair. Gauging the number of elderly neglected is very
difficult because most neglect cases are not reported to the authorities.
Besides, many of them are not only physically neglected but also
mentally and emotionally. Although this issue has received the attention
of many parties, demographic data for the homeless elderly community
still does not exist officially in any government department or agency.
Thus this study attempts to collect demographic data on a small scale
and focusses on neglected seniors and explicitly discusses elderly who
choose homeless life as a living arrangement.
The Issue of the Elderly Homeless in Kuala Lumpur:
Family Neglect and Its Contributing Factors 61
Literature Review
Elderly neglect by the family, especially children, causes the elderly
to distance themselves from their families. They choose homelessness
as a path of peace or self-comfort to get out of the cocoon of grief.
Nowadays, the homeless group, comprising senior citizens, increases
annually. The increase indicates a severe problem in the community
development context. Living as homeless against the backdrop of dirty
places in alleys, under bridges, on sidewalks, and places suitable for
shelter is very worrying. This group of senior citizens, on average, have
a poor and minimal level of personal health. At the age of over 60, they
have various health problems. Their health risks worsen in an unclean
and unsafe environment.
Neglect also includes and leads to abuse. The issue of elderly
neglect is not given serious attention compared to child abuse and child
neglect cases. Most of the concerned cases emphasise the neglect and
abuse of children and women. Such cases and trends must be given
attention because of the concern and impact on society. Therefore, this
study was undertaken to scientifically examine the problem of neglect
experienced by elderly homeless people in KL city centre. This study
emphasises two aspects by exploring in detail the factors contributing
to the phenomenon of neglect among the homeless and providing
awareness to all parties about the concern for the elderly. The awareness
will help improve the life quality of the elderly and achieve harmony
and well-being of society holistically.
Numerous previous studies examined the neglected elderly by
focussing on the elderly living in elderly care institutions. Scopus is
regarded as a reliable search engine that simplifies the literature review
process by classifying categories and items for easy search, download,
and selection of research articles. Scopus’ exceptional coverage of
emerging economies provides access to vital, high-quality research
undertaken (particularly in health and social care) and published in
developing nations which might be missing in other databases. The
search was conducted by searching for specific terms, such as ‘elder
abuse’, ‘factor’, cause’, and ‘welfare home’. Seniors over the age of
80 were reportedly more likely to be abused in welfare homes than
those under 80. Pillemer et al. (2016) observed that older women have a
higher tendency to be abused in welfare homes. In several other studies,
caregiver abuse, while providing treatment to the elderly with physical

disabilities and cognitive impairments, tend to be a determinant factor
of abuse and neglect of the elderly, particularly in Japan. This systematic
review emphasised that the characteristics of the elderly and perpetrators
lead to the abuse and neglect of the elderly in welfare homes.
Mohd Yunus (2021) found that most studies only focussed on the
development of the elderly in the community. Nevertheless, studies
on abuse in institutional settings, such as Nursery Homes (NH), are
lacking. The lack of evidence is particularly evident in low and middle-
income countries. Estimates from the National Centre on Elder Abuse
revealed that 44% of long-term caregivers of the elderly form only
7% of perpetrators abusing the elderly. Compared to seniors living
in communities, those living in institutions for seniors were found to
be at a higher risk of being abused because they are more physically
dependent on their caregivers, lack social support, and come from
lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Other factors linked to persecution
occurring in NH are inadequate staff training, lack of research in the
field of the elderly, unconducive working conditions or environments,
funding problems, and the absence of appropriate guidelines and
screening tools. Moreover, weaknesses in law enforcement have
become a common phenomenon in low and middle-income countries.
Hence, a lack of monitoring and regulation exist concerning the abuse
of the elderly.
Bidin and Mohd Yusoff (2015) discovered that some countries
had created specific laws as a mechanism to address and prevent the
neglect of the elderly. In Malaysia, elderly abuse is recognised as a form
of domestic violence. The legislation dealing with matters related to
domestic violence is the Domestic Violence Act 1994 (Act 521), which
should be read in conjunction with the Penal Code. The Domestic
Violence Act (DVA) is the primary legislation that provides protection
and civil rehabilitation to abuse victims. In contrast, the Penal Code deals
with the punishment of the respective perpetrators. Although numerous
previous studies explored the issue of elder abuse in Malaysia, only
a small number have studied the legal protection offered by the DVA
to elderly victims. This study aimed to discuss the affordability and
adequacy of civil rehabilitation provided to abused seniors under the
DVA and further analyses the adequacy and appropriateness of the Act
for protecting elderly abuse victims.
Kethineni and Rajendran (2018), in their study in America, argued

that ‘filial responsibility law’ is a law (duty of care) that requires adult
children to take care of their parents, especially frail parents. Some states
have extended this obligation to close relatives. This responsibility can
be enforced through law or morally motivated as a part of religious
and cultural teachings. Custodial duties are difficult to define, enforce,
and interpret due to the cultural diversity in America. When such cases
come to the attention of Twenty-Nine courts, no general laws are related
to varying filial responsibilities in defining concepts and determining
means of law enforcement. Since most elder abuse involves neglect
rather than outright abuse, this situation poses a complex challenge for
law enforcement in different states. This study reviewed state legislation
and scholarly resources to evaluate the respective laws, court decisions,
and current state enforcement issues related to elder neglect in America.
Rzeszut (2017) discussed elder abuse by focussing specifically
on neglecting the elderly. Most states in the United States (US) do not
recognise elderly neglect as a form of elder abuse in their laws. This
study also proposed a legal model that can be used as an example in
any country to ensure that elderly neglect is more frequently reported.
Neglecting the elderly is an undesirable phenomenon, and those
contributing to this problem should be held accountable for the crimes
committed. This study emphasised the need for the caregivers of the
elderly to adhere to guidelines and be responsible when performing
duties and know-how to seek help to prevent elder abuse in the US.
Family Courts in the US should gazette the neglect of the elderly as a
serious crime and do not take this issue lightly as this ignorance will
lead to severe repercussions. Neglect of the elderly should be included
in elder abuse laws in every state and given serious thought when meting
punishment for such offences.
Masut@Masod and Abdul Mutalib (2019) believed that senior
citizens should have similar citizenship rights as others. They are
entitled to have the same potential to live a healthy and satisfactory
quality of life. Although Malaysia is evolving towards an ageing society,
the protection of the elderly in private care centres must be improved.
Existing laws (Care Centre Act 1993 and Penal Code) preserve and
protect the rights and benefits of the elderly. However, no clear guidance
is available on the protection of the elderly in Malaysia, especially those
abused in private care centres that cater for the elderly. No specific
provision in Malaysian law addresses the problem of abuse and crime

against the elderly in private care centres. This study examined whether
Malaysian laws that protect the elderly from elder abuse in private care
centres effectively address the issue. The methodology used in this
study was the library study method that analysed texts and documents
related to elder protection law and elder abuse. This study recommended
that the government create a comprehensive sentencing framework to
protect the elderly in private care centres and strengthen the preventive
measures contained in the Care Centres Act 1993 and the existing laws.
The economic stability of an elderly individual determines the
maximum well-being and lifestyle in old age. Hashim et al (2019)
reported that older people with a high quality of stable life experience
a low level of neglect. In contrast, culture, tradition, and religion play a
crucial role in caring for the elderly and their emotional well-being. The
study’s implications strongly advocated the importance of the elderly’s
well-being in shaping a society’s life quality. The study recommended
that the government gazette a new policy on the elderly’s welfare.
Despite the neglect of the elderly, the care shown by family members
or close relatives towards the elderly in a family setting is still practised
by families in Asia. Although the traditional family has evolved into
a nuclear family, some still practice tradition, culture, and religious
education regarding the caring of the elderly. In addition, stakeholders
and policymakers should ensure that greater attention is given to the
elderly. In the case of money misappropriation, all forms of financial
assistance must adhere to transparency policies and precise financial
reporting guidelines. Concurrently, the elderly should contribute to the
community if they are capable of doing so.
The community’s skewed views about the elderly should be
eliminated, and they should educate themselves about this issue. Clark
(2019) conducted a study in India involving older women and found that
neglected older women living in Bangalore felt that society’s negative
views about them influenced their daily lives. The bitter experiences of
these older women were influenced and constrained by differences in
social class (caste), gender, underdeveloped health systems, poor safety
nets and other factors. Older women who do not live with their families
get minimal support from outsiders. Therefore, the study emphasised
the need for society to provide support and assistance to the elderly
living without a family to ensure their dignity and life quality.
In addition to society’s view of the elderly, young people’s perspective

on the neglect of the elderly is critical because the inculcation of good
values in students is crucial in forming a caring society. Hasbullah et
al. (2018) aimed to determine the attitude towards elder abuse among
undergraduate law students in Malaysian public universities. Data
were collected using a self-administered survey form consisting of
background profiles and 12 scaled items on attitudes towards elder
abuse. The descriptive analysis indicated that out of 513 respondents,
383 were female (74.7%), and 130 (25.3%) were male students. The
minimum age of the respondents was 22 (SD = 1,834). A total of 323
respondents had participated in activities related to the elderly (63.0%),
while 190 (37.0%) reported never participating in activities related to
the elderly. Two-thirds of the respondents (63.9%) reported having a
more positive attitude towards elder abuse, while one-third (36.1%) had
a lesser positive attitude towards elder abuse. The findings indicated
the need to raise awareness among the younger generation, especially
among law students, on the issue of elder abuse as they are expected to
be part of the planning structure that can protect the elderly from abuse.
Most of these neglected elderlies have a history of poor health or are
chronic disease patients. Yunus et al. (2018) studied the cross-sectional
and longitudinal relationships between elder abuse and neglect (EAN)
and chronic disease pain among the elderly population in rural Malaysia.
The Cohort study was conducted for two years in Kuala Pilah, a district
in Negeri Sembilan situated about 100 km from the capital, KL. The
study involved the community-dwelling elderly aged 60 and over. A
total of 1,927 respondents were evaluated at the early stage. Two years
later, a re-evaluation involving 1,189 respondents was undertaken. The
EAN was determined using a modified Conflict Tactics Scale, while
chronic illness pain was assessed through self-reports using validation
questions. The study found that the prevalence of chronic disease pain
was at 20.4%.
The cross-sectional results showed eight variables significantly
related to chronic disease pain, namely age, education, income,
comorbidities, personal health, depression, walking speed, and EAN. The
abused elderly experienced 1.52 times more chronic disease pain (odds
ratio = 1.52 times, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.03–2.27), although
the longitudinal analysis showed no relationship between EAN and risk
of chronic disease pain (ratio risk = 1.14, 95 % CI = 0.81–1.60). A lack
of consistent correlation was observed when comparing the analyses

with complete cases that have implied data. The findings suggested that
although EAN does not cause chronic disease pain, individuals with
physical limitations have a higher tendency to be abused and neglected.
Therefore, the self-empowerment of the elderly is crucial when
addressing the issue of neglecting the elderly in Malaysia. Achmad
(2017) had intended to examine the empowerment of the elderly as
the government and society’s preparation when facing a population’s
changing demographic structure caused by an increase in life expectancy.
The qualitative study had investigated the empowerment of the elderly,
which is the ultimate goal of the national health agenda. An increase in
the elderly population inevitably poses various challenges, prompting
the government to address them constantly.
The number of seniors with poor physical health and productivity
is greater than infants and children. Physical limitations and the
possibility of suffering from ‘degenerative’ diseases cause the elderly
to have special needs that must be catered to by the younger generation.
Therefore, the initial empowerment of the elderly should occur within
the family unit. Neglect of the elderly is one of the factors that require
urgent attention to ensure that the well-being of the elderly is always
a priority. Instead of portraying inappropriate behaviour towards these
elderly, perhaps the families of the elderly should leave the elderly in
care centres to ensure their health conditions are not neglected.
Research Methodology
This qualitative study conducted interviews with respondents who were
homeless elderly to obtain relevant and detailed information regarding
factors that could explain the phenomena and trends concerning the
neglect of the elderly. The interview method was utilised to obtain more
detailed information. This study involved ten homeless elderly living in
KL. The study delved into their feelings and the factors that drove them
into becoming homeless. The researchers chose locations frequented
by the homeless, such as sidewalks, building alleys, under bridges,
and Kuala Lumpur Homeless Transit Centre in Jalan Pahang, KL. The
selection of samples involved ten respondents, comprising homeless
senior citizens representing the existing elderly homeless population.
The items in the questionnaire were related to the respondent’s
demographic information, such as name, age, marital status, origin,
education level, and level of health, which could give a picture of

the respondent’s background. Information regarding the respondent’s
children, such as the number of children, married children, daughters-
in-law, and grandchildren, was examined to determine the elderly’s
relationship with the family members (still in contact or outright
ignored).
Next, the questions on homelessness were narrative in nature. When
this interview was conducted, the respondents mostly spoke about their
past and why they migrated to KL city, which eventually made them
homeless. The interview also discussed employment opportunities
and assistance from government bodies and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), which helped assess the community’s sensitivity
to the homeless elderly. All the questions posed to the respondents
were specific to their personal lives. The study’s findings describe the
answers to the study’s objectives and questions concerning the neglect
of the family of the homeless elderly in KL.
In order to answer the research questions, the researchers used
thematic methods to achieve the objectives and address the research
questions. The thematic analysis produces a theme for the interviews
conducted and obtains the research findings. According to Boyatzis
(1998), thematic analysis is the specific theme in a phenomenon
implemented either deductively or inductively. Data is identified and
coded from raw data such as transcripts, biographies, photographs, and
videos in thematics. The use of methods and themes depends on the
research conducted.
Result and Discussions
Demographic Profile of Respondents
Table 1. Demographic profile of respondents
Respondent Age Marital Education State of
Sex Ethnicity
(R) (years) status level origin
R1 M 62 Malay Divorced UPSR Kelantan
(Tumpat)
R2 M 66 Indian Married No Johor (Muar)
education
R3 M 65 Malay Divorced PMR/SRP Kuala

Lumpur
(Gombak)
R4 M 60 Indian Married PMR/SRP Perak
(Chemor)
R5 M 61 Malay Divorced PMR/SRP Perak
(Taiping)
R6 F 60 Malay Widowed UPSR Kedah (Sg.
Petani)
R7 M 66 Chinese Divorced Standard 5 5 Penang
(Butterworth)
R8 M 63 Chinese Divorced No Perak (Ipoh)
education
R9 M 63 Malay Divorced Standard 3 Kedah
(Baling)
R10 M 62 Indian Divorced UPSR Selangor
(Dengkil)
Source: Field research findings (2020-2021)
As shown in Table 1, most respondents were men, with only one

woman. All the respondents were aged 60 years and above. The
oldest respondent was 66 years old, while the youngest was 60. Eight
respondents were widowed, and only two respondents were still
married. Three respondents had a Penilaian Menengah Rendah/Sijil
Rendah Pelajaran (PMR/SRP) level education, three others had Ujian
Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) education, one had Grade Five,
one had Grade Three education, and two respondents had not received
any education. Most respondents came from the northern states, such
as Kedah, Perak, and Penang, while three came from the south, namely
Johor, KL, and Selangor, and only one came from the east coast namely
Kelantan.
Respondents’ occupation
Table 2. Respondents’ occupation
Respondent Type of occupation
(R)
Selling used items, boxes and beverage cans
R1
(RM300-RM400)
R2 Worked as a temple cleaner (RM300)
R3 Selling tissues and snacks (RM1000)

R4 Beggar (RM600-RM650)
R5 Parking attendant (RM500-RM850)
R6 Beggar (RM200-RM450)
R7 Parking attendant (RM600-RM900)
R8 Unemployed
R9 Selling newspapers (RM700)
R10 Beggar and selling tissues (RM400)
According to the research findings in Table 2, most of these respondents

worked part-time to support their lives as homeless. Their income did not
exceed RM1000, and the average income was RM628, excluding one
respondent who had no source of income. The unemployed respondent
lived on assistance provided by the community and the welfare centre
(NGO). One respondent, R3, stated that he is only homeless part-time
and owns a residence in Jalan Ayer Panas, KL. Based on the interview,
R3 stated that:
“Somehow, in five years, I became a homeless person, not
because I don’t have a house. I have a house in Jalan Ayer
Panas. Only that I prefer to live like this, enough time to go
home [sic]. During the day with my homeless friends, and if
there are any extra sustenance, I share it with them.”
He chose a homeless life just to fill his free time, and the income he
receives is shared with his homeless friends. Besides, he also receives
financial assistance from his son. All the respondents received assistance
from various NGOs that provided food, clothing, mattresses, regular
medical treatments, and other forms of assistance. According to R2,
who is working as a temple cleaner:
“I work near the temple as a ‘cleaner.’ I clean the temple
area, and I get paid only RM300. It is not enough to support
the family in this KL city, so I also asked for BSH’s help. I
worked but had to be homeless from 9 am to around 9 pm as
well. After that, I just got a room to rent, so me[sic], my wife,
and son[sic], we stayed there. Not much help just depends on
my salary and BSH alone to live.”
Among all the respondents, only two stated that they received
subsistence assistance (BSH) from the government, while the rest
received assistance from NGOs.
Information about the family and children
Table 3. Family information/ number of children
Respondent Family information
(R)
R1 Divorced, childless, but still has siblings
R2 Has a wife, children and still has a biological family
R3 Has children and grandchildren
R4 Has a wife, children, and grandchildren
R5 Divorced and has children
R6 Husband deceased and has children
R8 Divorced and childless
Table 3 discusses information about the respondent’s family members.

All of them lived as ‘foreigners’ (homeless) in KL and away from their
families, except for two respondents living as homeless families. The
first respondent, R1, is divorced and has no children but still has a
family in his village. His siblings do not know his life as a homeless,
and he has never returned to the village after coming to KL. In contrast,
R2 lives as a homeless part-time in a rented room with his wife and son.
He becomes ‘temporary’ homeless from 9 am to 9 pm and has never
returned to his village after coming to KL.
On the other hand, R3 is a widower whose wife died, and he has three
children who visit him weekly, indicating that he has a good relationship
with his children and family members. The fourth respondent, R4,
is still married and has two children and two grandchildren living in
Perak. Nevertheless, his children and wife refused to care for him
because he is HIV positive. The fifth respondent, R5, is divorced and
has experienced being neglected by his family, although he has three
children and grandchildren.
Subsequently, R6 is a widow with two children, but she became

homeless because her children do not care about her condition. The
seventh respondent, R7, is divorced with one child. He once returned
to his family in Penang, but his ex-wife and child did not welcome him.
Thus, he returned to KL and has lived as a homeless ever since. Next, R8
is divorced with no children and fled to KL. He feels more comfortable
with his living condition as a homeless, and his whereabouts are
unknown to his ex-wife and family.
The ninth respondent, R9, is divorced and has four children but is
homeless due to his personality problems (hot temperament) and violent
behaviour (physical abuse of his wife and children). Nevertheless, his
present lifestyle as a homeless is unknown to his family, and he feels
like returning to the comfort of his family. The last respondent, R10, is
divorced and has two children who estranged him because the authorities
had arrested him. Although his ex-wife and children do not know about
his current homeless lifestyle, his relatives know about it but choose to
ignore him without caring about his condition.
Factors that Influence the Respondents to become Homeless
Theme 1: Difficulty in getting a job
Based on interviews with all the respondents, two respondents were
homeless because they lacked the proper qualification to hold a good
job in KL. The first respondent, R1, migrated to KL after divorcing his
wife 14 years ago and became homeless after failing to secure a job due
to a lack of education. He felt that:
“I have been a homeless man since I divorced my wife. At
that time, I was 48. After the divorce, I came to KL. At first,
I came to KL to look for a job, but it was difficult to get
a job because I didn’t go to high school, only up to sixth
grade. Now it feels like 14 years have passed since, and it
has become more and more difficult for a homeless man like
me to get a job. Since coming to KL, I have never returned
to my village, so the relatives there do not know my current
condition.”
Family members are unaware that R1 is homeless as he never returned

to his hometown after leaving it. Naturally, the respondents want a better
life than their current living conditions. On the other hand, R8 fled to
KL due to the extreme stress of life caused by a failed business venture
and debts owed to a loan shark. During the interview, Respondent 8

stated that:
“I did run away to KL, and I have lived like this for 12 years.
I feel comfortable living like this. I used to owe money to
several ah long for ‘business’ ventures, but I can’t afford to
pay them because my ‘business’ is not profitable. Almost
every day, I quarrel [sic] with my wife because of the money
until we finally divorced [sic]. I live as a homeless person,
but I feel happy now that there is no ah long to chase me.”
The respondent’s family members do not know about his life as a

homeless, and he feels happier with his life now because there is no
burden to shoulder, and it is too late to change his life to a better one.
Several respondents faced difficulties securing a job because of their
life history, namely former prisoners and having a history of diseases,
such as AIDS. This situation makes it difficult for them to obtain a job
and forces them to become homeless.
‘I am HIV-positive, difficult for me to look for a job suitable
for me. So are my children because of my disease, my
children do not want near me, my children say if I follow
them home, I will give disease to all of them.’ (Respondent
7)
‘‘My children are scared of me, they say my HIV disease can
get to them, so they throw me, want to meet grandchildren
also they do not allow.’ (Respondent 4)
Half of the elderly homeless are at an advanced age but heartbreakingly

have to work to support themselves. Unfortunately, the majority of them
do not have equal employment opportunities, and the salary is minimal,
which is below RM1000. Hence, the government is urged to provide
workforce opportunities for the elderly that provides optimal payment
by adopting a ‘Universal Design Framework’, which offers financial
stability to the elderly homeless (The Star, 2020). Che Amani et al (2021)
argued that financial neglect is the abuse of finances owned by senior
citizens or exploiting the senior citizens’ property or savings, such as
cheating in the ownership of property or financial assets. Financial and
material neglect is the abuse or fraud of property committed against the
elderly. These guardians or heirs fail to provide primary care or needs
such as security, emotional and physical treatment, including financial
and material neglect (World Health Organization, 2018).
In the study’s findings obtained during the interviews conducted,

most respondents experienced neglect in terms of financial and material.
Financial and material neglect experienced by the average respondents
stated that neither their child nor family gave money for subsistence or
buying necessities. In addition, they also never supplied nutritious food
to the respondents. The respondents stated that their monthly expenses
solely depended on assistance from the Social Welfare Department
and NGOs. Almost all the interviewed respondents experienced
financial and material neglect where the children did not carry out their
responsibilities in matters of the welfare of their parents. Most of the
children did not give money for the respondents’ expenses, while the
respondent only expected financial assistance from Jabatan Kebajikan
Masyarakat (JKM) to cover their daily lives.
Reay and Browne (2002) explained that interventions to address
the problem of neglect in the family are very few. Approximately 63%
of women and 53% of men aged 75 and over have a disability and need
help from immediate family members to meet their needs. Financial
neglect also occurs at a rate of 4% to 10% involving seniors from 65
years to above.
4.2.2 Theme 2: Conflict with family members
Most respondents became homeless due to intentional or unintentional
family conflicts. Malaysia is witnessing a state of fragile family
institutions because each family member is busy with their own lives
and affairs, and many possess some degree of irresponsible behaviour.
The living conditions of the homeless in this study strongly suggest that
the respondent’s family institution is unstable and fragile. According to
R2, he migrated to KL because he felt slighted by relatives in his village
who had cheated him in distributing the family estate. The respondent
lived homeless for 12 years and lives with his family but thinks that the
current situation is comfortable enough for him.
“I have a family in the village, but I would never believe
them. I was cheated by my own biological family because of
the family’s inherited property. They were willing to cheat
me just because of property, so my family and I came to KL.
Even though the events are long past, I still feel with their
nature. I don’t want to go back to Muar because I feel have
[sic] had enough with life now.”
In contrast, R3 has a family, and they know about his homeless life
and even visit him during the weekends. Homeless life is voluntary
because the respondents are free to have friends and are able to help
other homeless people. The respondent sells tissues and snacks while
being homeless to fill his free time and feels comfortable with his life
as a part-time homeless person. He did not mention experiencing any
conflict with his family but hoped that the community would always
help the homeless. He emphasised by saying:
“I hope very much that our society helps the homeless;
especially, for them to support socially, and the elderly
homeless with disabilities. Many of my peers need help.”
This study found that the respondents’ families were another reason
the homeless elderly neglected their responsibilities to their families at
a young age. The respondents’ families may find it difficult to forget
past events, especially being ignored or neglected by these respondents
(MyHEALTH, 2017). Respondents’ past actions of failing to fulfil their
responsibilities as parents to spouses and family, such as engaging in
criminal activities, marriage and divorce, and drug addiction, has forced
children, spouses, and other family members to harbour feelings of
frustration, hatred, and resentment.
For example, R4 has a family, but they do not care about him
being homeless. He was evicted from his home after contracting HIV
through drug use and has been homeless for the last nine years. He is
still addicted to drugs and is unable to deal with his addiction while
relying on good Samaritans for assistance. He feels that a homeless life
is harrowing but has to accept it.
“I have family in Chemor, but they don’t know about me
at all. I was kicked out of the house. Being able to be a
homeless person limits my physical movement, and I can’t
move like before. When a child with a wife doesn’t care
about me because I am HIV positive, I feel very miserable
and live miserably. I think this has become my destiny. Even
now, I beg and ask for the kindness of passing pedestrians,
sometimes even get help from NGOs. They provided food,
clothing, and syringes. When asked to R4 whether the youths
are still addicted to drugs, he replied, ‘yes, I am still using it.
I always go far in the alleys in KL to take drugs. The family
doesn’t care about me, but I hope the community always
helps our group.”
On the other hand, Respondent 5 migrated to KL after being expelled

by his family because he was arrested and had served a sentence for
drug abuse. He worked as a security guard for two years but was laid
off due to poor health and eventually became homeless as he could not
support himself. He is still addicted to drugs and sometimes works as a
part-time parking attendant and hopes his family will accept him back
into the family. He mentioned that:
“I came to KL because my family did not accept me after
I was released from prison. Remember coming to KL can
get a job, but my condition does not allow me to work for
a long time. Two [sic] years also, I worked as a security
guard. I can’t afford to find a job, especially with my current
health condition. I can’t even afford to take care of myself.
My wife with my children really doesn’t care about my
condition. I work part-time to take care of the parking lot
now. Sometimes I work sometimes not if the work can be
paid in RM500-RM800. I want to return to the bosom of
my family and live with them. What I hope is that the public
should be caring and give good placement opportunities to
those of us who are homeless.
The only women respondent, Respondent 6, migrated to KL with her
husband (who has since been sentenced to hang for offences committed
under the Penal Code) and was arrested by authorities for engaging in
drug trafficking and offering sex services around the Chow Kit and
Puduraya areas. After serving a four-year prison sentence, she finally
became homeless and is still a drug addict. Her children do not care
about her condition. Hence, she wants to spend the rest of her life
homeless and does not want to disturb her children.
“I chose to be a homeless person. In the beginning, I came
to KL with my husband involved in drug crime activities.
Then we were arrested, my husband was hanged. I went to
prison for being a prostitute while distributing drugs in the
KL area. Auntie doesn’t want to disturb the children’s lives,
even if they don’t care about auntie. I hope that help for the
homeless will always be provided.”
In addition, another respondent, Respondent 7, was involved in drug

pushing and selling activities from a young age. After being arrested
by the authorities and serving a 15-year prison sentence, he now works
as a parking attendant in Jalan Pudu. His wife and children do not want
to accept him into their family again, so he chose to be a homeless

person living in his work hut and bathing in public toilets. One study in
Malaysia found that neglect of the elderly causes severe depression in
them, eventually leading to suicide, mental illness, and low life quality
(Ahmed et al., 2016). According to the interview, Respondent 7 once
contemplated suicide because he felt life as a homeless person did not
have a bright future.
“I’ve been living like this for 17 years. The family did not want
to accept me because I was once arrested by the authorities
for drug crimes. After getting out of prison, I worked as a
parking attendant. I once returned to my hometown, but my
wife had remarried, the children no longer wanted to see me.
They don’t want me in their lives anymore. Now that I’m
old, I don’t feel like living happily in the future. I once tried
to commit suicide because of the stress in this life. I have a
place to sleep at my workplace, and when I want to take a
shower, I use public toilets, but living like this is really hard.”
The ninth respondent, Respondent 9, migrated to KL because he failed as

a husband and father due to his hot temperament and violent behaviour
towards his children and wife. Although he worked as a newspaper
vendor, he lived as a homeless person because he could not afford a
place to live. His family did not know about his current life, and he feels
sorry for his previous attitude. He sincerely hopes that his family can
accept him in their lives.
“I am a hot-tempered person, often beating my wife and
children until my wife divorced me. After divorcing, I came
to KL and worked as a newspaper vendor in Chow Kit, but
my income was only RM700, it was not enough to cover the
cost of living in a city like KL, so I had to live off the streets
to become a homeless person. My family in the village did
not know about my living conditions here. I am upset with
my own hot-tempered nature and violent behaviour. I want
to return to my family and have a better life with my children
and grandchildren.”
On the other hand, Respondent 10 had lived as a homeless for 16 years.

He was dumped by his family after being arrested for drug trafficking
offences and had served ten years in prison for the offence. His family
members do not know his life as a homeless person, but his siblings are
aware of his condition and do not care. He did not get any suitable job
because of his prisoner status. Hence, he begs while selling tissues to

make a living. According to him:
“I’ve been a homeless person for 16 years. I was once
arrested by the police for being involved in drug crimes and
have served a prison sentence of 10 years. After serving
my sentence, I came to KL to work, but with the status of a
former prisoner, many did not want to give me a job, so I had
to beg while selling tissues on the street. Indeed, the children
of the family and my ex-wife did not know my condition, but
my siblings knew I was in trouble and homeless and living
as a homeless person, but they did not come to help me. I
also want to live like a normal person with a family, and I
really hope to be able to meet my children again and meet my
grandchildren and spend my old age with them.”
Both respondents felt very upset and regretted their past actions and
would love to spend the rest of their lives with their children and
grandchildren. Neglecting these homeless elderly should be addressed
as prudently as possible because if they do not receive family support,
a rift will occur in the family institution. Therefore, the government
should encourage volunteer campaigns from various parties to help these
neglected and homeless elderly. Besides, the government should create
a ‘filial responsibility law’, making it mandatory for adult children to
care for their parents (Kethineni & Rajendran, 2018).
Theme 3: Health Status
The next factor that drives the occurrence of neglect among the elderly
homeless is the level of health experienced by the elderly homeless.
The precarious and critical health status of the homeless elderly makes
it difficult for their children to care for them. Nowadays, the children
of most homeless run away from their duties and responsibilities of
managing the elderly homeless. In addition, the disease suffered by
most of the respondents is severe, such as HIV. Hence, the children
choose to leave the homeless elderly alone without supervision as a
simple solution to avoid caring for them.
This situation causes neglect among the homeless elderly because
their disease must be controlled with medication and observation,
especially the homeless elderly who suffer from memory problems
and mental disorders. The following are the statements given by the
respondents:
“I am HIV positive, so my children do not want to stay close

to me. They said I will spread the disease to them if I go
home with them.” (Respondent 7)
“My children are afraid of me. They said my HIV can be

transmitted to them. That’s why they dumped me. They also
won’t allow me to see my grandchildren.” (Respondent 4)
Theme 4: The past story of the elderly that caused them to become
homeless
The last factor is the past of the elderly that the children and families
cannot forget. These homeless, older people made mistakes in the past,
such as hitting and damaging the self-esteem of children and families.
The family’s emotions are disturbed by things happening in their lives
and carried away until now. At this stage, family members should
undergo counselling sessions to restore their emotions. The following
are the statements given by the respondents:
“I realised that when they were little, I ignored them a lot.
I embarrassed my family with my drug addiction and drug
trafficking problems. That’s why they threw me away.
Until today, I hope my children can forgive me for all my
mistakes.” (Respondent 5)
“I do not have children, but I still have a family. However,

they are afraid if I go home because the Ah Longs might
come to harass them again. It’s okay. Let me live by myself
without burdening my family.” (Respondent 8)
Conclusion
Based on the interviews with respondents, factors that contributed to
their homeless living were being disowned by their families due to
their involvement in drugs, personality problems (temper fits leading
to violence), general failure in life, indebtedness to loan sharks, and not
being able secure job opportunities. Nevertheless, some choose life as
homeless due to comparatively being comfortable and feeling satisfied
with a homeless life. All respondents admitted to receiving assistance
from the government (BSH) and NGOs and regular treatment from the
health department, although they could not afford the cost of medical
treatment.
Some worked part-time and received less than RM1000 a month,

while others turned to begging and selling tissues on the streets.
Feelings of remorse were displayed on their faces during the interviews.
Unfortunately, some were into drugs, while others desperately wanted
to spend the rest of their lives with their children, grandchildren, or
families. Nevertheless, some next-of-kin did not want to accept their
return, while most of the homeless felt that their return would disrupt
the family life of their next-of-kin. Hence, they continued living as
homeless.
Neglect of the homeless elderly by their immediate family is

very worrying. The lack of support or outright failure of the family to
provide support or help to their spouse or parents will result in these
homeless people being denied the opportunity to live a quality-filled
and prosperous life. Family structure is crucial because the children will
follow the mould formed by the parents. Hence, exposing the children
to responsibilities, including extending sincere love and appreciation,
builds the spirit of belonging to the family, which can be instilled in
children and other family members. Most respondents did not play the
role of the family head because the children and family members are
not interested and do not want to involve themselves emotionally with
the homeless elderly. Undeniably, these elderlies have made errors in
judgement in their past.
Nevertheless, children’s are responsible for showing empathy and

sacrificing their time and effort in caring for their parents. In addition, the
community should be sensitive, be aware of the surrounding situation
and increase their knowledge about this issue. Undoubtedly, in Malaysia,
various parties, such as the government or NGOs, constantly strive to
assist this group. Various parties, especially families, are collaboratively
responsible for curbing the neglect of the elderly and trying their best to
provide proper care for the elderly, especially the homeless.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia for funding
this project through Short Term Grant (304/PJJAUH/6315265).
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Muslim Inventors of Reading and Writing

Methods for the Blind: Predecessors of
Braille
Awad Al-Khalaf *
Kassem Saad **
Adam Abdullah***
Mona Shehade ****
Najla Aljarwan *****
Abstract: Over the past few centuries, there have been numerous attempts
to find suitable methods that would help blind people read and write, thus
improving their quality of life. At present, Louis Braille (1809-1852 CE) is
probably the best-known inventor creating a writing system known as “The
Braille Language” that aids the blind to read and write. Consequently, one
question arises: Was Louis Braille the first one to invent the language for the
blind, or did others precede him to that? Using descriptive analytical approach,
this research aims to present three inventions by three Muslim scholars who
created methods for the blind to read and write. The first of which dates to
the 5th century A.H. (1009-1106 CE), i.e., seven centuries before Louis
Braille’s attempt. After reviewing and studying the relevant literature, the study
concluded that like Braille, all three Muslim scholars used the sense of touch to
achieve this goal. The first, Muhammad bin Abdul Warith (d. 5th century A.H.)
*Professor, Chancellor, Al-Qasimia University, Sharjah, U.A.E. Email:

alkhalaf@alqasimia.ac.ae
** Professor, College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Sharjah University,
Sharjah, U.A.E. Email: kassemas@sharjah.ac.ae
***Associate Professor, College of Economics and Management, Al-Qasimia
University, U.A.E. Email: aabdullah@alqasimia.ac.ae (Corresponding author).
**** Research Assistant, College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Sharjah
University, Sharjah, U.A.E. Email: mshehade@sharjah.ac.ae
***** Research Assistant, College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, Sharjah
University, Sharjah, U.A.E. Email: naljarwan@sharjah.ac.ae
created embossed figures from pitch analogous to the Arabic alphabetical

letters to teach his blind son read and write. Second, Zein-Eddine Al-Amidy,
(d. 712 A.H. / 1312 CE) a blind Muslim scholar, fashioned paper-made letters
to read, write, and remember the prices of his books. Third, Wazir Al-Sarraj (d.
1149 A.H. / 1736 CE), another Muslim scholar, created waxed letters for his
blind teacher to help him read and write.
Keywords: Braille language; Blind; Muslim Scholars; Inventions, Read and

Write.
Abstrak: Sejak beberapa abad yang lalu, terdapat banyak percubaan untuk
mencari kaedah yang sesuai yang boleh membantu orang buta membaca
dan menulis, sekali gus meningkatkan kualiti hidup mereka. Louis Braille
(1809-1852 CE) mungkin merupakan pencipta yang paling terkenal mencipta
sistem tulisan yang dikenali sebagai “Bahasa Braille” yang membantu orang
buta membaca dan menulis. Kini satu persoalan timbul: Adakah Louis
Braille yang pertama mencipta Bahasa untuk orang buta, atau adakah orang
lain mendahuluinya untuk itu? Dengan menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif
analitikal, penyelidikan ini bertujuan untuk mengemukakan tiga ciptaan oleh
tiga orang sarjana Islam yang mencipta kaedah untuk orang buta membaca dan
menulis. Yang pertama bermula pada abad ke-5 A.H. (1009-1106 CE), iaitu,
tujuh abad sebelum percubaan Louis Braille. Selepas meneliti dan mengkaji
literatur yang berkaitan, kajian tersebut mendapati bahawa seperti Braille,
ketiga-tiga sarjana Muslim juga menggunakan deria sentuhan untuk mencapai
matlamat ini. Yang pertama, Muhammad bin Abdul-Warith (m. abad ke-5
A.H.) mencipta angka timbul daripada nada yang serupa dengan huruf abjad
Arab untuk mengajar anaknya yang buta membaca dan menulis. Kedua, Zein-
Eddine Al-Amidy, (w. 712 A.H. / 1312 M) seorang ulama Muslim yang buta,
membentuk abjad melalui kertas untuk dibaca, ditulis, dan mengingat harga
buku-bukunya. Ketiga, Wazir Al-Sarraj (w. 1149 A.H. / 1736 CE), seorang lagi
ulama Islam, mencipta huruf lilin untuk gurunya yang buta bagi membantunya
membaca dan menulis.
Kata Kunci: Bahasa Braille; buta; Ulama Islam; Ciptaan, Baca dan Tulis
Introduction
According to the World Health Organization, one billion people suffer
from some type of vision impairment that could have been prevented
or has yet to be addressed (WHO, 2020). Globally, among 7.79 billion
people living in 2020, an estimated 49.1 million were blind; 221.4
Muslim Inventors of Reading and Writing Methods for the
Blind: Predecessors of Braille 85
million people had moderate Visual Impairment (VI), and 33.6 million
people had severe Visual Impairment (VI). The estimated number of
blind persons increased (by 42.8%) from 34.4 million in 1990 to 49.1
million in 2020 (Bourne et. al., 2020).
The American Council of the Blind and the European Blind Union
(ACB, & EBU) demand that information be made accessible to anyone,
including blind and partially sighted people, at the same time, and
at no additional cost. They state that the right to read is part of basic
human rights, and the right to information is internationally recognised
in article 21 of the United Nations “Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities” (EBU, 2021). Access to the written word
is extremely essential for people to participate fully in their societies.
It’s important for educational purposes, political involvement, success
in the workplace, scientific progress and, not least, creative play and
leisure (Sutton, 2002).
Literature have cited several attempts done by inventors creating
new methods for the blind to read and write. Some of these methods
were helpful in teaching the blind, while others were not, until the birth
of the internationally approved Braille Language in 1837 CE (Jimeńez
et al., 2009, pp. 144-146). Muslim inventors have, long before Braille,
made several attempts to teach the blind by touch, using tar, paper, or
wax, which is the subject of this article. But before this, let us take a
brief look at the history of the blind, and get to know some famous
figures who excelled in their societies despite their blindness.
History of the Blind
The history of the blind is difficult to chart. It has long been assumed
that in the ancient world the blind enjoyed few opportunities and lived
out their days in penury as beggars, or as wards of their families in the
absence of any systematic state or government assistance (Miller, 2006).
From ancient times, and in various regions of the world, people with
disabilities have suffered from abuse, negligence, and ridicule. (Saad
& Borowska-Beszta, 2019, p.30). Old nations treated handicapped
people with contempt and disrespect, and sometimes with cruelty and
estrangement. They viewed the disabled as useless people who could
not do what is entrusted to them to the fullest, thus they cannot serve the
society as expected. Some of these old nations considered the blind to
be harmful to the state, and that they must be disposed of by all possible
means for the society to remain strong, and able to carry out the burdens,
and costs of life. (Miller, 2013, p.40; Saad & Borowska-Beszta, 2019,
p.30). The following paragraph will shed some light on how old nations
treated the handicapped in general, and the blind namely during ancient
Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, old Arab times pre-Islam, and during Islam.
The Blind during the Greek Ages
Old Greek literature states that the life of an impaired person in ancient
Greece was miserable. Greek laws stipulated that the disabled child
should be disposed of and eliminated in childhood; by throwing him/
her into the river to die by drowning or leaving them in the freezing cold
until they perish with a boomerang. Another law known as “Preventing
the Rearing of Deformed Children” was recommended by Aristotle to
be passed, believing that it was not worth it to bring up a child who
could not lead an independent life (Garland, 2020).
Similarly, Plato indicated that the person with disability is
considered harmful to his ideal state (Saad & Borowska-Beszta, 2019,
p.30). Consequently, the number of those who survived to adulthood
was very low if compared to nowadays, and if they managed to survive
somehow, the Greek society did not treat the mature disabled with any
special sympathy. There is also proof to suggest that any physically
disabled Greek would become a scapegoat – called the pharmakos –
in times of crisis. They were exiled from the city and cursed ritually,
thinking that they were harmful to the society (Garland, 2020). As for
people with any visually recognisable disability, the Greek rules did not
allow them to learn, develop autonomy or marry, because this would
inevitably weaken the state. (Saad & Borowska-Beszta, 2019, p.30).
The Blind during the Roman and Egyptian Old Times
As for the Romans, there was a Roman law code from around the
middle of the 5th century BCE called the: “Law of the Twelve Tables,”
it has the remark: “kill the deformed child quickly.” It was known as
well that Spartan children were inspected by the elders on birth and if
found impaired, they would be abandoned in the jungle to be eaten by
animals and birds. Hesiod, the epic poet who lived around the beginning
of the 7th century BCE, records the belief that if a child was born with
a deformity, it indicated anger or ill will of the divine. There is every
likelihood that if a child was born deformed and managed to survive

somehow, it would be treated as a second-grade citizen. He or she
would not be permitted to enter the temple, let alone serve as a priest
or priestess, since only physically perfect people could serve the gods.
The same is true for ancient Egyptians; blindness in turn, congenital
or disease-related, was considered a divine punishment. A man thus
handicapped, would sink in a state of uncertainty and darkness (Garland,
2020).
The Blind in Arab Society
As mentioned before, societies in different ancient cultures have
implemented various ways to interpret the disability phenomena.
Unfortunately, they developed their attitudes to people with disabilities,
and to the blind, by oppressing and humiliating them (Borowska-
Beszta, 2012). Thinking of the Arab world, Ibrahim, and Ismail (2018)
mentioned after Guvercin (2008), the wrong perceptions of disabled
people as a factor influencing societal attitudes, leading to exclusion,
mistreatment, and deprivation of their rights to equal opportunities
in education, employment, and social inclusion. Murad and Walid
(2008) wrote that regardless of the positive characteristics of those
with disabilities, abled-bodied individuals tend to believe that disabled
people are not mature ones, and that they lack essential things. Under
this assumption, able-bodied people practiced different forms of
discrimination, intolerance, and used stigmatising labels in their daily
communication styles towards the handicapped (Saad & Borowska-
Beszta, 2019, p.30). Stigmatisation and oppression were marked by
inferiority, contempt, abuse, and negligence on the forehead of those
with disabilities, as if this society is punishing them for a sin they did
not commit. They besieged them in successive circles of educational,
psychological, and social hostage, without providing them with the
simple demands of liberation from this human oppression and contempt
(Saad & Borowska-Beszta, 2019, p.31).
Murad and Walid (2007) continued saying that since the dawn of
history, Arab societal view of people with disabilities like the blind, was
built on fraught with confusion, misunderstanding, doubt, and despair.
Arab societies like other old nations, found it difficult to deal with the
disabled psychological, social, behavioral, and emotional disorders.
They felt despair especially when those disabilities required special
uninterrupted care, and the provision of certain appropriate conditions

for each case, was impossible to be offered at that time. (Saad &
Borowska-Beszta, 2019, p.31).
In conclusion, one can say that blindness was assumed to be a ticket
to misery, a curse, or a sentence to be a second-class status citizen.
(Miller, 2006). Fortunately, things did not remain as is, as after the dawn
of Islam, there was a radical change regarding the blind and the disabled
ones.
The Blind in Islam
When reviewing the philosophy of Islam regarding the disabled, one
finds that unlike the preceding philosophies, Islam has a totally positive
attitude towards the disabled, needy individuals, and those suffering from
any kind of disadvantageous situation. The Holy Qur’an and al-Sunnah
al-Sharifa not only accepted the existence of disabilities as a natural part
of human nature, but also set certain values, applied practical proposals
for caring for disabled people, and highlighted the significance of such
caring. (Al-Aoufi et al., 2012, p. 206). The following paragraph will
present a solid proof for what we have formerly mentioned.
In Islam, all Muslims are equal, and the Holy Quran confirms this:
‫﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا َخلَ ْقنَا ُك ْم ِم ْن َذ َك ٍر َوأُ ْنثَى َو َج َع ْلنَا ُك ْم ُشعُوبًا َوقَبَائِ َل لِتَ َعا َرفُوا إِ َّن أَ ْك َر َم ُك ْم‬
.]31:‫ِع ْن َد هَِّللا أَ ْتقَا ُك ْم إِ َّن هََّللا َعلِي ٌم َخبِيرٌ﴾ [الحجرات‬
“O [mankind!] Behold, Indeed We have created you all out of a male and a
female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come
to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is most
righteous of you. Behold, Allah is all-knowing, all-aware”. (49:13)
According to the verse, Allah’s measure of a human being’s worth relies

not on physical attributes or material achievements, but on spiritual
maturity and ethical development. (Banza, & Hatab, 2005, p.12). The
Prophet (PBUH) most explicitly communicates this message when
saying: “Verily, Allah does not look at your bodies or your appearances,
but looks into your hearts” (Muslim, n.d., 2564).
This connects with the exhortation in the preceding verse (49:11),
saying:
‫﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّ ِذينَ آ َمنُوا اَل يَ ْسخَرْ قَوْ ٌم ِم ْن قَوْ ٍم َع َسى أَ ْن يَ ُكونُوا َخ ْيرًا ِم ْنهُ ْم َو اَل نِ َسا ٌء ِم ْن نِ َسا ٍء‬
.]11:‫ب﴾ [الحجرات‬ ِ ‫َع َسى أَ ْن يَ ُك َّن َخ ْيرًا ِم ْنه َُّن َو اَل ت َْل ِم ُزوا أَ ْنفُ َس ُك ْم َو اَل تَنَابَ ُزوا بِ أْالَ ْلقَا‬
“O, you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; for they
may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; for they may
be better than them. And do not insult each other by [offensive] nicknames”.
(49:11)
The verse obviously forbids all people from mocking each other and
orders them not to call each other with bad names, aiming to conserve
everyone’s respect and safeguard each other’s dignity. (Banza, & Hatab,
2005, p.12).
Moreover, the Qur’an and al-Sunnah al-Sharifa take an extra step to
stress the necessity of applying the above-stated attitude towards people
with disabilities. This is reflected in one of the Qur’an’s chapters,
i.e. “Surat ‘Abasa,” telling the story of Abdullah Ibn Umm
Maktoum, a blind companion, who came to the Prophet (PBUH) asking
him about certain religious enquiries. Unfortunately, at that moment,
the Prophet (PBUH) was busy convincing some leaders from Quraish
to embrace Islam. Unintentionally, the Prophet (PBUH) looked away
from Ibn Umm Maktoum’s face and frowned at him. (Al-Tabari, 2000,
vol. 24, p. 217). Right then, “Surat ‘Abasa” was revealed started saying:
.]2-1:‫)﴾ [عبس‬2( ‫) أَ ْن َجا َءهُ أْالَ ْع َمى‬1( ‫س َوتَ َولَّى‬

َ َ‫﴿ َعب‬
“He frowned and turned away because the blind man approached him!” (80:1-
2).
This incident highlights the fact that Muslims with disabilities are to
be treated with full regard and respect, and that they should have the
same subject- to-subject relations that are granted to the non-disabled.
(Banza, & Hatab, 2005, p.13). Allah courteously blamed his Prophet
(PBUH) even for frowning at a blind man – who in reality – did not see
that he has been frowned at, which set a supreme norm for all Muslims
to respect the blind and all disabled people.
Indeed, such norms were set into practice when the Prophet (PBUH)
held Ibn Umm Maktoum in charge for Al-Madina Al-Munawara twice
when He (the Prophet PBUH) went out for jihad. (Abou Daoud, n.d.,
2931). Also, it was narrated that: “Ibn Umm Maktoum was appointed
by the Prophet (PBUH) to call for the prayers (make Azan). (Muslim,
n.d., 381).
Not only this, but we find that the Holy Qur’an exempts the blind,
the lame, and the sick from going to the battlefield, saying:
ِ ‫ج َح َر ٌج َو اَل َعلَى ْال َم ِر‬

.]71:‫يض َح َرجٌ﴾ [الفتح‬ َ َ
ِ ‫ْس َعلَى أْال ْع َمى َح َر ٌج َو اَل َعلَى أْال ْع َر‬
َ ‫﴿لَي‬
“There is not upon the blind any guilt, or upon the lame any guilt, or upon the
sick any guilt [for staying away from a war in Allah’s cause”, (48:17)
In summary, one can assert with no doubt, that the Holy Qur’an was the
earliest initiator and defender for disability rights.
Likewise, 1,400 years ago, way before the UN Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was enacted, following the
commands of the Holy Qur’an, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), worked
hard to ensure that people with disabilities were catered for and were
given their rights and privileges, including the right to a normal life just
like anyone else. (Islam, 2020). He (PBUH) was so keen to comfort all
people especially those with disabilities and raise their self-esteem. This
is mirrored in the following narrations:
1. Anas bin Malak R.A., narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said:
“Allah said: If I afflict any human being by losing his/her eyes
and they showed patience for this loss, Paradise will compensate
them for this.” (Al-Bukhari, 2001, 5653).
2. Also, Abou Huraira R.A. narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said
that: “Whoever Allah wants good for, He will afflict him.” (Al-
Bukhari, 2001, 5645). (Meaning He afflicts him with calamities
hoping to purify him from his sins, so that he will meet the Al-
Mighty sin free”.
3. Similarly, Al-Sayida Aisha R.A. narrated that the Prophet
(PBUH) said that: “Any Muslim is not afflicted by hardship,
disease, anxiety, sadness, injury, or distress, not even a thorn
pricked by a thorn, except that Allah expiates some of his sins”.
(Al-Bukhari, 2001, 5640; & Muslim, n.d., 2572).
So, this was a brief snapshot showing how the Holy Qur’an and al-
Sunnah al-Sharifa viewed the blind and the disabled. Of course, what
was documented in the Islamic literature in this regard is so huge and
goes beyond the scope of this article. But one might ask: what about
Muslim Leaders who came later, did they follow the teachings of their
Prophet (PBUH) regarding the disabled? This will be answered in the
following points:
a. As for Muslims’ Caliph, an outstanding role model was Omar
Ibn Al-Khattab (40 bA.H.-23A.H.), the second Rashidun
Caliph, who used to take care personally for an old blind lady,
cleaning her house and meeting her daily regular needs. (Ibn-
Khathir, 1988, vol. 7, pp.152-153). Also, Omar R.A. granted a
man with a disabled child a house near the mosque, when the
father complained that his son was unable to reach the mosque
because of his disability. (Aljazoli, 2004).
b. Next, in the second Islamic state in Damascus, al Walid ibn-
Abdul Malik (50-96 A.H.) the Umayyad Caliph, who assigned
for each blind a guide to lead him and for each disabled and
needy individual a caregiver. (Al-Tabari, 1967, vol. 6, p. 496).
Interestingly, Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi said that al-Walid was the
first person to build the bimirstan (hospital) in Islam during
the year 88 A.H. /706 CE, to accommodate the intellectually
disabled as part of its services. He also locked up people with
lepers in special hospitals and granted them a fixed allowance
during their sickness. (Issa, 1981, vol.1, p. 10).
c. A further example was Omar bin-Abdul Aziz (61-101A.H.), the
eighth Umayyad Caliph, who took special care of the disabled
as well, when he ordered for every blind a guide to lead him/
her through the way. Similarly, he gave orders that each two
incapacitated people or those with chronic disease should have
a servant to take care of their needs. (lbn-El-Hakam, 1984, vol.
1, p. 54). In addition, This Caliph gave orders to all the leaders
in Iraq, Damascus, and other cities that all poor, needy sick
people, and those with any kind of physical disability must be
allocated a regular monthly income. (Al-Tabari, 1967, vol. 6,
pp. 569-570).
The above mentioned examples provide solid evidence for the
massive support being given to the blind, needy, and disabled people
in the early Islamic societies. Indeed, Islam gives all groups within the
society full attention; each has their own rights, dignity, and respect
including those with disability (Al-Aoufi et al., 2012, p.207). This was
the general perception of Islam towards the blind and other disabled
individuals. As for the West, equally, the world began steadily to
change its view towards the blind too, and this happened during the
Enlightenment period which will discussed in the following paragraph.
The Blind during the Enlightenment Period
During the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, philosophers in
Europe introduced new questions about blindness and the nature of the
blind. The Anglican philosopher, George Berkeley in an essay Towards
a New Theory of Vision (1709), set rhetorical scenarios which allowed
speculation as to the nature of learning and understanding by the blind.
If understanding was generated from within, as Berkeley argued, then
there was no reason a blind person could not learn as well as the sighted
(Miller, 2006). This led to the new phase of educating the blind.
Educating the Blind
French philosopher Denis Diderot – originator of the philosophical
foundation for educating the blind – penned one of the first treatises to
include significant discussion about the education of the blind in
his paper “Letter on the Blind for the Use of Those Who Can See”
(1749). The essay suggested that the sense of touch could be honed
for reading in blind persons, pre-figuring the 19th-century invention
of Braille’s writing system. He emphasised the role of sensory experience
in human accomplishment, espousing the idea that the ability to see was
not central to the ability to understand and reason. Diderot argued that
the blind could be educated so long as the educator focused on what
skills the blind person possessed and not on the lack of sight. Next, in
1784, Professor Valentin Haüy – a French calligrapher – opened the
first school for the blind in Paris, where Louis Braille get some of his
primary education, before introducing what is known now as the Braille
Language (Miller, 2006).
After this summary about the history of the disabled and the blind
during the old times, let us mention some of the inspiring outstanding
blind figures who left us a huge and valuable literary legacy that
contributed to the enrichment of the world’s cultural heritage.
Among Some of the Well-known Blind Figures
Historical knowledge of the lives of blind people in the pre-modern
Western world is extremely limited. What is left to the historian is a
collection of biographies of “extraordinary” individuals, starting

with Homer (around 701 BCE): one of the greatest and most influential
Greek writers, known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, to
John Milton (d.1674 CE), an English poet and prose polemicist, known
for his epic poem Paradise Lost, to Louis Braille (d. 1852 CE), a
French educator, and the inventor of the Braille Language, which is
the subject of this article, then to Helen Keller, an American author (d.
1968 CE), known as the disability rights’ advocate, and finally to Jorge
Luis Borges (d. 1986 CE), an Argentine short-story writer, essayist and
poet, who contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre.
These figures and many others not mentioned in this article, proves that
blind people can pull together to create an honourable tapestry of blind
people’s history (Miller, 2006).
As for blind people in the pre-Islamic period, i.e. that preceding the
revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, also known
as Al-Jahiliyya (Al-Tahanawi, 1996, vol. 1, p. 547), or during Islam,
literature cited many well-known names, whose blindness did not stop
them from leading a successful and productive life, leaving valuable
literary work that enriched the Arabic and the Islamic literature, amongst
whom we mention Al- Aa’sha (d. 629 CE), one of the most prominent
pre-Islamic poets, known for his ten Mu’allaqat, which is one of the
most famous Arabs’ poetry. Some said it has been called so because,
like precious jewels, it sticks to the mind. Others said that these poems
were written in gold water and hung on the Kaaba’s curtains before
the advent of Islam (Ibn Khaldun, 1988, vol. 1, p. 804; Al-Rafi, n.d.
vol. 3, p. 121). Abdallah bin Umm Maktoum (d. 15A.H.) one of the
Prophet’s blind companions (mentioned earlier), whose blindness did
not stop him neither from memorising and teaching the Holy Quran,
nor from being one of the bravest Muslim martyrs when he insisted
to share in al-Qādesiya battle despite his blindness. Al-Qādesiya was
a decisive battle that took place during 14/15 A.H., when Muslims’
army overcame a larger Sasanian army. This victory paved the way for
Islamic subsequent conquest of Iraq (Ibn Kathir, 1988, vol. 7, p. 51).
Qatada bin Da’ama Al-Sadusi (d.118 A.H.) was one of the top Muslim
scholars who specialised in Hadith, Tafsir, and the Arabic Language. He
classified many important books and was known for his extra-ordinary
memorisation power. Bashar bin Burd (d.168 A.H.) was known as the
leader of the reformed poets of his time. There was also Abu al-Ala’a’
Al-Maa’rri (d.449 A.H.), considered as one of the greatest classical

Arabic poets, a thinker, and a writer from the Abbasid era. In the modern
era, there was also Taha Hussein (d.1973 CE), an Egyptian writer and an
intellect, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature fourteen
times.
Innovative Methods for the Blind to Read and Write
The two preceding paragraphs cited names of some notable scholars
whose blindness did not prevent them from becoming famous writers,
poets, or thinkers. On the other hand, there are some other people –
Muslims and non- Muslims – who excelled in a different manner, i.e.,
by creating new means, or inventing new systems to educate the blind
helping them read and write. Their attempts will be discussed fully in
the following section, starting with Louis Braille.
Who is Louis Braille?
Louis Braille was born on 4 January 1809 CE in Coupvray, a small town
about 20 miles from Paris. At the age of three, Louis Braille stabbed
his right eye with a sharp tool. By the age of five, Louis Braille was
completely blind. On 6 January 1852, at the age of 43, Louis Braille
died from tuberculosis that he endured for many years. (Miller C. M.,
2006, pp. 2,13,16).
Origins of the Braille System
Note that the first reading system by touch for blind people was created
by Francesco Lana Terzi (1631-1687 CE), an Italian professor of
physics. In 1670 CE, he wrote “How a blind person from birth can not
only learn to write, but also hide his secrets in code and understand the
answer using the same code.” The importance of the system designed
by Lana is that it was the invention of a reading system not based on the
system of sighted people. Other trials and attempts followed; however,
many of these trials were unpractical, thus had limited usage. Later,
Valentine Haüy (1745-1822 CE), devised a different system which was
based on reading Roman letters in relief (Jimeńez et al., 2009, p. 144).
During his childhood, Braille used the education system developed
by Valentine Haüy based on reading Roman alphabet letters using
the sense of touch. This writing system was based on typographical
composition. Blind people could read by recognising ordinary letters
in relief by touch, and the same system was used to teach arithmetic.
(Jimeńez et al., 2009, p. 144).
Barbier’s Sonography
The immediate precursor of the raised dot-based reading system

employing touch, known as the Braille system, was the creation of a
French artillery captain, named Charles Barbier de la Serre (1767-1841
CE), who developed a unique system known as “night writing” for
soldiers to communicate safely at night. Although Barbier’s method is
acknowledged as highly important, his sonography was not useful for
spelling, dictation, or calculation tasks. However, it might be fair to say
that without the creation of the Barbier system, it is very possible that
the Braille’s alphabet might not have existed (Jimeńez et al., 2009, p.
145).
Birth of the Braille Language
Although it was not designed for the blind, Louis Braille used Barbier’s
slate with minor modifications to write his alphabet. In 1825, at just
16 years of age, Louis Braille had already completed the essence of
writing by touch. In 1829, the procedure was published in his work
titled: “Procedure for writing words, music, and Gregorian chant using
dots, for use by the blind and made by them (Proce´de´ pour ećrire les
paroles, la musique et la plain-chant au moyen de points, a l’usage des
aveugles et dispose´s por eux).” In 1837, this edition was improved and
even simplified, and the first book was printed using the Braille system.
The 1837 text defined the alphabet, numbers, spelling signs, and musical
notation, and it is essentially very similar to the current Braille system
(Jimeńez et al., 2009, p. 146). So, let us look at the real configuration
of the Braille Language.
Braille Raised Dotted Language
Braille raised dotted Language is a writing system that uses embossed

paper. It consists of characters – small rectangular blocks – called cells
that contain tiny palpable bumps called raised dots (Sultana et al., 2017,
p. 195). To read in Braille, a visually impaired individual would use
the two index fingers, one being the “focus” and the other being the
“context”.
Braille dots are numbered from 1 to 6 and arranged in 2 columns

and 3 rows. Different combinations of dots indicate various characters
of the language. There are sixty-four possible combinations that use one
or more of these six dots. A single cell can be used to represent a letter,
number, punctuation mark, or even a whole word. A person can use one
or both hands to read the Braille characters. Braille is not a language,
but a code by which many natural languages such as English, Arabic,
Spanish, Chinese, and dozens of others are written and read (Dasgupta
et al., 2017).
Figure 1: (a) Braille raised dotted language; (b) Braille Cell
(a) (b)
Later, an 8-dot Braille Unicode was introduced to facilitate the
Computer Braille that could represent all 95-computer characters with
one Braille cell itself. The 8-dot Braille can represent a maximum of 256
unique symbols. It has a huge potential to provide the ultimate solution
to Braille users while writing texts (in English or in other languages) as
well as mathematical and technical texts (Garg, 2016).
The Acceptance of the Braille System in France
During his lifetime, Braille received recognition for inventing his
alphabets only from a small circle of people, and never received formal
public recognition. It was not until 1854 that the Braille system was
officially adopted in France (Miller C. M., 2006, p. 8).
Recognising Braille’s System as a Universal Language by UNESCO
In March 1950, UNESCO adopted the recommendations at the Paris
International Meeting on Braille Uniformity. On 21st February 2005,
and in cooperation with the World Blind Union, UNESCO chose to
highlight the Braille system as a ‘‘vital language of communication, as
legitimate as all other languages in the world’’ (Jimeńez et al., 2009,
p. 148).
However, it must be noted that despite its international recognition

and widespread usage, Braille’s system represents only one of several
preceding unknown attempts to develop useful systems for the blind to
read and write. Biographies of well-known Muslim scholars mentioned
that three Muslim pioneers have various attempts at creating letters for
the blind, preceding Braille. Although not much is known about how
many people benefited from those trials still, these inventions should
not be overlooked, but need to be acknowledged and presented to the
world. The following paragraphs will describe the three discoveries and
highlight some of its peculiarities.
Muslim Inventors Pre-Braille
Literature quotes various accomplishments of Muslim scholars making
great achievements contributing to the Islamic civilisation. Some of
these scholars were not blind, while others were born blind, or maybe
lost their sight after some time, still they were able to overcome their
disability, presenting extraordinary work for the benefit of others;
(Abdul Aziz et al., 2018), among whom we mention Mohammad bin
Abdul-Warith (5th century A.H.), Zein Eddine al-Amidy (d.712 A.H.
/1312A CE), and Wazir Al-Sarraj (d. 1149A.H./1736-1737 CE). These
three Muslim Pioneers succeeded to discover three different reading
methods for the blind before Braille, and we will start with the first
one: Mohammad bin Abdul Warith. (Ibn-Hazm, 1900; al-Safadi, 2007;
Mahfouz, 1994).
Mohammad bin Abdul-Warith (5th century A.H. /1009-1106 CE).
Mohammad bin Abdul Warith is an astounding Muslim inventor
who lived in Andalusia in the fifth century A.H. (1009-1106 CE).
Unfortunately, little is known about Abdul Warith’s personal life or
about his career. But one can conclude that Abdul Warith was a highly
knowledgeable individual – if not a very well-known Muslim scholar
– and an exceptionally talented and skilled person to invent letters for
the blind at that date. This conclusion is confirmed firstly by being
determined to teach his blind born child by himself despite the hard
circumstances existing at that time, secondly by the fact that his second
son Ahmad, was the private tutor of Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi (384-456
A.H.), a Muslim polymath whose writings gained much fame. In fact,
the credit goes to Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi who fortunately recorded
Abdul Warith’s invention in one of his books titled Al-Taqrib li Hadd al-
Mantiq (Approximation of Logic). Ibn Hazm says: “My teacher Ahmed

bin Muhammad bin Abdul Warith told me that his father, Mohammad
bin Abdul Warith, created a method for the blind to read and write.
Originally, he invented it for his young son who was born blind” (Ibn-
Hazm, 1900, p.192).
Abdul Warith’s Embossed Letters
As mentioned earlier, Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi was the sole Muslim scholar
recording Abdul Warith’s invention in his book, Al-Taqrib li Hadd
al-Mantiq, when he said “At first, Abdul Warith made few embossed
palpable figures representing the letters of the alphabet from pitch (or
tar).” Using his sense of touch, Abdul-Warith instructed his blind son
to touch these embossed figures until the boy was able to configure the
form of these figures in his mind. Next, he asked him to touch several
sequences of various combinations of these embossed letters, thus giving
more familiarity to them. With training, the child started to combine
multiple different alphabetic letters with its corresponding palpable tar
figures to form a word. Shortly afterwards, the blind child was able to
form a series of different words, followed by another set of words, then
forming a line, and so on so forth until he completed one whole book.
With persistence and continuous hard work, Abdul Warith’s blind son
was able to read and write by himself (Ibn Hazm, 1900, p.192).
Only this much is known about Mohammad bin Abdul-Warith’s
invention. Had he taught others the embossed letters, he would have no
doubt changed those peoples’ way of life. Learning to read and write
from a blind’s person perspective is by far more than just learning the
alphabet, it represents a way of connection to the world, to be more
involved, dynamic, independent, and productive; one can say it is a Way
to Life. Interestingly, in some of his verses, Abu al-Ala’a’ Al-Maa’rri
(d.449A.H.), a blind poet (mentioned earlier in the first section of this
article) affirms that reading by touch was well-known among Arabs
living during the fifth century A.H., when he said:
ُ ‫قوام أَعمى لَدَي ِه ال‬

ِ َ‫ص ُحفُ يَق َرؤُها بِل‬
‫مس‬ ِ َ‫َكأ َ َّن ُمنَجِّ َم األ‬
ِ َ‫لَقَد طا َل ال َعنا ُء فَ َكم يُعاني سُطوراً عا َد كاتِبُها بِط‬
‫مس‬
“It is as if a blind astrologer has scrolls that he reads by touching.
The suffering has taken so long, how many lines the writer has to write in
obliteration”.
Based on this, Abdul Warith’s attempt to help his blind son to read
and write should be recognised. His name should be honoured for the
remarkable effort that he made. After Mohammad bin Abdul Warith’s
amazing story with his blind son, let us discuss another attempt done by
Zein Eddine Al-Amidy, a distinguished Muslim scholar, who should be
credited for being the first to invent an innovative model for the blind to
read and write before Braille.
Zein Eddine Al-Amidy (d.712 A.H. /1312 CE)
He is Al-Imam Abou El-Hassan Ali bin Ahmed bin Yusuf bin Al-Khader
Al-Amidy commonly known as Zein Eddine Al-Amidy. Nothing is
mentioned about his birth date, but it is known that he was originally
from Amid, the most important province of Diyarbakir in the northeast
of the Levant, in what is present-day Turkey. However, he was born
in Baghdad, and spent all his life in it until he died there in 712 A.H. /
1312 CE.
Zein Eddine Al Amidy’s childhood and educational background
Literature quotes that Al-Amidy became blind during his childhood, but
nothing is mentioned whether it was congenital or disease-related. For
learning, Al-Amidy attended different Shaykhs’ Councils in Baghdad,
such as the one headed by Majd al-Din Abd al-Samad Ibn Abi al-Jaish,
Shaykh of Reading (Qira’at) in Baghdad (d.67 A.H.) and other councils
specialising in Fiqh, Arabic language, and other sciences.
Remarkably, Al-Amidy became one of the most senior scholars in
Hanbalis Jurisprudence. He was a prolific scholar who mastered not
only the sciences of the Arabic Language, but other languages too,
including Persian, Turkish, Mongolian, and Latin. He also penned such
tomes as Jawahir al-Tafsir fi ‘Ilm Al-Ta’bir (Gems of the Science of
Composition) (Zerkli, 2002, vol. 4, p. 257), Muntaha al-Usul Fi ‘Ilm
al- Usul (The Ultimate Basics of the Principles of Jurisprudence), and
Ta’alik fi al-Fiqh al-Hanbali (Comments on Hanbali Jurisprudence)
(Ibn-Hajar, 1972. vol. 4, p. 25).
Zein Eddine Al Amidy’s Invention: Reading by Touch
Despite his blindness, Al-Amidy was an exceptional man, possessing an
insight that surpassed those of the sighted. He was an inspiring figure.
His disability did not prevent him from becoming a famed Professor
in Al-Mustansiriya School in Baghdad, the largest University in the

world at that time. He was so creative, inventive, and proficient that
the presidency of the University allocated him a single room on the
University’s campus in recognition for his outstanding innovative work.
Being blind since his childhood, Al-Amidy got motivated to find a
way to read and write. His job as a Librarian – if we can name it so –
left him with no other choice but to invent a method to read and write.
Interestingly, Al-Amidy used to gather all kinds of books, assemble
them on shelves to sell them later. It was reported that during his daily
trading, whenever Al-Amidy bought a book, he took a piece of paper,
twist it to take the shape of one of the alphabetic letters. Then, he used
“these small, twisted papers” to know the price of the books he was
selling (Al-Safadi, 2000, vol. 20, p. 127). Al-Amidy affixed these paper-
made letters at the edge of each book’s cover. If he forgot the price of
any book, he would touch those papers-made letters he fixed to the edge
of every book to know its exact price (Zerkli, 2002, vol. 4, p. 257).
From Al- Safadi’s past description to Al-Amidy’s method, one can
infer that Al-Amidy made his paper letters relatively prominent so that
he could read through touch, a similar principle applied by Braille five
centuries later (Al-Safadi, 2000, vol. 20, p. 127). Being an outstanding
scholar with exceptional insight, Al Amidy was able to tell the contents
of any book just by touching its cover. Not only that, but he was able to
tell the number of lines in any page only by moving his fingers over that
page (Al-Safadi, 2007, vol. 1, p. 191).
Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, a famous Muslim scholar (d.852 A.H),
recorded Al-Amidy’s extraordinary abilities in mastering his innovative
method, asserting that he was famous for this invention (Ibn-Hajar,
1972, vol. 4, p. 25). Similarly, according to a study published in 1911,
Ahmad Zaki Pasha (an Egyptian philologist, d.1934 CE) said that:
“Zayn Eddine Al-Amidy’s method preceded Braille’s by about six
hundred years” (Zaki-Pasha, 1911, vol. 61, p. 77). Also, in his book The
Civilization of Baghdad in the Abbasid Era, Mikhail Awad (an Iraqi
historian, d.1996 CE.) said: “Al-Amidy is the first one to master this art
before Braille, and if we want be fair enough, the whole credit should go
to Al-Amidy creating a language for the blind by touch before Braille”.
Mastering how to read, write, and do arithmetic calculations using this
unique genuine method, Al-Amidy’s succeeded to live a fruitful life like

the sighted; working, learning, teaching, and classifying books.
Wazir Al-Sarraj (d. 1149A.H./1736-1737CE)
Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Mustafa
Abu Abdullah al-Andalusi, also known as Wazir Al-Sarraj, was a
Tunisian polymath. He was also a famed scientist, historian, writer, poet,
and a remarkable inventor. He was born in Tunisia in1070 A.H./1659 CE
and he lived there until he died in 1149A.H. /1736-1737 CE (Mahfouz,
1994, vol. 5, p. 138; Makhlouf, 2003, vol. 1, p. 471).
He was proficient in Islamic Jurisprudence, Hadith, Literature,
Poetry, and History. He received his education from several Shaykhs at
the Zaytuna Mosque including Ibrahim Al-Jamal, Muhammad Fatata,
Muhammad al-Hajij al-Andalusi, Ali and Muhammad al-Ghamad,
Saeed al-Sharif, Al-Sfakisi Muhammad, al-Sagir Daoud, Muhammad
Ashour, Ahmad Birnar, and many others (Mahfouz, 1994, vol. 5, pp.
138-139; Makhlouf, 2003, vol. 1, p. 471).
Wazir Al-Sarraj’s Career
Al-Sarraj taught in several schools, eventually becoming well known
in the fields of science and literature. Later, he was employed by Prince
Hussein bin Ali (the founder of the Bayat State) as a teacher at Zaytouna
Mosque. The prince was happy with Al-Sarraj’s performance, and
appointed him in different key positions. Interestingly, Prince Hussein
permitted Al-Sarraj to hold special regular meetings with other Muslim
scholars to share general knowledge, and to update them about his great
book in progress entitled Al-Hullal al-Sundusiya. Also, Prince Hussein
asked Al-Sarraj to prepare the text that he inscribed on his official seal
to stamp his letters and looked forward for Al-Sarraj’s companionship
in some of his travels (Mahfouz, 1994, vol. 5, p. 138).
Wazir Al-Sarraj’s Reading Method
Although not blind, Al-Sarraj invented a reading method for the blind
upon the request of his blind teacher Shaykh Ibrahim Al-Jamal Al-
Safaqisi. This was mentioned in the book titled: Trajim Al-Mouelifin
al-Tunisien in the biography of Shaykh Ibrahim al-Jamal, a blind reciter
of the Holy Quran (Mahfouz, 1994, vol. 2, p. 54). Upon the request of
his teacher, Al-Sarraj created waxed figures to fashion models of the
Arabic alphabets for his old blind shaykh to read and write (Mahfouz,
1994, vol. 2, p. 54). Unluckily, this much was only recorded about Wazir
Al-Sarraj’s waxed letters, but one can imagine that he asked his blind
teacher to touch these waxed letters, get acquainted to their forms, then
relate each form to one of the alphabetic letters, until Sheik Ibrahim al-
Jamal was able to read and write. This simple reading method by touch
for the blind preceded Braille’s system by nearly a century.
To sum up, one can notice that the three previously mentioned
inventions, whether made from embossed palpable figures of tar as
Abdul Warith did, or from paper as Al-Amidy did, or from waxed as
Wazir Al-Sarraj did, all used the sense of touch to read and write as
Braille did later.
Conclusion
The invention of writing by raised objects or dots was an event of

enormous historic importance for blind people. It was a milestone in
the history of education for the blind, and it put the universe of reading
within their reach. Three Muslim pioneers invented three creative
methods for the blind before Braille. Going as far back as the 5th century
A.H. (1009-1106 CE), Muhammad bin Abdul Warith invented embossed
figures from pitch for his blind son. This was then followed by Zein
Eddine Al-Amidy (d.712 A.H. /1312 CE), who invented paper-made
letters for himself to read, write and sell books. Finally, Wazir Al-Sarraj
(d. 1149A.H. /1736-1737 CE) created waxed letters for his blind teacher
to read and write.
Presently, Braille’s raised-dots system has been adapted to many

other native languages other than French, thus serving a wide range of
blind people all over the world. Ultimately, blind, and visually impaired
people around the globe are benefiting from the outstanding innovative
trials of a long line of past inventors, whose contributions should be
cherished.
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In the Name of Covid-19: Democratic

Reversal and the Return of Authoritarian
Malaysia under Muhyiddin’s Perikatan
Nasional
Muhamad M.N. Nadzri*
Abstract: In late February 2020, the democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan’s

coalition government was toppled, arguably through a self-inflicted coup by its
component party Bersatu, which brokered a deal with its allies from within
and outside of the coalition. Based on a synthesis from Bridget Welsh’ ideas
on political mandate and Andreas Schedler’s new institutionalism, this article
explores how the royal mandate was taken advantage of by the newly formed
coalition government, the Perikatan Nasional (PN), in confronting challenges
for its survival by resorting to authoritarianism, blanketed by its policies to
tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it is argued that the pandemic brought
an adverse effect to PN’s regime integrity in a way that it had both became the
source of regime sustainability and regime subversion. While the democratic
reversal is clearly apparent, the failure of Muhyiddin’s administration to
effectively deal with the challenges of good governance during the pandemic
had eventually led to its own demise.
Keywords: Barisan Nasional; Covid-19 pandemic; Malaysia; Pakatan

Harapan; Perikatan Nasional.
Abstrak: Pada lewat Februari 2020, kerajaan Pakatan Harapan (PH) yang
telah dipilih secara demokratik melalui Pilihan Raya Umum 2018, dijatuhkan
melalui apa yang boleh dianggap sebagai rampasan kuasa kendiri (autocoup)
oleh Bersatu, iaitu salah satu parti komponennya, bersama sekutu-sekutu parti
itu di dalam dan luar PH. Berdasarkan sintesis idea Bridget Welsh tentang
mandat politik dan perspektif Andreas Schedler mengenai institusionalisme
*
Head of Political Science Programme, Faculty of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Email: nadzri@ukm.edu.my.
baharu, artikel ini meneroka bagaimana mandat di-Raja telah digunapakai oleh
kerajaan baharu yang terbentuk ketika itu – Perikatan Nasional (PN) dalam
berhadapan dengan cabaran-cabaran survival pemerintahannya melalui kaedah
autoritarianisme atas nama pandemik Covid-19. Walau bagaimanapun, artikel
ini menghujahkan pandemik itu membawa kesan yang bertentangan kepada
integriti rejim—ia telah menjadi punca kepada ketahanan dan kejatuhannya.
Meskipun kebalikan demokrasi di bawah pentadbiran Muhyiddin boleh dilihat
dengan jelas, namun kesukarannya untuk menangani cabaran-cabaran yang
dibawa oleh pandemik melalui governans yang berkesan akhirnya membawa
kepada kejatuhan kerajaannya.
Introduction
In May 2018, Pakatan Harapan (PH) dramatically defeated the
longstanding UMNO/Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the 14th
General Election. The breakthrough was made possible by a double
jeopardy suffered by the ruling regime, contributed by a fundamental
elite rupture within the BN coalition when the defectors later made a
pact with PH and coordinated their campaign to challenge the former
in the 2018 election (Nadzri, 2018). The pact was not so much of an
ideological congruence found among parties in PH, but rather a marriage
of convenience vis-à-vis an “intra-elite struggle for power” (Gomez &
Nawab, 2019). Its main objective, which is somewhat short-sighted, was
to topple the BN government and oust the then prime minister, Najib
Abdul Razak, from power. Hence, it was more of a semi-“replacement”
or a quasi-“transplacement” of political administration (Huntington,
1991), or a governmental change rather than a regime change (Tapsell
2020).
However, it is empirically unreflective to say that the PH regime
was just as similar to the previous BN regime. Although cronyism
(Gomez, 2019) and patronage (Case, 2019, pp. 21-24) persisted, the
PH government did make some noticeable progress during its term
from May 2018 to February 2020 (Azmil, 2020, p. 105; New Straits
Times, 2020). The rights to freedom of expression and assembly, for
instance, saw significant improvement (Bedi, 2019); so much so that it
actually turned the PH government as the main target of politics of dis/
mis-information and ethno-populism (Shah, 2019; Jomo K.S., quoted
in Kow, 2019). The independence of judiciary also saw significant
In the Name of Covid-19: Democratic Reversal and the Return of
Authoritarian Malaysia under Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional 109
improvement since the late 1980s (Freedom House, 2020), while the
role of the Parliament was being revived from a mere rubber-stamp
institution (Mauzy, 2013) through several changes towards reforms and
democratic practices (Reuters, 2019). Nevertheless, as indicative to its
nature as a semi-replacement regime, PH displayed a combination of
old order elite (who dominantly control the government) and reformists,
making changes and continuity of policies and practices of the previous
regime. Instead, they dynamically evolved from a substantially hybrid
regime (Case 2019) to a weak democracy.
As a result of the short-sighted and loose coalition, PH’s integrity
as the ruling government went unresolved since the early phase of
its administration. UMNO’s splinter party, the Malaysian United
Indigenous Party or Bersatu, led by Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin
Yassin dominated key positions in the government—Mahathir held
the prime minister’s office while Muhyiddin held the home minister’s
office. Mahathir made full use of his prerogative as the prime minister
to appoint a majority of Bersatu MPs in his cabinet although his party
won only 13 seats out of the 113 seats PH won in the 2018 election. His
skilful manoeuvre had placed important checks against the influence
of the larger reformer groups particularly from the People’s Justice
Party (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) both in the ruling
coalition and the government. Nevertheless, the reformers constituted
a large majority in the coalition and were pushing for a more equitable
form of coalition. When Anwar Ibrahim was pardoned and released
from the prison soon after PH’s triumph in the general election, allies
within PH, particularly Bersatu, became increasingly uncomfortable
(Abdullah, 2019). After 22 months in power, Bersatu initiated a self-
coup with the support from the opposition parties through the palace,
with Muhyiddin’s faction came out as the victor.
The coup happened in late February 2020, when the first wave of the
Covid-19 pandemic hit Malaysia and the world. Muhyiddin’s coalition
government, later known as the Perikatan National (National Alliance,
PN), faced several challenges from Anwar’s PH and the Mahathir’s
faction since the inception of the new government as they both believed
that Muhyiddin did not have the majority support from the MPs. Instead
of proving the legitimacy of his government, Muhyiddin strategically
manipulated democratic institutions and procedures, seeking popular
legitimacy by systematically constraining freedoms and rights by

blanketing them under policies to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on the above premises, this paper seeks to highlight the
sudden return of authoritarianism in Malaysia, through various
manoeuvres by Muhyiddin’s PN government in consolidating his
powers and constraining the challenges to the regime’s survival under
the pretext of combating the pandemic. As it was a government with
less legal-rational mandate, but more of a traditional one (Welsh,
2021), its policies in responding to the Covid-19 were crucial for the
regime to obtain popular public approval. As indicated in the last three
general elections in Malaysia (2008, 2013 and 2018) and the change of
governments, the voters are now more informed and critical towards
those in power, while party-identification is on a downward trend to
an incremental size of rational voter in the country (Ostwald, 2019).
In addition to that, the PN government had to confront the legacy from
PH, particularly its tolerance with political criticisms and the restoration
of an independent judiciary. Despite the return of authoritarianism
in Malaysia under Muhyiddin’s PN, particularly through executive
aggrandizement (Thompson, 2021), political developments in Malaysia
since 2008 had arguably set up some check and balance mechanisms on
the political system to prevent it from turning into a full authoritarian
regime (Nadzri, 2018), despite still hovering in the grey area of a “hybrid
regime” category albeit skewed to an autocracy (Lemiere, 2021).
The Trappings of a Hybrid Regime in Malaysia
Malaysia is often cited as one of the prime references of a hybrid regime
in most scholarly discussions on political system (Levitsky & Way,
2002). A hybrid regime is neither fully democratic nor fully authoritarian
(Gervasoni, 2018). The two forces of regime i.e. transformation—
democratisation and autocracy dynamically co-exist on every level of
the political system and compete with each other to construct a new
reality, a category, or a system. In contrast to absolute monarchy,
dictatorship, or totalitarianism, hybrid regimes are not fundamentally
sustained by forces of traditional institutions such as the military junta
or a police state, instead it is maintained through skilful manipulation
of new democratic institutions and processes such as elections or
legislative, judiciary, and executive power (Case, 2020). Additionally,
as noted by Ekman (2009, p. 8), “hybrid regimes… are not poorly

functioning democracies but new forms of authoritarian regimes”.
The British’s Anglo-Malay Working Committee in 1946 - involving
the British officials in Malaya, UMNO leaders, and representatives
of the Malay Rulers (Wah, 1973) – ushered a new political system
for an independent Malaya which had led to the establishment of a
parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarchy and federal
state in 1957 (Milner, 1991). The 1957 Federal Constitution of Malaya,
later Malaysia in 1963, integrated and combined various interests
within its society and territory which were not only significantly
different but were opposing one another (Fong, 2016). The power of
the traditional authority is limited with its parliamentary democracy but
the Malays are still holding substantive residual powers. The Malays
are conferred special rights vis-à-vis the recognised legitimate interests
over other communities (Stockwell, 1976; Andaya & Andaya, 1982).
Citizenry rights and freedoms are also enshrined in the constitution
along with the operatives of the branches of government (the separation
of powers between the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary), and
demarcated jurisdiction between the federal and state governments.
Constitutionally, national elections must be held once every five years
and all Malaysian citizens above twenty-one years old are eligible to
vote (Ufen, 2009).
Rather than allowing Malaya to freely self-determine on their
own, there was an agenda to preserve the British interests in Malaya,
particularly its economic control over various industries; thus, alliance
with conformist elites was sought. As a result, Malay aristocrats and
administrative officers who largely worked for the colonial government
enjoyed a widening political space at the expense of radical and left-
leaning leaders who were banned from politics since 1948. Chandra
Muzaffar (2020) referred to the groups as the “Malay administocrats.”
The political control over the left-leaning group, the pragmatic pact
between UMNO-MCA-MIC (which later formed the Alliance coalition),
and identity politics championed by the UMNO/Alliance substantially
contributed to its landslide victory in the first general election held in
1955. This victory for UMNO/Alliance became the first independent
Malayan government in 1957. While the Alliance adopted a multiparty
model to power, the political ends of the UMNO/Malay administocrats
did not fully accept democracy, but rather to hold onto state power in
achieving sectoral and party interests in the name of religion (Islam),

the nation (Malay), and the state (Tanah Melayu).
Political oppressions and later manipulations were used to cripple
dissidents, while weakened institutional democratic checks, and election
gerrymandering largely contributed to UMNO’s hegemony for more than
six decades until the 2018 General Election. Nevertheless, the character
of the political system was not entirely static or plainly moving towards
authoritarianism per se. It was still very much dynamic in nature with
a lot of new challenges of democratisation to UMNO’s autocratisation
projects at various political levels, largely brought by the forces of
modernisation and globalisation. In 1984, Mahathir’s BN administration
attempted to tighten its grip over the mass media by enacting the
Printing Presses and Publications Act as his regime’s response against
media literacy and burgeoning size of working and middle class. The
move was substantially effective and most of the media in Malaysia
were considered as propaganda tools in regime perpetuation until late
1990s. The arrival of internet technology, however, came about at the
same time as the major split in UMNO/BN (Anwar was side-lined from
UMNO which gave birth to PKR), which opened up some new sites
of resistance, political contestation and ‘new media’ although Mahathir
had responded by enacting another draconian law – the Communication
and Multimedia Act in 1998. Throughout the history of post-colonial
Malaysia, political competition remains vibrant albeit with the said
moves of “authoritarian innovations” (Dettman, 2020) to the extent that
the system is considered as “competitive authoritarianism” (Levitsky &
Way, 2002). The opposition bloc managed to win a few regional states
repeatedly since the 1959 general election, and won popular votes in the
2013 general election before ultimately ousting UMNO/BN in the 2018
general election.
The above illustrations were a direct application from Schedler
(2009: 329) idea on how the autocrats are confronted with the challenge
of survival, vertically and horizontally. Autocrats in the hybrid
regime of Malaysia also faced “challenge of governance” when they
had to “secure their ability to power” (Schedler 2009: 326) based
on the recognised policy demands domestically and internationally
particularly by introducing new, or reforming or repealing the existing
rules and organisations without significantly alter the regime character
or allow those rules and organisations to place real democratic checks
on the autocrats. Although such moves might probably help autocrats

in maintaining their regime relevancy, the establishment of new
organisations and rules might possibly pose a source of threat to the regime
continuation (Schedler 2009: 339). In contrast to Schedler’s account,
this paper contends that the challenge of governance for Muhyiddin’s
PN was not essentially institutional, but rather performance-based. The
state’s institutions under Muhyiddin’s administration, as explored later
in this paper, helped to sustain the new regime rather than subverting it.
Welsh (2021) argues that there are three types of political legitimacy
in the hybrid regimes of Malaysia, namely; the traditional, legal-
rational, and performance-based. This could be seen as a synthesis of
concept of authority by Max Weber (Spencer, 1970), and Pepinsky’s
(2009) account on the relations between performance (economic) and
authoritarian regimes stability. Arguably, those are not “types” but
rather constitute important elements or components for authoritarian
governance or mandate in Malaysia. This is because having only one, or
even two, of the components is not always sustainable. The traditional
legitimacy exists when the regime is dominated by the Malay-Muslim,
championing the agenda of Malay supremacy and protecting its
interests in relevant government institutions. The legal-rational aspect
comes into discussion when the regime is capable of securing a win
at a national election. The performance-based mandate, as its name
suggests, is achieved through effective policy and decision making in
bringing about progress in the state, particularly economic growth. The
durability of the BN regime for six decades was due to the fact that
they scored well in all components of those mandates before declining
in its performance since Abdullah Badawi’s leadership. On the other
hand, PH is seen lacking in the traditional and its performance was also
circumscribed.
The PN did not come to power on a legal-rational basis. It has neither
win a national election nor established through a legislative procedure,
but its mandate to govern essentially came from a traditional legitimacy
through a royal endorsement and it was strengthened with the fact
that PN is mostly comprised of conservative Malay-Muslim leaders.
Nevertheless, as argued above, having only one of the components in
the political mandate was not sustainable in the long run, even for a
hybrid regime in Malaysia. Although the Covid-19 pandemic allowed
PN to subvert checks and balances horizontally (particularly from
the parliament) and vertically (especially the civic groups) through

politicisation and skilful manoeuvres, thus helping the PN’s regime
survival, it also posed a challenge of governance to the regime. The
political survival of PN depends on how well the government can
effectively manage the pandemic and its repercussions in the short run,
which will impact its legal-rational basis (through confidence vote or
elections) or traditional mandate in the long run.
Bersatu Clinging onto Power in Putrajaya: From Pakatan
Harapan to Perikatan Nasional
The 2020 ‘auto coup’ was considered by Bersatu and its allies since
the early phase of PH administration as one of the means to cling on
to power (Hilman 2020: interview). If the media regarded the self-
coup as the “Sheraton Move”, Bersatu and its allies perceived it as “the
right move” (langkah kanan) (Hilman 2020: interview). UMNO and
opposition leaders were invited to defect to Bersatu when PH captured
Putrajaya in May 2018. Due to the pressure from criminal investigations,
continuation of unequal allocations to the opposition in contrast to the
government MPs, and political economic rewards, Bersatu has managed
to double its number of MPs to 26 in just a year through the practice of
party hopping (Umavati 2021).
As the promised of the transfer of power after two years from
Mahathir to Anwar was approaching, Bersatu and its allies brokered
new alliances with the opposition parties, which had not only frustrated
Anwar’s rise to power, but more importantly, it was engineered to keep
its governing position, even at the cost of breaching the 2018 GE’s
mandate. The power brokerage was successful, albeit more dramatic in
reality where Bersatu managed to hold its grip on the pinnacle of power
in Putrajaya. On the other hand, Mahathir’s faction was side-lined and
eventually expelled from the party by the groups led by the Bersatu’s
president Muhyiddin Yassin during the process of the eventful power
transition in late February 2020, which was permitted by the Malaysian
structure and the practice of a hybrid regime (Levitsky & Way, 2002).
The new administration, now known as the Perikatan Nasional
(National Alliance, PN), headed by Muhyiddin was a coalitional
government consisted of five main parties –Muhyiddin’s Bersatu,
PAS, UMNO/BN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (the Sarawak Parties
Alliance, GPS), and a faction of 10 MPs from PKR led by Azmin Ali.
The government was dubbed by many, and in fact identified itself, as a

Malay-Muslim government, due to the identities of most of its MPs and
the political ideologies of the aforementioned parties. Shamsul (2020)
considered their collaboration in PN as political alignments amongst
leaders who share relatively similar idea of nations-of-intent, a vision of
Malaysia as a nation at the core of Malay-Muslim centrality. The power
transition was carried out in the palace, widely seen as a new political
innovation allowed by the Malaysian courts since 2010. However, the
model of a ‘Malay-Muslim’ government itself is not in parallel with
ethnically and regionally diverse social composition in Malaysia. Such
a model had been disregarded by the previous governments, from the
Alliance to PH because it would disrupt the political stability of the
ruling party culturally, and also politically where a comfortable majority
will be difficult to achieve.
The coup against PH marked the return of the old authoritarian
order. Nevertheless, as with other authoritarian governments, the PN was
confronted with two key political challenges of its existence: challenges
of survival and governance (Schedler, 2009). Apart from the support of
the palace, the PN government was ‘blessed’ with the outbreak of the
Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia. These two advantages, however, were
not utilised by PN in improving its political support particularly on legal
rational mandate or the regime’s performance, on the contrary, these
were exploited as an easy way to stay in power.
The Perikatan National’s Challenge of Survival
The ultimate challenge of PN’s survival is largely beholden in the
parliament. The government was neither democratically elected by the
electorate, nor voted in by the parliamentarians. It was formed based on
fickle statutory declarations (SDs) among Members of the Parliament,
presented by their respective party leaders to the palace with uncertainty
and clarity. The SD-style governmental change brokered directly within
the palace is a rather new authoritarian innovation (Dettman, 2020),
introduced during the Najib era in manoeuvring the 2009 coup in
Perak in, whereby the conventional legislative procedure for vote of
confidence was side-lined (Muhamad Nadzri, 2020).
The issue of uncertainty multiplied as the support or opposition to
the PN government were increasingly based on individual MPs, rather
than their respective parties. Consequently, the opposition continued to
pressure the government to prove its majority in the parliament. Despite

having a razor-thin majority, PN preferred to avoid taking any risks
of being toppled from the vote of confidence (The Economist, 2020).
Hence, a number of political manoeuvres were made to circumscribe
the power of the institution, mostly in the name of Covid-19,
particularly in checking over the government’s legitimacy (and powers)
and accountability, while at the same time mobilise several moves to
increase the number of support from defections and thus strengthening
the ruling coalition (Azmil, 2020). From these observations, Muhyiddin
apparently adopted these four main strategies:
i. Burgeoning Payroll Vote and Co-Option
ii. Crippling the Legislature
iii. Centralisation of power
iv. Political persecution and abuse of state machineries
Burgeoning Payroll Vote and Co-Option

Bersatu may be a small party compared to the likes of UMNO/BN
or PKR, but their 2018’s victory with PH had enabled them to have
a direct and dominant control over access to state powers, especially
being part of the old establishment that enjoys support from the Malays
and their institutions in contrast to PKR and DAP. Bersatu was in a
dominant position during the coup, and they were in a better bargaining
position in influencing others to support the party to be the leading
ruling party. In order to get UMNO/BN and others to support them,
a gigantic cabinet-size was established during PN’s administration,
with more than 70 ministers and deputies (Azmil, 2021; Case, 2021).
Some ministries, like the Health Ministry and the Education Ministry,
have two deputies. Several political appointments in the Executive with
less certain responsibilities were made, such as the position of Prime
Minister’s Special Ambassador that comes with ministerial privileges.
PAS president and Marang MP, Abdul Hadi Awang, was appointed as
the Prime Minister’s Special Ambassador to the Middle East, a position
which is highly believed as “ceremonial” in nature (Fauzan, 2021).
Other MPs were appointed as chairpersons at various Government-
Linked Companies and Federal Agencies. Nevertheless, few UMNO
leaders were left out, like former deputy prime minister and UMNO
president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib
Abdul Razak, partly due to their ongoing court cases. They were also
not incorporated as a form of a check against their dominance to their
hegemonic position as top figures in UMNO. During Muhyiddin’s
administration, for example, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman’s
corruption charges were dropped. In contrast to Zahid and Najib, Musa
Aman is not only harmless to the ruling regime, but his influence in
Sabah is highly beneficial to the PN. Musa played a big role in allowing
PN to wrest control over Sabah from the Warisan-PH rule in July 2021.
This payroll vote strategy is essentially beneficial to the strengthening
of Bersatu with certain costs to UMNO (Wong, 2020). The political
coalition between UMNO and PAS which was formalised in 2019
was weakened when PAS prioritised its relations with Bersatu in PN
over the former. The shifting position made by PAS is understandable,
not only due to the fact that Bersatu was the main centre of power,
but being a smaller party of 18 MPs and previous experiences with
UMNO dominating its allies, PAS felt that Bersatu was a safer partner
for them although their relationship with UMNO is still desired if they
were to maintain their governing position. UMNO was split between
those supporting the party’s president, and those supporting the PN,
making Bersatu on the right track of achieving its original objective of
establishment: to be the dominant ‘Malay party’ by replacing UMNO.
Crippling the Legislature
The first parliamentary sitting was initially scheduled for 9 March 2020 by
the previous government, before the coup. It could be a good opportunity
for the new administration to obtain popular legitimacy. However, the
sitting was postponed to 18 May 2020 due to the nationwide lockdown
because of Covid-19. The 18 May 2020 parliamentary sitting was
confined to just a day sitting which only allowed for the Royal Address.
Consequently, the opposition proposal for a vote of no confidence
against Muhyiddin, which had been accepted by the then Speaker of the
House Mohamad Ariff Md Yusoff, was effectively frustrated.
Mohamad Ariff’s professionalism posed a threat to Muhyiddin’s PN
survival and in the July 2020 sitting. His impartiality was observable
when he disallowed a special parliamentary sitting for a motion of
confidence by Mahathir (the then interim Prime Minister) in late
February 2020 based on procedural grounds, and later accepted his
motion of vote of no confidence against Muhyiddin’s administration in
May 2020, which Muhyiddin skilfully responded with the one-day sitting
scheme (Mohsin, 2020). Mohamad Ariff also allowed the motion for
his removal as the Speaker of the Lower House by Muhyiddin without
any prejudice, and recuse himself during the passing of the motion in
the July 2020 sitting which led to his withdrawal (Ahmad Naqib, 2020).
Azhar Azizan Idrus, the former Election Commission chairman was
a newfound Muhyiddin’s ally. He was appointed as the new Speaker
and the motions for a vote of no confidence against Muhyiddin was
effectively buried despite several attempts by the opposition MPs to
table a private member’s bill (Shad Saleem, 2021; Veena Babulal &
Muhammad Yusri, 2020). In late 2020, Muhyiddin’s government was
once again inevitably placed in a precarious situation in the parliament,
when his administration needed to secure an approval for the 2021
National Budget. Later in September 2020, Anwar went public and
announced that he had the majority support of the MPs and was granted
audience with the Agong in mid-October 2020. Although the Palace
seemed unconvinced with Anwar’s claim of majority, Muhyiddin’s
administration immediately sought a royal approval for a declaration of
Emergency in the name of combating the Covid-19 pandemic about two
weeks later (Saleena, 2020). The proposal for “health emergency” was
ultimately rejected by the Agong because in his view, the current laws
were sufficient in responding to the pandemic. Muhyiddin’s government
survived the budget approval in the Parliament in November 2020, due
to a temporary change of mind among UMNO’s top leadership towards
Muhyiddin, after the Agong’s advice (New Straits Times, 2020).
In early January 2021, however, rumours were rife that UMNO
would retract its support for the PN. Two UMNO MPs from Machang
and Padang Rengas had openly withdrawn their support for Muhyiddin.
PN’s majority in the Dewan Rakyat was once again under threat and
Muhyiddin wasted no time in proposing an Emergency for the second
time to the Agong. In contrast to the Agong’s decision in October 2020,
a special meeting was called for the Conference of Rulers, before the
Agong granted Muhyiddin’s proposal to declare Emergency, citing his
duties as a constitutional monarchy (Case, 2021, p. 17).
The government’s avoidance of proper parliamentary sittings has
not only helped Muhyiddin’s administration to cling on power by
evading a vote of no confidence, but more importantly, it has effectively
crippled the legislative functions in Malaysian legal-political system
(Shad Saleem, 2021). Consequently, parliamentary checks and balances
which had progressed during the Pakatan years were halted or rather
regressed when the government avoided its parliamentary accountability
and responsibility, and the issue of the government’s mandate to rule
persisted. Although the executive’s avoidance for the parliamentary
sittings had brought about political stability, it was only temporary and
the crippling of the legislative functions arguably contributed to the mess
in the government handling of Covid-19. Muhyiddin’s government was
seen to have failed in managing the pandemic. When the Conference
of Rulers meeting was called in June 2021, the Agong and the Malay
Rulers decreed that the Emergency declaration did not address the
Covid-19 pandemic and rejected the proposal by Muhyiddin’s cabinet
to extend the Emergency beyond August 1, 2021, calling on the Federal
and State governments to reinstate the functions of the legislative bodies
immediately.
Centralisation of Power
Closely related to the above issue, the problem of power centralisation
has re-emerged under the PN whereby the legislative functions of the
parliament have been snatched and denied by the Executive particularly
through the introduction of Emergency Ordinance (Essential Powers)
2021. The EO was gazetted on 14 January 2021 under the conditions
allowed by the Proclamation of Emergency on 11 January 2021.
Despite the absence of any expressions for political constraints in the
proclamation, about half of the provisions in the EO were targeted
against the convening of the legislative bodies at the national and state
levels, and against the possibilities for holding elections (Case, 2021,
p. 19).
Therefore, once again, not only the lifeline of government was saved
by Covid-19 politics, but the parliamentary powers were snatched by the
Executive, thus avoiding the government from any legislative checks
and accountability and enabled the apparently minority government to
rule essentially at will, as long as the EO is still in order (Ostwald, 2022).
More emergency Ordinances were introduced in the following weeks,
including a political law ostensibly against fake news, resembling the
Anti-Fake News Law introduced by the Najib administration in 2015,
and a financial ordinance which allowed the government to use public
funds without the approval of the Parliament.
The Law Minister, Takiyuddin Hassan, once explicated the example

of the new fake news ordinance, ostensibly to control the spread of fake
news from anti-vaxxers, but also including “interpreting the emergency
to save the PN government” (Kini TV, 2021). The financial ordinance,
on the other hand, has allowed the government to extract hundred
billion of ringgits from the national coffers without any scrutiny from
the national legislature and transparency to the public, as an apparently
extraordinary budget in dealing with the diverse implications brought
by Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia (Lim, 2021b).
The above practice of centralisation of power amid the pandemic,
particularly the declaration of the Emergency and the introduction
of new ordinances, had suspended Muhyiddin administration from
its legal rational mandate—by blocking parliamentary scrutiny
(horizontal checks) and popular accountability (vertical checks)—but
solely resorted to the King’s authorisation (traditional mandate) and
its governing performance. Nonetheless, by doing so, the character of
the political system has significantly moved to a fuller authoritarianism
with essentially unfettered governmental powers (executive supremacy)
and tighter control over the nation’s political freedoms.
Political persecution and abuse of state machineries
Political persecution strategy, one of the BN-styled authoritarian
governance (Rodan, 2009), was brought back by the PN government.
Political persecution was employed to target certain leaders in the ruling
coalition as well (Case, 2021). Generally, there were three tactical
moves utilised by Muhyiddin’s PN:
a. Using the state’s enforcement agencies in charging or
intimidating the government’s opposition.
b. Practising differential treatments against the opposition
representatives.
c. Banning the registration of new political parties which are in
direct competition with Bersatu.
The police force, anti-corruption agency, Malaysian Commission of
Multimedia and Communications (MCMC) and the Attorney-General
Chambers were among the key agencies used by the Muhyiddin’s
administration in weakening and intimidating its opponents (Noore
& Habib, 2022). The criminal charges against Zahid were somewhat
inconsistent with the government’s decision to drop the corruption
charges against the influential former Chief Minister of Sabah Musa
Aman in June 2020. A number of opposition representatives were also
intimidated, including in petty issues such as pressing accountability for
the government in certain misdeeds. Former youth and sports minister
and Muar MP, Syed Saddiq was seen repetitively and continuously
harassed by various state agencies in forcing him to change his support
to Muhyiddin’s administration (Free Malaysia Today 2021). In March
2021, he was investigated for misusing Bersatu’s party fund, allegedly
in early 2020. He was later charged by the MACC in July 2021. Prior
to that, Saddiq was investigated by the police and the MCMC over his
remarks on social media condemning custodial death of A. Ganapathy
in a police lock-up (Camoens, 2021). Although these harassments failed
to force Saddiq to change his allegiance, it has effectively created fear
among the opposition members. A few MPs defected to PN when they
were investigated by the authorities including a former PH Minister and
PKR Vice President Xavier Jeyakumar (Firdaus 2021). Quoting former
Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador, “(Leaders) are power
crazy and ready to buy others and threaten them (if they refuse to be
bought). That is corruption” (Straits Times, 2021).
Differential treatments were made against the opposition-controlled
states, constituencies and their representatives (Malaysia Kini,
2020b; In combating the pandemic, the opposition-controlled states
like Selangor and Penang were, at first, not included in the national
coordination agency. It was after continuous pressure by the lawmakers
that the states were later included albeit with significant limitations. No
allocations were given to the opposition members until the mid of 2021
when the political stability of the ruling coalition worsened (Malaysia
Post, 2021). Most of the assistance given to the opposition-controlled
constituencies were channelled through various federal ministries and
respective parties. Facilities under the government ministries were used
by PN ministers in boosting political support in their constituencies. The
Minister of Higher Education for example, organised for a university
hospital in the Klang Valley to send their doctors and nurses to her
constituency hundreds of kilometres away for several days, to provide
vaccinations to her constituents (Astro Awani, 2021).
The split in the Bersatu in late February 2020 has eventually divided
the party into three groups. The biggest faction stayed with Muhyiddin
– the victor of the 2020 political coup. The main contender, Mahathir’s
faction with five MPs regrouped and established a new political
organisation, the Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang). The axed youth chief,
Syed Saddiq set up a new political party known as the Malaysian United
Democratic Union (MUDA). Both of these parties faced difficulty to
get their parties officially registered by the Registrar of Society (ROS)
which is under direct ministerial control of the Home Minister who is
also the secretary-general of Bersatu (Berita Harian, 2021; Lim, 2021).
It was only after a year that Mahathir’s Pejuang was registered in June
2021 through a court order.
Muhyiddin’s Challenge of Governance: Impacts of Covid-19 to the
New Regime
Unlike institutional challenges faced by other authoritarian states
impacted by modernisation, globalisation and democratisation, the
Muhyiddin administration’s challenge of governance was originally
more of its performance rather than institutional. The Covid-19
pandemic has necessitated many governments, including democracies,
to adopt more autocratic measures in dealing with its impacts. This
bodes well with the Muhyiddin administration, having weak control
over the confidence of the MPs in the parliament, in strengthening his
government and his party.
Despite the skilful manoeuvres, Muhyiddin’s performance in
dealing with the challenge of governance in combating the pandemic
has significantly deteriorated after six months in power (Case, 2020).
Mandated by the palace and traditional sentiments among the Malay
conservatives, Muhyiddin however, faced difficulties in strengthening
the support for his administration against the implications brought by
the pandemic in politics, the national economy, the health system and
education (Kurlantzick, 2021).
During the first six-months of PN rule, the executive power was
held by the professional state bureaucrats. The nature of relatively
conformist Malaysian society with less intervention by the political
executives to the bureaucracy enabled the state to effectively control the
first wave of pandemic by July 2020 (Case 2020). The national coffers,
arguably, were still sound, allowing the government to provide various
kinds of assistance to the people. As a result of that, Muhyiddin secured

high approval ratings from June to September 2020 when his policies
began to take effect.
Nevertheless, in ensuring the dominance of his group and party in
Malaysian politics, politics gradually took over practical and cautious
decisions in managing the political affairs during the pandemic. Soon
after successfully gaining control over Putrajaya, PN captured Johor,
Melaka and Kedah from defections, the coalition also collaborated with
Musa Aman in toppling the Warisan-PH government of Sabah. The
project was successful but it came with huge political costs. In contrast
to the other states captured by the PN, the victory in Sabah was more
dramatic as it was secured painstakingly through a fresh election in
September 2020 in the midst of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
The threat was deemed non-existent by the ambitious PN in
capturing Sabah to the extent that movements of people between Sabah
to the Peninsular were loose, apparently to allow easy access for the
PN ministers, leaders and its machineries to commute between the two
regions. As a result of the easing of movement restrictions, there was a
significant increase of Covid-19 cases reported in Sabah and as it went
sporadic, hundreds of cases started emerging throughout the country.
Prior to that, daily Covid-19 cases saw only two digits per day and it
increased by three digits right after the election and it went to more
than four digits by the end of 2020. Since then, more than one million
people have been infected by Covid-19 in July 2021 with more than
12,000 deaths. The Covid-19 management in Malaysia was considered
one of the world’s best in mid-2020, but later became among the worst
in mid-2021.
Consequently, the PN government gradually lost support from the
people, and also from the palace. As indicated from the royal decrees,
PN’s political lifeline was prolonged during the first 12-months in
Putrajaya. The royal decree that approved the Emergency declaration
reminded all politicians not to play with politics during the pandemic,
effectively targeting opposition critics. However, Muhyiddin’s
administration totally misread the conditional support from the palace.
The ‘royal vaccine’ which appears to protect the PN government
from the ‘opposition virus’ made the government believe that it would
be immune to the critics at no costs. As a result of that, the royals were
partly criticised for its role in the coup and the gradual weakening of
the parliament. The Agong was perceived to be in favour of the PN
government constitutionally or personally (The Guardian, 2020).
Nevertheless, the poor performance of the PN government in managing
the pandemic and the economy—despite political manoeuvres
designed to enable the government to deal with threats of Covid-19
more effectively—led to the Agong and the Malay Rulers showing
displeasure and disappointment towards the PN government in mid-
2021. Due to the worsening situation of Covid-19, economic downturn
and unemployment, the King seemed to be no longer wanted to be
associated with the government, or seen to be responsible for the mess
created by the PN government.
Although the royal vaccine initially saved the government from
being toppled in the parliament, it has inadvertently weakened its
accountability and also the possibility for cooperating with the
opposition. Coupled with an overzealous project to increase the
dominance of Bersatu, it heightened the political competition between
the PN against the opposition parties, and also within the ruling alliance.
These instances have distracted PN from the fundamental issues of
governance. It was not long before a major crack occurred within the
PN when parties within the coalition competed against each other in
the Sabah State Election in September 2020, only after six months in
power. Later in December 2020, UMNO staged an internal coup against
the Bersatu/PN leadership in the state of Perak, through a vote of
confidence procedure in the state assembly. Bersatu’s deputy president
Ahmad Faizal Azumu who was the Menteri Besar of Perak became the
casualty from the internal coup by UMNO.
Without parliamentary scrutiny and almost absolute power in
governance, the PN government gradually became less accountable
but also less efficient. Missed opportunities of bipartisan cooperation
and collaboration through parliamentary sittings were forsaken. Prime
Minister Muhyiddin Yassin gave very few media interviews during his
first-year tenure and they were usually in the form of a top-down national
address, directly avoiding any questions and concerns from the public.
Muhyiddin’s government slowly became dissociated with the ground
which eventually contributed in making unpopular and unrealistic
policy decisions. Apart from a number of reversals in policies, there
were also ill-conceived policies such as lockdowns and the reopening
of schools and universities in the early 2021 in the midst of the rising
Covid-19 cases.
The Push Against Autocratisation
Despite the pandemic and growing autocratisation during the
Muhyiddin’s years, the push against authoritarianism continues, albeit
with greater constraint. There are, at least, four sources of resistance
against Muhyiddin’s autocratisation; namely the social media, the
opposition, the civil society organisations and surprisingly, the
constitutional monarchs.
Social media has been a platform of effective oppositional politics
in Malaysia since 2010. It has significantly contributed to the fall of
BN as well as the PH, in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Under the PN
rule, although the more popular style of oppositional politics of street
demonstrations were constrained by the pandemic, the politics in the
social media is very much sustained. In fact, despite the PN government
being considerably popular during the first six-month in power, most of
its policies were passive. While the government needed popular support
and lacked a clear majority in the Parliament, it was responsive and
reactive to the trends on social media. As a result, the government became
increasingly reactive to the popular demands and started modifying or
changing its policies to appease the public (The Star, 2020).
Nevertheless, as discussed in the previous section, the
Muhyiddin administration apparently gave more focus on the regime’s
survival rather than the challenges of governance, perhaps due to the
poor judgments and miscalculations of his support from the people
and the monarchs. Gradually, the policies were self-serving interests
of the ruling elites rather than policy-based, including wresting power
from the opposition-controlled states (Kurlantzick, 2021). Unpopular
policies and poor management of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis led
to the calls for Muhyiddin’s resignation as the prime minister and the
administration was called ‘kerajaan gagal’ or failed government as
the people were increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the
government in handling the socio-economic issues (Victor, 2021).
PH too, was badly affected by the withdrawal of Bersatu from the
pact and defections of Azmin Ali’s faction in PKR. PH was further
weakened with disunity and being disorganised after the defections
although opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim enjoyed the biggest support

among them. The support, nevertheless, was not enough without
Mahathir’s faction, making both of them desperately finding a shortcut
to return to power, rather than focusing on re-building the opposition
pact. While Anwar made a secret pact with the UMNO’s president to
topple Muhyiddin (Maisarah, 2021), Mahathir used his reputation trying
to influence the palace to re-appoint him as an interim prime minister
in a war-like cabinet government (Hana, 2021). These challenges were
significant towards the PN government, pushing the latter to use extra-
legal measures as highlighted in the third section of this paper.
The civil society groups, like BERSIH 2.0, were under significant
constraints during the first year of PN in power. This was not only due to
the threats of the pandemic and the lockdowns, but also due to their more
diplomatic characters and tolerance to the previous PH government. The
group can be also seen trying to be more ‘civil’ with PN, by promoting
better policies for the political and electoral system through webinars, in
contrast to their aggressiveness against the BN government in the past
with large scale demonstrations. The expressive and aggressive civic
movements were assumed by new groups, mostly among youths. There
were at least two street protests in the past year, the first was held on 29
February 2020 in protest of the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as the
new prime minister and the second protest held on 31 July 2021, saw
1,000 people turning up in black shirts in Kuala Lumpur demanding for
Muhyiddin’s resignation (Hazlin, 2021).
The last source of resistance or opposition against authoritarianism
of the PN unexpectedly came from the monarchy. In reality, the support
of the monarchy to Muhyiddin’s administration was not as strong as it
may seem. The conditional support from the monarchy was dependent
on Muhyiddin’s performance and it is usually based on the majority
support from the Malay Rulers. Perhaps, by being the newest Sultan in
the Conference of Rulers, the Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Al-Mustafa
Billah Shah of Pahang is more diplomatic and consultative with his
fellow Malay Rulers. Many key decisions made by the King were
discussed with the Malay Rulers in the Conference of Rulers to seek
consensus. These include the decisions to select a new prime minister in
late February 2020 and the consideration for Muhyiddin’s first request
for a proclamation of Emergency later that year.
As Muhyiddin’s administration performed poorly despite the

Emergency in January 2021, the Agong gradually distanced himself
from the PN’s government and at the same time the Conference of
Rulers were also seen as more expressive against the PN government.
In June, the Agong and the Malay Rulers decreed that the Emergency
should not be extended after August 1, 2021 with the exception for the
state of Sarawak in which the state election is postponed until 2022.
The Agong and the Malay Rulers have also decreed that the legislatures
both at the state and federal levels must reconvene immediately to
debate on the Emergency Ordinances and policies related to Covid-19
management by the government. Muhyiddin was reluctant to reconvene
the Parliament as decreed by the King, risking his position should a
vote be allowed during the special sitting. The government convened
a week-long Special Sitting in the Parliament, only to appease the
King but eventually avoiding a debate and vote over the Emergency
Ordinances. The Agong was dismayed when the government announced
in the sitting that all Emergency Ordinances were revoked a few days
before the sitting in the Cabinet Meeting (Sarawak Report, 2021). The
relationship between the monarchy and Muhyiddin’s government turned
sour since mid-2021 due to the misstep of the government to revoke the
Emergency Ordinances without due diligence and proper procedure.
Conclusion
The Muhyiddin’s administration responses against the challenges
of survival has not only reversed the newly-found democratisation
opportunities (Huntington, 1993) in Malaysia, but recorded a new
autocratisation episode (Pelke & Croissant, 2021). The episode was
reflected by Malaysian political observers as “hybrid exceptionalism”
(Case, 2020), “democratic regression” (Azmil, 2020), and “democratic
backsliding” (Saleena, 2020) which is in line with the stance taken
by this paper and with international comparison such as the work by
Lurhmann and Rooney (2021).
Nevertheless, the political system during the Muhyiddin’s era was
still hovering in the hybrid topology although it was inclined towards
the authoritarian spectrum particularly through the significant reduction
of legislative powers through Emergency proclamation in early 2021.
His government still collapsed (in August 2021), however, indicating
that even a strong government with immense executive and legislative

powers is not totally immune from political pressures and accountability.
On the one hand, as per Pepinsky (2009) studies on Suharto’s
Indonesia (1968 to 1998) and Mahathir’s Malaysia (1981 to 2003), the
governments’ performance is crucial for maintaining the legitimacy of
an authoritarian regime, in contrast to legal-rational mandate such as
electoral support. On the other hand, some features of democracy are
arguably (and surprisingly) proven to be necessary for the maintenance
of a hybrid regime, particularly the mechanisms for imposing governing
accountability to the executive. In the case of Malaysia under Muhyiddin,
almost all of the mechanisms for political accountability, horizontally
from the Parliament and vertically from the people (the media and civic
groups) were fended-off, suspending the potential for co-governance
(with the Parliament and the oppositions) and essentially alienating the
government from its people, while at the same time over-relying on
(the conditional) royal and cultural support (traditional mandate). The
consequence is proven to be disastrous for Muhyiddin’s administration,
which continued to be over-focusing on the challenges for survival and
undermining the challenges of governance and the need to perform
competently.
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UKM/02/3].
Confirmation Bias among Adherents of Red

and Yellow Politics in Thailand
Norachit Jirasatthumb*
Phumsith Mahasuweerachai**
Atchara Sorasing***
Abstract: Disagreements between Thai partisans have manifested in the

competition between red and yellow shirts. This study aims to explore bias
of each partisan by employing the concept of confirmation bias. Experimental
treatments were divided according to how participants were exposed to an
information: (1) exposure to positive information about red politics, (2)
exposure to negative information about red politics, (4) exposure to positive
information about yellow politics, and (4) exposure to negative information
about yellow politics. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed
to identify the participants’ original political ideology and verify whether
their original beliefs changed or preserved after exposure to the experimental
information. The results revealed that there existed persistence of political traits
but not for all participants. There was also a decrease of political convictions
after some treatments.
Keywords: confirmation bias, red shirts, Thai politics, yellow shirts
Abstrak: Perselisihan faham bersifat partisan dalam politik Thailand dapat

dilihat dalam persaingan antara kumpulan baju merah dan kuning. Kajian ini
bertujuan untuk meneroka kecenderungan setiap partisan dengan menggunakan
konsep pengesahan kecenderungan (confirmation bias). Pelaksanaan kajian
* Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, Khon Kaen University, Thailand,

Email: norachitji@kku.ac.th (corresponding author)
** Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Khon Kaen University,
Thailand, Email: phumosu@gmail.com
*** Researcher, Faculty of Economics, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Email: atchara.ss@gmail.com
ini dibahagikan mengikut bagaimana peserta didedahkan kepada sesuatu

maklumat: (1) pendedahan kepada maklumat positif tentang politik merah, (2)
pendedahan kepada maklumat negatif tentang politik merah, (3) pendedahan
kepada maklumat positif tentang politik kuning, dan (4) pendedahan kepada
maklumat negatif tentang politik kuning. Analisis Komponen Utama (Principal
Component Analysis: PCA) digunakan untuk mengenal pasti ideologi politik
asal peserta dan mengesahkan sama ada kepercayaan asal mereka berubah atau
kekal selepas pendedahan kepada maklumat kajian. Keputusan menunjukkan
bahawa terdapat ciri-ciri politik yang berkekalan tetapi bukan untuk semua
peserta. Terdapat juga penurunan keyakinan politik selepas beberapa
pendedahan kepada maklumat kajian .
Kata Kunci: pengesahan kecenderungan, baju merah, politik Thai, baju kuning
Introduction
Political bias is deeply rooted in Thai society. This bias has manifested
in prolonged political unrest emanating from competition between two
political opposition groups – red shirts and yellow shirts. Each group
demands completely different political outcomes. Red shirts call for
a real democratic system in which their votes give them an effective
voice. In contrast, yellow shirts prefer military rule, mobilising in
frequent coup d’état to stabilise the political order. In the face of these
irreconcilable beliefs, this study focuses on exploring confirmation bias
among these opposing parties in their political attitudes.
The conflict between red and yellow politics evolved around Thaksin
Shinawatara, a wealthy businessman who was the 23rd prime minister of
Thailand. His administration resonated two very opposite reactions. On
the one hand, he was so much admired by rural masses from his policies
targeting redistributive measures. On the other hand, there were people
considering that Thaksin’s government was corrupt. Thaksin’s policies
were nothing but a populist agenda using government budget to serve his
personal aim and cronyist network in consolidating their political power
and accumulating a greater wealth (McCargo & Patthamanand, 2005).
These people who shared hatred towards Thaksin formed a movement
called People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) or known as yellow
shirts. They wore yellow shirts to show their reverence to the King and
constantly accused Thaksin of disrespect to the throne. A breaking point
and Yellow Politics in Thailand 137
came at the sale of Thaksin’s own company (Shin Corp) to Temasek (the
Singaporean government’s investment) with tax exemption in January
2006. This event sparked public outcry. The PAD rallied a huge street
demonstration demanding the removal of Thaksin government and the
King to appoint his own prime minister. The protest was followed by a
military coup in September 2006. Thaksin was ousted from premiership
and still in exile. The overthrow of elected government aroused
the movement of United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship
(UDD) or known as red shirts. The UDD contended that all unelected
governments subsequent to the coup were illegitimate and demanded a
political reform to diminish the power outside the realm of democratic
constitution. The antagonism between red and yellow shirts set out a
momentum of political upheaval whereby the country witnessed a series
of bloody street politics and government’s siege of protestors.1
Red and yellow shirts espouse different political worldviews. Red
shirts comprise rural people who benefitted from Thaksin’s populist
policies (e.g., the Village Fund Program and 30-baht medical treatments)
(Charoenmuang, 2016) and expand urban-based people from different
professions (students, government officials, workers, etc.) (Satitniramai,
2010). Generally, red shirts opposed the coup, and defined themselves
against conservative forces (high-level government officials, military,
and royalist elites). They considered that these conservative elites
underpinned a hierarchical system of social classes and undemocratic
means that justified an injustice and oppression (Winichakul, 2008).
On the other hand, yellow shirts were composed of conservative-
royalist elites (Connors & Hewison, 2008). They perceived the Thaksin
Government representing a capitalist state power with an attempt to
establish a democratic authoritarianism (Tejapira, 2006). Therefore,
they were discontented with Thaksin regime and those who rooted for
Thaksin and his successions. These elites dismissed Thaksin because
his grassroots populist policies and CEO-type administrative style
undermined their political legitimation (Pye & Schaffar, 2008). It should
come as no surprise that yellow shirts’ political stance was to restore a
1 The country experienced several major protests, for example, the PAD
invading and shutting down main airports (November and December 2008),
the bloody protest of Red Shirts to force a new election (March-May 2010), and
protests against a proposed amnesty bill that could return Thaksin to Thailand
of Yingluck government (Thaksin’s sister) (October 2013 – May 2014).
political order rather than transforming the social structure in favour of

unprivileged classes.
Studies have verified that this political polarisation between the two
groups stems from factors including their disagreement over the return
of Thaksin to a political role (Manachotphong, 2014; Sukamongkol,
2014; Siha, 2017), different democratic perceptions (Keawklieng,
2017), and divergence on the legitimate method for selecting a national
leader (Chaisukosol, 2012). These studies are useful in grounding the
characteristics that define red and yellow politics but have not yet
evaluated the level of adherence of both partisans, which could increase,
or decrease under a particular situation. This specific inquiry needs to
test confirmation bias within the political attitudes of each party.
Therefore, this study extends the frontier of research on Thai politics
by introducing a behavioural economic approach for the experimental
evaluation of political bias among both red and yellow shirts. The main
objective is to verify political bias among red and yellow shirts by using
an intervention. In this intervention, participants were presented with
political information and subsequently evaluated on whether they react
to such information by confirming more or disconfirming their pre-
existing beliefs.
Conceptual Framework
The concept of confirmation bias serves as the main framework here.
This behavioural economic concept contrasts with the mainstream
economic representation of rational human agency, whereby economic
agents are expected to always make decisions on how to act or what
to believe by thoroughly considering all available and necessary
information. In contrast, confirmation bias refers to a cognitive bias
whereby people tend to be selective in gathering, interpreting, and
recalling information. When people would like some concept to be true,
they tend to deliberately seek data that are likely to confirm the beliefs
they currently hold (Kahneman, 2011). In this sense, people form their
beliefs based on the influence of bias and do not change these beliefs
easily. They embrace only information consistent with their view and
reject or neglect information that casts doubt on or undermine their
view. Confirmation bias suggests that people’s thinking processes are
not objective.
Confirmation bias can explain well how people hold their political
preferences. Political beliefs and ideologies are inherently subjective
and reflect selective exposure (Klapper, 1960). That is, people who have
a strong preference for a certain political party are likely to refrain from
communicating with those who oppose their beliefs. In other words,
people may feel more comfortable exchanging information with political
allies, not foes. Moreover, people only pay attention to what seems to be
consistent with their political attitudes. Most importantly, confirmation
bias leads people to selectively interpret information in relation to what
they like and to have a tendency to forget undesirable information.
Thus, confirmation bias suggests that people are not passive recipients
of political information; rather, they evaluate information with reference
to their convictions on certain political issues.
Social and political convictions appear in the classical literature
testing confirmation bias. Lord et al. (1979) performed an experiment
showing that both proponents and opponents of capital punishment
became more polarised when asked to evaluate information challenging
their existing attitudes. An experiment by Anderson et al. (1980) found
that research participants tended to cling to their beliefs about either
a negative or a positive relationship between risk-taking and success
among firefighters despite the absence of direct evidence to confirm
their view. Research on gun control by Taber & Lodge (2006) affirmed
that participants’ processing of relevant information is affected by
confirmation bias. When given arguments in support of and against
gun control, they actively chose only non-threatening sources to
support their prior beliefs. This behaviour of seeking out confirmatory
evidence was traced to the neuro level in Westen et al. (2006). Neuro-
imaging evidence showed that subjects had more neural activity related
to motivated reasoning when evaluating speeches by committed co-
partisans than when evaluating those of opposing candidates. This
finding is quite consistent with that of Westerwick et al. (2017), who
found that research subjects’ information processing reflected selective
exposure: they assessed only information corresponding with their
existing beliefs, regardless of the quality of the information.
It can be seen that political bias is observable in many circumstances.
However, there are no studies applying the confirmation bias framework
to a social context in which an intense political conflict exists. Therefore,
we apply this framework to the Thai context to see whether research
participants’ attitudes towards their preferred ideology (either yellow

or red) change when they are exposed to information that confirms or
contrasts with their original belief.
Methodology
Key Working Hypotheses
This study aims to test confirmation bias among research participants
who are either red or yellow shirts. The study hypothesises that adherents
to both ideologies display political bias in two senses. First, they tend
to confirm their attitudes after exposure to political information that is
consistent with their original beliefs. Second, exposure to information
that opposes their politics does not undermine their leanings. That is,
participants are likely to continue to hold the same political beliefs.
Experimental Design
This study set up an experiment to test the above hypotheses. This
experiment used political information as an intervention to explore how
red-shirt and yellow-shirt participants respond to such information. We
divided the research participants into four treatment groups. The type of
information the participants received classified each group. The rationale
for this classification was to allow comparative discussion of the results
on confirmation bias among the groups. Figure 1 presents the four
treatment groups in this study. The first group consists of participants who
received positive information about red politics (RED+). The second
group comprises participants who received negative information about
red politics (RED-). The third group includes participants who received
positive information about yellow politics (YELLOW+). The fourth
group is made up of the participants who received negative information
about yellow politics (YELLOW-). The numbers of participants in each
group were 91, 103, 115, and 83, respectively.
Figure 1 Treatment groups in the study
Each treatment group was subjected to an identical experimental

procedure. Figure 2 shows the design of this experiment. Firstly, the
political ideology of each participant was identified. This identification
revealed how many participants in each group held red and yellow
ideologies. The experiment next presented the participants with political
information. They were assigned to read information that varied
according to their treatment group. This intervention is critical for
testing the persistence of political bias. Finally, political ideology was
assessed again to explore the change or perseverance of participants’
political adherence in each treatment group.
Figure 2 Experimental design
Data Analysis
A three-part questionnaire was designed in relation to the experiment
and classification of the treatment groups. The first part asks about
demographic data. The second part lists 13 questions on their opinions
on political issues, including the Thai electoral system, coup d’état, the
legitimacy of political movements, the character of political leaders,
etc. Participants responded to each question with ratings on a Likert
scale with 5 levels (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly
disagree). The third part of the questionnaire presents information about
Thai politics. It is a short article covering major ideological points,
including political regime, characteristics of political leaders, and
political and social change. There are four types of information referring
to four political orientations: (a) a positive attitude towards red shirts,
(b) a negative attitude towards red shirts, (c) a positive attitude towards
yellow shirts, and (d) a negative attitude towards yellow shirts. The
drafting of these articles required assistance from a political specialist to
validate the accuracy of the information. The participants were asked to
read this information and complete the second part of the questionnaire
again.
PCA was then conducted on the data from the questionnaires. We

used the PCA technique to extract information on participants’ primary
political orientation. This method drew on Manachotphong (2014),
but we made a modification by adding an experimental procedure to
explore the different outcomes among the treatment groups. The results
from a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (0.625) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity
(significance level of 0.000) indicated that the questionnaire variables
were suitable for use with PCA to detect structures. In this study,
PCA was performed on the data from the questionnaires to extract
the classification of the principal components in terms of political
ideologies. A main measurement here was the factor loadings. When
a particular question had a high factor loading (above 0.5) with respect
to a specific component, this question was included as a sub-element,
while those questions with values lower than 0.5 were not taken into
account. In other words, PCA detected which questions were related to
each other and able to be organised under a particular political ideology.
The researchers interpreted and named each group according to the
details of its sub-elements.
It should be noted that there were two layers of analysis. The first
layer was a component analysis with respect to the total number of
participants to inform the general categorisation of political ideologies.
The second layer was an analysis within each treatment group to
compare the weight of factor loadings before and after the participants
were manipulated with the information intervention.
Data Collection
This study recruited a total of 392 research participants. They all resided
in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Data collection was not completed all at once.
The researchers gradually collected approximately 30-50 participants
at a time until reaching the desired number. Every experiment was
conducted in a quiet room without any distraction. There was space
between the participants’ desks so that they were able to perform the
assigned tasks individually. The participants were informed about the
details of the experiment and instructed to respond to the first and second
parts of the questionnaire. This step took approximately 40 minutes.
Then, the participants were given a sheet of political information (the
third part of the questionnaire) and asked to read it within 20 minutes.
After reading the information, the participants were instructed to redo
the questionnaire items on political attitudes (the second part of the

questionnaire). This process took 30 minutes. It should be noted that
some participants withdrew from the experiment after recruitment. This
resulted in an uneven number of participants among treatment groups.
Results and Discussion
General Characteristics of Participants
The experimental setting requires that participants in each treatment
group have similar characteristics to clearly evaluate the intervention
outcomes. Tables 1-6 show the similarity among the treatment groups
in terms of gender, age, civil status, occupation, education, and income.
Most participants in each group were female, single, and between 20
and 29 years of age. More than 40% of the participants in each treatment
group had incomes in the range of 5,000–15,000 baht (1 US dollar is
approximately 30 baht). The proportions of participants with and
without an undergraduate degree are similar. The participants in each
group are mostly college students and work in the public sector
Table 1 Gender in each treatment group
Male Female
Total
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
RED+ 21 23% 70 77% 91
RED- 34 33% 69 67% 103
YELLOW+ 37 32% 78 68% 115
YELLOW- 33 40% 50 60% 83
Total 125 32% 267 68% 392
Table 2 Civil status in each treatment group
144
RED+ RED- YELLOW+ YELLOW-

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Single 57 63% 69 67% 81 70% 47 57%
Married 27 30% 29 28% 26 23% 35 42%
Widowed/Divorced 6 7% 4 4% 8 7% 0 0%
Separated 1 1% 1 1% 0 0% 1 1%
Total 91 100% 103 100% 115 100% 83 100%
Table 3 Age in each treatment group

Less than 19 years 6 7% 11 11% 24 21% 9 11%
20-29 years 48 53% 54 52% 53 46% 31 37%
30-39 years 5 5% 7 7% 4 3% 6 7%
40-49 years 12 13% 13 13% 19 17% 18 22%
50-59 years 13 14% 12 12% 11 10% 16 19%
More than 60 years 7 8% 6 6% 4 3% 3 4%
Total 91 100% 103 100% 115 100% 83 100%
Intellectual Discourse, Vol 30, No 1, 2022
Table 4 Monthly income in each treatment group
Less than 5,000 baht 6 7% 9 9% 11 10% 6 7%
5,001 - 15,000 baht 46 51% 51 50% 50 43% 34 41%
15,001 - 25,000 baht 17 19% 13 13% 15 13% 13 16%
25,001 – 35,000 baht 8 9% 12 12% 17 15% 11 13%

and Yellow Politics in Thailand
35,001 – 45,000 baht 4 4% 6 6% 10 9% 6 7%
45,001 – 55,000 baht 6 7% 6 6% 2 2% 8 10%
More than 55,001 baht 4 4% 4 4% 10 9% 5 6%

Prefer not to answer 0 0% 2 2% 0 0% 0 0%
Total 91 100% 103 100% 115 100% 83 100%

145
146
Table 5 Education in each treatment group

Lower than 39 43% 44 43% 63 55% 37 45%
undergraduate level
Undergraduate level 52 57% 49 48% 49 43% 40 48%
Higher than 0 0% 10 10% 3 3% 6 7%

undergraduate level
Total 91 100% 103 100% 115 100% 83 100%
Table 6 Occupation in each treatment group

Student/College 45 49% 54 52% 68 59% 33 40%
student
Public-sector employee 30 33% 36 35% 38 33% 37 45%
Private-sector 13 14% 10 10% 7 6% 12 14%

Employee/Business
owner
Unemployed 3 3% 3 3% 2 2% 1 1%
Total 91 100% 103 100% 115 100% 83 100%

Intellectual Discourse, Vol 30, No 1, 2022
General Political Ideologies of Participants

This section reports the general results on participants’ political
ideologies before the details of the experiment are elaborated in the
following sections. The results of PCA in Table 7 indicate that there are
4 principal components (comp.1-comp.4). Each component represents
a particular political ideology defined by the details of the sub-elements
(questions). Only the questions with factor loading values greater
than 0.5 are counted as sub-elements of a component. Component 1
represents the “red-democracy” ideology, which includes questions 1,
7, 10, and 11. There were 97 participants in this group. They believe
in electoral democracy and prefer a Thaksin premiership. Component
2 represents the “red-corruption” ideology, which includes questions
5 and 6. There were 102 participants in this group. Adherents of this
ideology tolerate corruption as long as politicians are able to run the
country. Component 3 represents the “yellow-conservative” ideology,
which includes questions 2, 3, and 4. There were 109 participants in this
group. They represent a conservative force that upholds the monarchy
and supports the political power established by the coup d’état.
Component 4 represents the “red-radical” ideology, which includes
questions 8, 9, and 12. There were 84 participants in this group. They
resent the illegitimate power of political elites and wish to eliminate the
patronage system. Note that it was not possible to include sub-element
no. 13 into any principal component.
Table 7 Principal components of political ideologies
Factor Loading
Questions
(Sub-elements) Comp. Comp. Comp. Comp.
1 2 3 4
1. The country should be run as a democratic 0.588
system where the power comes from the
people
2. Coups d’état solve political and social 0.665
unrest
3. Maintaining the existing structure of the 0.695
country’s administration creates stability
4. It is legitimate for a political movement to 0.694
seek to protect the monarchy
5. Vote-buying is acceptable as long as 0.774
politicians have the ability to manage the
country
6. Corruption among politicians is not related

to the country’s development and people’s 0.781
quality of life
7. Elections are the most suitable approach

0.663
for selecting a national leader
8. A political movement against the power of

0.531
political elites is justified
9. Authoritarian democracy is unacceptable

because of its dictatorial character and 0.821
interventions in independent commissions
10. The prime minister should be courageous,

assertive, and skilful in business, like Thaksin 0.656
Shinawatra
11. Promoting free trade encourages new

0.633
businesses and economic mobility
12. Nepotism and the patronage system

0.664
should be dismantled urgently
13. The government should compensate the

victims of the political protests of 2013-2014
Overall, there are 3 red ideologies to which 283 participants adhere

and 1 Yellow ideology to which 109 participants adhere. This result
suggests that in general, the participants are mostly on the red spectrum.
This result reflects the political reality of the Khon Kaen area, where
a 619,139-vote majority (from a total of 908,054 votes) in the 2011
general election went to the Pheu Thai Party (Election Commission
of Thailand, 2011). This party represented Thaksin’s nominee and red
politics.
Exploring Confirmation Bias within Each Treatment Group
This section gives an extensive discussion of political bias among the
treatment groups. The analysis approach used is again PCA. However,
instead of extracting the principal component from the total group of
participants, PCA extraction was performed with respect to the number of

participants in each treatment group. This method allows for comparison
of the experimental results between treatment groups. It is important to
note that when the principal component is extracted separately in this
way, the total numbers of participants in the red and yellow groups do
not necessarily have to match those in the previous results for general
political ideologies. However, the results in Table 8 still suggest that
the participants are mostly on the red spectrum. Additionally, PCA
extraction within each treatment group revealed a green group, who
are neither red nor yellow in their political leanings. The table shows
the change in the number of participants in the respective ideological
groups. After reading the information, the numbers of participants in the
red and yellow groups decrease, while the number in the green group
increases. The analysis of each treatment group is as follows.
Table 8 Cumulative number of participants in red, yellow, and green groups
Red Yellow Green Total
Before reading
275 87 30 392
information
After reading
261 61 70 392
information
Treatment Group: Red Positive (RED+)

This group consists of 91 participants who received positive information
about red politics. PCA extraction revealed that there were 5 principal
components in this group: red politics defined by sub-elements 1, 7, 10,
and 11; red politics defined by sub-elements 5 and 6; red politics defined
by sub-elements 9 and 13; yellow politics defined by sub-elements 2
and 3; and yellow politics defined by sub-element 4. Table 9 indicates
the numbers and factor loading values of participants who adhere to
these ideologies. There are 58 participants on the red-shirt spectrum
and 33 participants on the yellow-shirt spectrum. The factor loading
values here are an average of those for all sub-elements in the respective
spectrum. The factor loading values for the red and yellow ideologies
are 1.066 and 1.072, respectively.
Table 9 Results for treatment group RED+
Red Yellow Green
factor factor factor

frequency frequency frequency
loading loading loading
Before reading 58 1.066 33 1.072 0 -
information
After reading 56 1.147 15 1.092 20 0.976
information
After reading the information, PCA extraction revealed that the

same sub-elements were still dominant among the participants who
adhered to a red ideology. The results on Table 9 show that their number
slightly decreases from 58 to 56, and the factor loading value increases
from 1.066 to 1.147. This result could be interpreted as the participants
on the red spectrum having more conviction in their original beliefs
after reading information that favours their pre-existing beliefs. On the
other hand, the number of participants on the yellow spectrum shows a
remarkable drop from 33 to 15 after exposure to this information. It is
possible that exposure to RED+ information decreased their adherence
to yellow politics. However, the green group in the table explains this
situation. The participants in the green group mostly fell on the yellow
spectrum in the pre-treatment phase. After reading the information, they
became less opposed to red ideology. They still supported the coup
d’état (sub-element 2), but agreed that red shirts who were victimised
during the 2013-2014 protests should be compensated (sub-element
13). However, it should be noted that the remaining 15 participants on
the yellow spectrum intensified their original beliefs, as shown by the
increased factor loading.
Treatment Group: Red Negative (RED-)
This group consists of 103 participants who received negative information
about red politics. PCA extraction revealed that there are 5 principal
components in this group: red politics defined by sub-elements 1, 7, 10,
and 11; red politics defined by sub-elements 5 and 8; red politics defined
by sub-elements 8, 9 and 12; red politics defined by sub-elements 6
and 13; and yellow politics defined by sub-elements 3 and 4. Table 10
indicates the numbers and factor loading values among adherents to the
two ideologies. There are 81 participants on the red-shirt spectrum and

22 participants on the yellow-shirt spectrum (as shown in Table 4). The
factor loading values here are an average of those of all sub-elements
within the respective spectrum. The factor loading values for the red
and yellow ideologies are 1.033 and 1.091, respectively.
Table 10 Results for treatment group RED-
Red Yellow
factor factor
frequency frequency
loading loading
Before reading
81 1.033 22 1.044
information
After reading
83 1.091 20 1.121
information
After exposure to the treatment information, PCA again captured

almost all the sub-elements on the red spectrum, except sub-element no.
8. Table 10 shows that the number of adherents to red politics increased
slightly from 81 to 83, and the factor loading value increased from 1.033
to 1.091. This result is consistent with a classic case of confirmation bias
in which people tend to be less receptive when facing counter-indicative
information (Nickerson, 1997). Thus, reading negative information
about red-shirts did not lessen participants’ adherence to their original
beliefs. On the yellow-spectrum side, participants reported having even
more conviction in their original beliefs, as seen from the increase in
their factor loading value from 1.044 to 1.121. This was not a surprising
result because the participants on the yellow spectrum read negative
information about their political opposition.
Treatment Group: Yellow Positive (YELLOW+)
This group consists of 115 participants who received positive information
about yellow politics. PCA revealed 5 principal components in this
group: red politics defined by sub-element 1; red politics defined by sub-
elements 5 and 6; red politics defined by sub-elements 8, 9 and 12; red
politics defined by with sub-elements 10, 11 and 13; and yellow politics
defined by sub-elements 2, 3 and 4. Table 11 indicates the numbers and
factor loading values of adherents to the two ideologies. There are 83
participants on the red-shirt spectrum and 32 participants on the yellow-
shirt spectrum. The factor loadings here are an average of those of all
sub-elements on the respective spectrum. The factor loading values for
the red and yellow ideologies are 1.152 and 0.908, respectively.
Table 11 Results for treatment group YELLOW+
Red Yellow
factor factor
frequency frequency
loading loading
Before reading
83 1.152 32 0.908
information
After reading
89 1.121 26 1.109
information
After participants’ exposure to the information treatment, PCA

again captured almost all the sub-elements on the red spectrum, with
the addition of sub-element no.7. Table 11 shows that the number of
participants espousing red politics increases from 83 to 89, and the factor
loading value decreases from 1.152 to 1.121. The decrease in the factor
loading value suggests that reading positive information about yellow
politics lessened this group’s bias in favour of red politics. However, the
number of participants on the red spectrum increases.
These increased numbers indicate that 6 participants who originally
fell on the yellow spectrum became redder despite reading optimistic
information about yellow politics. This result may not align with
theoretical predictions but is very interesting. Normally, behavioural
economics tends to posit a systematic and persistent bias among people.
However, in some cases, people have been found not to maintain their
original standpoint and to be able to process interventions rationally
if they feel that they are being manipulated, especially by monetary
incentives (Frey & Oberholzer-Gee, 1997). For this treatment group,
the information intervention may have created the impression that the
research participants were being subjected to excessive attempts at
persuasion. Therefore, they may have resisted the information, and their
political ideology correspondingly inclined towards the red spectrum.
Note also that the remaining 26 participants on the yellow spectrum
intensified their political beliefs, as seen from the increased factor
loading value (1.109).
Treatment Group: Yellow Negative (YELLOW-)

This group consists of 83 participants who received negative information
about yellow politics. PCA revealed no purely yellow components. The
results were a combination of red and green components. There were 5
principal components in this group: red politics defined by sub-elements
5 and 6; red politics defined by sub-elements 7, 10 and 11; red politics
defined by sub-elements 9, 12 and 13; green politics defined by sub-
elements 3, 4 and 8; and green politics defined by sub-elements 1 and 2.
Table 12 indicates the numbers and factor loading values of adherents
to the two ideologies. There are 53 participants on the red spectrum and
30 participants on the green spectrum. The factor loadings here are an
average of those for all sub-elements on the respective spectrum. The
factor loading values for the red and green ideologies are 1.073 and
1.095, respectively.
Table 12 Results for treatment group YELLOW-
Red Yellow Green
factor factor factor

frequency frequency frequency
loading loading loading
Before
reading 53 1.073 0 - 30 1.095
information
After
reading 33 1.255 0 - 50 1.022
information
PCA indicates that the participants were less inclined towards the
red spectrum after being subjected to the information treatment. Table 12
shows that the number of participants on the red spectrum considerably
decreases by 20. This result could be interpreted in the same way as that
for the previous treatment group. Reading a critique of yellow politics
clearly supported a preference for red politics, but some participants
still may have felt that this information was overwhelming. Therefore,
they may have toned down their original beliefs, resulting in many more
participants falling on the green-spectrum. Moreover, the increase in the
factor loading value to 1.255 in the table indicates that the remaining
participants on the red spectrum intensified their adherence to their
original ideology.
Conclusion and Recommendations

This study aimed to explore the confirmation bias of two political
oppositions – red and yellow shirts. We divided the participants into
four treatment groups according to the information they were exposed
to. PCA approach was employed to classify their ideologies (coding
as red, yellow, and green spectrums) before and after exposure to the
information.
PCA revealed that the participants mostly fell on the red spectrum.
Significant conclusions can be drawn from the results for the different
treatment groups. The first conclusion is that confirmation bias was
indeed present. The participants in the RED- treatment definitely
verified this, as they tended to intensify their original belief regardless
of the kind of information they received. However, a second set of
results did not support the hypothesis. The notion of confirmation bias
implies persistence of belief. However, the results demonstrated that
political attitudes are changeable. The results of treatment YELLOW+
showed that the political conviction of participants on the red spectrum
decreased when they received information opposing their original
beliefs. Likewise, in treatment RED+, some participants switched
from the yellow to the green spectrum. Relatedly, the third finding
was that the participants’ reasoning was not always biased. There were
participants, especially yellow shirts in treatment YELLOW+ and red
shirts in YELLOW-, who probably perceived the experiment to be a
manipulation and became more reluctant to confirm their beliefs.
These findings suggest that there is still hope for reconciliation in
Thai politics. The change in political attitudes and inclinations toward
opposing ideologies may reflect sympathy for the political opposition.
This study recommends that the pursuit of democratic order is desirable
to ensure people’s equal access to transparent information, thus allowing
them to justify their political decisions and have space for negotiation of
ideological differences.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this study.
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Secularisation of Muslim Students: A

Freirean Perspective on Biological Evolution
Teaching in Islamic Schools
Ahmad Naharuddin Ramadhan*

Marzuki**
Heru Nurcahyo***
Bustami Subhan****
Abstract: The teaching of evolution has long been debated in the fields of
science, education, and theology. This controversy raises many problems,
especially when the national curriculum includes it as the material to be taught
in religious (Islamic) schools. This study aims to examine Paulo Freire’s
critical education paradigm and its significance and relevance for criticising
the teaching of evolution. This study used a qualitative-descriptive approach,
with a library research. The data were obtained from Freire’s books as primary
sources and other related books and articles as secondary sources. The study
found 6 key ideas of Freire that are relevant to critique on the teaching of
evolution, namely: (1) the inseparability of education from political content, (2)
the displacement of the values and culture of the oppressed through education,
* PhD Candidate in Educational Studies with Biology Education Concentration,

Graduate School, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, 55281 Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Email: lenterasunnah@gmail.com (Corresponding Author)
** Professor, Department of Citizenship Education and Law, Faculty of Social
Sciences, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, 55281 Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Email:
marzuki@uny.ac.id
*** Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics
and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, 55281 Yogyakarta,
Indonesia. Email: h.nurcahyo@uny.ac.id
**** Professor, Department of English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training
and Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, 55191 Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Email: bustamisubhanuad@gmail.com
(3) the neutrality of science, (4) three categories of human consciousness, (5)
the concept of alienation, and (6) critical literacy programs.
Keywords: evolution, critical paradigm, Paulo Freire, Islamic education,

religious school
Abstrak: Pengajaran evolusi merupakan topik yang menjadi perdebatan

panjang baik dalam bidang sains, pendidikan, maupun teologi. Hal ini
menimbulkan banyak problem khususnya apabila kurikulum nasional juga
mewajibkan pengajarannya di sekolah-sekolah berbasis agama (Islam). Studi
ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji paradigma pendidikan kritis Paulo Freire serta
signifikansi dan relevansinya untuk mengkritisi pengajaran evolusi tersebut.
Dalam studi ini digunakan pendekatan kualitatif-deskriptif, dengan jenis library
research. Data diperoleh dari sumber primer yang terdiri dari buku-buku karya
Freire dan sumber sekunder dari artikel-artikel ilmiah dan buku-buku lain yang
terkait. Hasil penelitian menemukan 6 ide pokok Freire yang relevan dengan
kritik atas pengajaran evolusi, yakni: (1) tidak terpisahnya pendidikan dengan
muatan politik, (2) tergusurnya nilai-nilai dan budaya pihak yang tertindas
melalui pendidikan, (3) ketidaknetralan sains, (4) tiga penggolongan kesadaran
manusia, (5) konsep tentang alienasi, dan (6) program literasi kritis.
Kata Kunci: evolusi, paradigma kritis, Paulo Freire, pendidikan Islam, sekolah
agama
Introduction
Indonesia contains the largest Muslim population of all countries in the
world, amounted to 207,176,162 based on the 2010 Population Census
of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). The large population of the
Muslim community has an impact on various aspects of social, national
and state life, which includes ideology; politics; socio-culture; law; and
education.
The history of education in Indonesia is inseparable from the
movement of Islamic education in educating the nation’s life. Thus far,
Muslims have played a remarkable role in advancing the field of education
and increasing public knowledge. This role ranges from building the
global network of science in the archipelago, the establishment of
Islamic boarding schools, to the establishment of formal schools, which
constantly flourish in this modern times. These Islamic educational
Biological Evolution Teaching in Islamic Schools 159
institutions, in its essence, serve as manifestation of the Muslim ideals

to preserve, internalise, and transform Islamic values to the nation’s
future generations, especially in the current era of disruption, which
has brought various negative impacts, especially moral and spiritual
degradation (Mierrina, 2019; Nudin, 2020; Tafonao, 2018). Amid the
current moral crisis, and at a time when general education is embattled
with the need to improve students’ character and morals, religious
educational institutions should constantly be at the forefront in creating
a generation that is intelligent, faithful, devoted to God, and have noble
characters (Alawiyah, 2014).
Although the religious education institutions have been projected to
serve as an educational institution for Muslim students with non-secular
nature, several studies have reported the insignificant difference between
the learning in madrasas and religious schools—especially in terms of
general sciences, including natural science—and the learning in general
schools. This fact is evidenced by Hartono (2012), who revealed that
the learning in madrasas still adheres to Western secular sciences that
are not in line with the worldview of Islam. Western science conveys
civilisation materials on positivism, materialism, and the belief about
the death of God, which is still mainly taught in many madrasas in
Indonesia. Some other studies stated that there has been a considerable
dichotomy between the materials on science and those on religious
sciences in madrasas, especially in public schools. Science teachers
usually prevent their students from associating theories or explanations
of science with those of religion on the grounds that both have different
explanatory domains (Kholifah, 2018; Sabda, 2009; Supa’at, 2007).
This condition may lead to the adverse impact on students’ faith,
especially on matters related to scientific explanations that are in direct
conflict with religious teachings. According to constructivism learning
theory, in this case, student construction of knowledge regarding religious
teachings and beliefs is shaken due to inconsistent information, which
cannot be integrated with the cognitive structures or prior knowledge
schemes (Ayuningrumi et al., 2016; Mulyani et al., 2012). Some experts
even argued that secularisation through education is due to the exposure
of students at schools to scientific explanations that are incompatible
with religious beliefs coupled with the labelling as “the scientific
explanation and is based on empirical evidence.” Consequently, this
condition leads to inferiority in explanation of religion, and thus many
“educated” group started to lose faith in religion (Becker et al., 2017;

McCleary & Barro, 2018; see also Harrison, 2017).
The teaching of evolution has long been part of this debate.
Evolution is a problematic and dilemmatic material to be taught to the
religious Indonesian community. The evolutionist view of the origin of
life as well as the origins of humans has clearly taken a position against
religious belief in general. Thus far, there has been a constant debate
over the discussion of evolution and regarding its teaching at schools
(Fraser et al., 2011; Staver, 2015; Winslow et al., 2011).
One of the useful paradigms to explore the above problems is
the critical education paradigm, brought about mainly by one of its
important thinkers Paulo Freire (1921-1997). Freire’s views have
inspired many critical studies about oppression and hegemony in the
education system. However, as far as is explored, the use of the Freirean
perspective to highlight the oppressions behind the study of the natural
sciences is rare, including the teaching of evolution discussed in this
study. As Sardar & Von Loon (2012) stated, science has been the pillar
of the sacred totem that is the guardian of secular Western culture, and
therefore, there should be no claim against science. Because science
is the primary support for Western secularity, criticism of problematic
things in modern science, such as the theory of evolution, is very
important as an opening key to releasing the influence of the Western
worldview on other sciences based on it. This study aims to present a
critique based on Freirean perspective on the teaching of evolution.
Literature Review
Since this study aims to criticise the teaching of evolution in religious
schools from a Freirean perspective, it is necessary to provide a literature
review here to provide important insights related to the potential of
relevant key theories as the basis for our critique.
Secularism and Secularisation through Education
Historically, the term secularism refers to the separation between the
state and religious authorities, although this definition is considered
too reductive. In its essence, secularism is more than just separating
the civil state from religious authorities (Stambach et al., 2011). The
term secularism refers to a system of understanding that puts forward
materialism, rejects the existence of other life outside the world, and
seeks to escape all forms of belief and religious rules (Jamaluddin,

2013; Majid, 2008). In this connection, secularisation can historically
be defined as a shift in individuals, objects, and meanings from religious
nuances to more general and ordinary nuances. In a broad sense, the term
secularisation refers to the decline of religious institutions, the decrease
of belief, and the weakening religious practices in society (Casanova,
2001). Secularisation can also be interpreted as a process of becoming a
secular person and embracing secularism, which is mundane and frees
oneself from religious rules or beliefs (Hadi, 2016).
Secularism first emerged in the West, as history notes, in particular
during the Renaissance period. The establishment of Western civilisation
and science as the centre has triggered the introduction of the Western
worldview in education and its propagation to other countries, as was
confirmed by Kuntowijoyo (2008). He said that principally, the goal of
the Renaissance was to liberate mankind from the myths of West-Greece,
which then gave birth to a scientific revolution. However, the scientific
revolution also caused new problems. The spirit to break free from
ancient mythology turned out to have an impact on religion agnosticism,
and in turn gave rise to secularism. Meanwhile, the scientific revolution
in a non-religious and even anti-religious spirit has resulted in the notion
that science is inherently value free. This reflection of Western culture
and ideals eventually spread throughout the world, including Indonesia.
Many thinkers articulated that the progress of culture and science could
only take place were we able to free ourselves from the confines of
religion (Kuntowijoyo, 2008).
There have been many studies to prove the thesis regarding
secularisation though education. Some evidences pinpoint that the
higher the level of education taken by an individual, the lesser his
religiosity level (Becker et al., 2017; Cesur & Mocan, 2018; Dilmaghani,
2019; Hungerman, 2014; Masuda & Yudhistira, 2020; McCleary &
Barro, 2018; Mocan & Pogorelova, 2017). The negative impact of
education on religiosity, among others, is caused by the existence of
a hidden curriculum (See various definitions of the hidden curriculum
in Margolis, 2001). In this context, the hidden curriculum refers to the
Western ideologies based on rationality that is in direct conflict with
religious beliefs; such as Darwinism, Freudism, existentialism, atheism,
and materialism which have undeniably infiltrated the sciences, social
sciences, arts and humanities adopted from the West. The Western
scientific hegemony in the field of education is one of the ways that

helps to propagate and disseminate the hidden curriculum globally.
These ideas are particularly transmitted through schools and colleges
that inconsiderately adopt Western-style secular education without
proper sorting and filtering. The other way is through power exerted by
the Western colonial countries who brought these ideas to their colonies.
The third method is through student exchange programmes, by way of
sending students and providing scholarships abroad. The fourth method
is through political movements or intelligence operations (Efendy,
2015; Hadi, 2016; Jamaluddin, 2013).
The Teaching of the Evolution and the Non-Neutrality of Western
Science
Biologists agree that evolution is a core theme in biology and has even
become a central unifying theme in science (Kim, 2016; NSTA, 2013;
Campbell et al., 2011). Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975), one of
the founders of the modern theory of evolution, even said that there
is no meaningful discussion in biology without being illuminated by
the light of evolution (Dhobzansky, 1973). The idea of evolution is
considered capable of connecting so many observations about the living
world, especially regarding the extraordinary diversity of organisms.
Along with this diversity, many characteristics are found in common.
From this unity amid diversity, the idea of evolution
emerged, namely
that the organisms living on earth today are modified descendants of
a common ancestor. The similarity of characteristics between existing
organisms then gave birth to the idea that these organisms are descended
from a common ancestor. On the other hand, the differences that make
each organism under its environment are the basis for thinking about
evolutionary adaptations that make individuals within a species have
variations in the details of characters that are shared.
Furthermore, the environment will choose individuals with character
shapes that are more suited to the environment. These individuals will be
more competitive in obtaining resources, have a longer chance of living,
and produce offspring by passing on their adaptive characteristics. This
process is known as natural selection (Campbell et al., 2011; Starr et al.,
2016).
The idea of a common ancestor of living things raises the curiosity
for academics to reconstruct the story of the origin of species, including
the story of human evolution. The emergence of interest in the story

of human evolution cannot be separated from human curiosity about
himself, which is as old as human existence itself. For example, it has
been a philosophical question for a long time, namely: What and who
is a human being, where do humans come from, and where in the end
is human life? (Priyoyuwono, 2008). Included in this philosophical
question is how the origin of life was formed? On this basis, Darwin
himself called it the “mystery of mysteries” (Darwin, 1871). To answer
this question, Darwin published his work On the Origin of Species
which describes his view of the emergence of the many species that
exist today, descended from ancestral species that differed in character
from the species we see today. The idea of common descent, according
to Darwin, is caused by critical biological changes (modifications) little
by little over a very long time.
Darwin viewed the history of life as a tree with one common
trunk, which then branched off into the youngest branches. In other
words, existing organisms are related through descent from a common
ancestor. The closer the kinship in the evolutionary tree, the more
similar the characteristics (Campbell et al., 2011). When it is traced
back, the form of the assessor organism will be more straightforward.
Miller-Urey then connected this organic evolution with his idea of neo-
abiogenesis. From the results of his experiments (1953), he concluded
that life on the primordial earth could have occurred by chance from
inorganic substances (hydrogen, methane, ammonia, and water). Due
to heat stimulation, cosmic ray radiation, and energy originating from
lightning that existed on the earth’s surface in the past, these inorganic
substances then form simple organic compounds that accumulate in the
waters in the form of primordial soup. These simple organic compounds
will continue to evolve (chemical evolution) to create more complex
compounds, followed by organic molecules that make up living
materials (Suhardi, 2007).
The above explanation proves that the origin of species, including
humans and all life on earth, is a central theme in the discussion of
evolution. Therefore, NSTA states that the theory of evolution raises
awareness that nature has its history and that changes over time have
and will continue to occur. This change even happens in life and more
broadly on planet earth, stars, and galaxies, where what we see today is
different from conditions in the past (cosmic evolution) (NSTA, 2013;

see also Alassiri, 2020).
Sometimes misconceptions occur when concepts in other branches
of biology are used to explain how evolutionary mechanisms arise, such
as mutations. Mutations are a discussion in genetics and are not part
of the theory of evolution (Suryo, 2011). However, mutations explain
how the evolutionary mechanism occurs because they are considered
the initial source of new alleles that allow the emergence of unique
beneficial traits (Martincová et al., 2022). Because of the misconception
about mutations, the theory of evolution is often blurred with the
scientific facts about viral mutations and antibiotic resistance in bacteria
(Mantelas & Mavrikaki, 2020). So, disagreement with the theory of
evolution is considered equivalent to a rejection of scientific facts. In
this regard, Bakar (2020) has also made scientific criticisms of Pervez
Hoodbhoy, linking Darwin’s theory of evolution with the coronavirus.
Hoodboy claims that the idea of evolution was the key to solving
the mystery of the Covid-19 outbreak and successfully discovering a
coronavirus vaccine.
In addition, the explanation above also proves that the current
structure of modern biological science—with evolution as its paradigm
or framework—does not provide room for a hypothesis about God. Starr
et al. (2016) stated, “science only cares about what can be observed”.
The narratives presented in most biology textbooks contradict science
and religion, asserting that scientific discoveries about the evolution
of living things are scientific explanations. On the other side, creation
is merely a traditional belief system whose descriptions are no longer
relevant to what scientists have discovered (BSCS, 2006; Kardong, 2008;
Starr et al., 2016; Campbell et al., 2011). This problem was confirmed
by many people from among the scientists themselves. Fred Hoyle
states that biologists have forced themselves to conclude that life could
have occurred randomly. However, this position is refuted by recent
discoveries that the enormous complexity of life is too complex to have
happened by chance. However, the structure of biological science is not
open to questions to prevent the return of religion as in the medieval
era (Hoyle, 1984). Elisabet Sahtouris stated that modern science likens
nature to a “machine.” The universe becomes a closed mechanical
system that works according to fixed mechanical laws, without divine
intervention or other supernatural things that exist “outside nature” and
is blind or undirected. In modern science, this universe was not created

by God. Still, it was merely an accidental arrangement into a universe
consisting of matter, which is not alive, has no meaning, and has no
purpose (Sahtouris, 2013).
Indeed, it cannot be denied that there are some figures and scientists
among Muslims themselves who accept evolution and try to reconcile
it with the information in the Qur’ān through a middle way, namely
theistic evolution. These “half-hearted” groups seem to have fulfilled
what was stated in the Qur’ān: “They are neither of you nor of them”
(Qur’ān, 58:14). Many of their opinions are not following the principles
in the theory of evolution itself. They also do not receive support
from the Qur’ān, nor are they following the consensus of the previous
scholars (the Salaf). One of the clear examples is that although the
theistic evolutionists accept that the evolutionary process is God’s way
of making the various living things that exist today, they still believe that
human evolution has now reached its peak. This position is to reconcile
with the description of the scriptures that humans are given the mandate
as guardians of this earth and carry out the task of worshipping God.
However, the principle of chance in evolution itself does not support
their beliefs. The process of change is unpredictable, and randomness is
vital in determining how things evolved. Therefore, Carl Sagan (1934-
1996) once said that we are the product of a 4.5-billion year-long process
of biological evolution that happened by chance and slowly. There is no
reason to think that the evolutionary process has now stopped. Man is
a transitional animal; he is not the climax of creation (Sagan, 2000). In
addition, the statements in the Qur’ān, with their overall unified context,
do not provide support for what they believe.
For this reason, many Muslim theologians take a firm position against
accepting the theory of evolution. Sheikh Muhammad Mutawalli Ash-
Sya’rawi stated that the theory of evolution is heretical and misleading
and must be refuted (Asy-Sya’rawi, 1992, p. 105). He also said that
Darwin’s theory was a form of lying about God regarding the creation
of man and could cause doubts in the belief in the existence of God
(Asy-Sya’rawi, 1978, p. 24).
Some other Muslims try to use the framework popularised by
Stephen Jay Gould and others called the Non-Overlapping Magisterium
(NOMA). Religion and science are allowed to operate in their
scientific domains (Gould, 1999; Barbour, 1990). The reason is that

the goals of religion and science are different. Religion is a source of
theological, moral and spiritual values, while science is a source of
innovation, discovery and improvement of the quality of human life.
Nobel laureate Richard Feynman agrees with this view by stating that
religion is a culture of faith while scientific culture is a culture of doubt
(Alassiri, 2020). When examined in more depth, this view can be said
to be a tricky approach. Acts as if condescending but intends to elevate
science’s position above religion. Religious culture is often identified
with “faith”, “for we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7),
but for the pejorative meaning that religious explanations are rigid,
dogmatic, irrational, and have no relevance at all once with the existing
reality. Meanwhile, scientific culture is identified with “doubt” in an
ameliorative sense, which is open, dynamic, rational, following facts
and supported by scientific evidence. Allowing religion and science to
run in their domains is precisely the cause of the shock of belief which
further weakens a person’s confidence in his religion (Abbas, 1983).
The theory of evolution clearly does not provide any room for the
existence of Adam and Eve as the first humans as believed and mentioned
in the holy books of Islam, Judaism and Christianity (Dawkins, 2012).
This fact denotes that the teaching of evolution has offered another
truth, which contradicts the teachings of scripture. Students who receive
this teaching will undoubtedly choose one of the two, be it religion or
science, because it is impossible for having the values of both truths,
which contradicts one another. This is where the shock of belief can
occur. Dennett’s (1995) statement reinforces the possibility of a shock
of thought, which likens the theory of evolution to a universal acid,
a corrosive liquid that destroys anything it hits. Darwin’s theory of
evolution is analogous to the universal acid, which can undermine other
concepts that he thinks to belong to the bygone pre-scientific era. Such
outdated ideas, according to Dennett, include belief in God, value,
meaning, purpose, culture, morality and so on from basic things that
have been highly valued by humanity for a long time (Dennett, 1995).
Paulo Freire’s Critical Education Paradigm
Paulo Freire was a philosopher who questioned the occurring
dehumanisation through the current education. Dehumanisation is
the removal of human dignity, where the nature of the individual as a
human being is disrespected, devalued due to injustice, exploitation,

hegemony, coercion and oppression exercised by the oppressor through
an unjust system. Schools have become a means of reproducing
oppression, perpetuating injustice, and a “factory” to produce “robots”
that only obey the controllers. The occurring practice of education is
more inclined to a dissemination of doctrine or a hegemonic tool for
the ruling group or the elite. Students are always drilled and trained to
consent submission (Abdillah, 2017; Yaqin, 2015).
Freire sharply criticises what he calls banking education, where the
teacher serves as the customer and the student is treated as a money
safe. In this case, knowledge is positioned as money that is placed in the
safe. The materials being taught shut down students’ critical thinking,
and they become a burden for the students instead. They turn students
into mechanical machines since they do not provide students with
opportunities to develop and give opinions according to their point of
view. Educational practice is only understood as a means of indoctrination
of knowledge, stopping critical thinking processes, freezing creative
power, and shaping students to become people who are easy to believe
(magical awareness). The school reflects the interests of the colonisers,
and as such, the aspirations and needs of those colonised (students) are
usually ignored. Colonial groups usually indoctrinate values and shift
the culture of the colonised in order to assert their superiority. This is
similar to what we encountered in the colonial education system, where
colonial people were alienated from their original culture (Ayudha,
2016; Bahri, 2019; Robikhah, 2018).
To Freire, education is inseparable from politics in a broad sense.
Education can be a means of hegemonic awareness that is either positive
or negative (Fakih, 2002). In terms of a negative position, education
becomes a significant hallucinating tool. In other words, education in
this position is able to trick the individuals involved in it, to be lulled
by the offers and values carried in it. This then will further drown the
awareness of students to remain in the lies and incitement contained
in the values and ideological campaigns that are exhaled through
education. At this stage, education manifests itself as a means of
oppression, working by becoming a means of conquering consciousness.
In this position, conquest is carried out by means of a mechanism
of mythicising the world, which aims to present a false world to the
minds of individuals who are undergoing the learning process (Freire,
2011). This process then runs by providing subtle persuasion so that

individuals who enter education are lulled into accepting the myth of
propaganda (Fuad, 2003). At that time, there were changes in the views
and knowledge of students, which were basically different from those
before learning. Their views were bent so that they were no longer the
same as what they previously understood and knew. Furthermore, the
process of bending knowledge, as well as mythicising and evaluating, is
a mechanism that is taken to perpetuate the situation of oppression and
maintain the status quo. These processes are presented in order to carry
out a cultural invasion (Freire, 2011). Cultural invasion is a continuation
of the process of oppression and the process of alienation. Through
cultural invasion, the awareness of each student is lost or negated by
the awareness formed by the views of educators who are the arms of the
powerful oppressors. This condition is increasingly drowning students
in a slumped position. They lose their critical awareness so they can no
longer see that something is wrong. Furthermore, they also experience
an alienated condition, as they become alienated from themselves, or
alienated from the world and environmental conditions that they really
want (Datunsolang, 2018; Freire, 1984).
From 1964 to 1970, Freire worked in Chile to carry out literacy
programs. His work was considered a successful literacy activity since
he not only succeeded in eliminating illiteracy, but also raised critical
awareness in the participants. From this, the critical literacy tradition
was born. Critical literacy is defined as a person’s ability to develop
literacy skills, be it reading or writing, in order to raise awareness of
the reality of social inequality as a manifestation of abuse of power,
oppression, or marginalisation. Thus, Freire’s critical literacy is not
only cognitive (namely being able to read and write), but also involves
awareness and experience and the most important thing is to give birth
to emancipatory desires (Freire, 2011; Lee, 2011). Thus, in line with his
pedagogical concept, Freire’s critical literacy is intended to help those
who are marginalised to reveal the hegemony of power and change the
situation, or in Giroux terms, “is more than just understanding; it is
also about the possibility of self-determination, individual freedom and
social agents” (Giroux, 2004).
His success in this critical literacy program gave birth to Freire’s
idea of liberating education. He thought about how learning can shape
the awareness of oppressed individuals and communities to gain freedom
and equality. Freire classified human consciousness into three. The first
is magical consciousness, which is the level of consciousness that is
unable to know the relationship between one factor and another. For
example, poor people are unable to see the link between their poverty
and the political and cultural system. People who are still in the magical
level of consciousness are trapped in the myth of natural inferiority.
Hence, instead of fighting or changing the reality in which they live,
they basically adjust to the existing reality. The educational process
that uses this logic does not provide the analytical ability to identify
the links between systems and structures to community problems.
Students dogmatically receive the “truth” from the teacher, without
any mechanism to further understand the “meaning” of the ideology
that is behind every conception of public life. The second is naival
consciousness. This awareness is experienced by those who have seen
and understood the causes of chaos in their lives, but do not have the
awareness to rise up and challenge or at least try to fight for their rights.
People who are in this naive awareness are apathetic, always looking
for something safe, either out of fear or because they are unable to
organise themselves to become a force for change. The third is critical
consciousness. At this level, people are able to reflect and see the causal
relationship, refuse to become perpetrators of the oppressive status quo,
and try consciously to replace the oppressive system (Boyd, 2012; Din
& Ahmed, 2017; Mahur et al., 2019; Nuryatno, 2015).
Research Methodology
This is descriptive qualitative research with library research. The library
research enables the researchers to try to reveal new concepts by reading
and recording information relevant to the research objectives or needs.
Reading materials include books, journals, and scientific works related
to the title of this research. In this study, the researchers analysed texts
and available data. The data used in this research cover: 1) Primary data
sources: the main data sources in the form of works written by Paulo
Freire; 2) Secondary data sources: data sources that support primary
data in the form of books and scientific articles that discuss Freire’s
ideas and critiques of the education system and administration.
Findings
The literature review to explore Paulo Freire’s thoughts results in the
following findings, which are presented in the form of critiques on the
teaching of evolution in Islamic schools based on Freire’s perspective

(see the summary in Table 1):
First, in Freire’s critical paradigm, education cannot be separated
from politics in a broad sense and that education is not something
neutral but must be understood in terms of the relationship between
knowledge, power, and ideology. This view encourages us to look
critically at our education which is widely adopted and influenced by
Western education. In fact, Western education itself is not free from
certain agendas and ideologies. The West has experienced a dark
history as a result of the arbitrariness of the Roman Church’s authority
in curbing and blocking the doors of thought and discovery and
imposing punishment or inquisition on many innocent people, simply
because they are considered to have committed heretics and against the
teachings of the church. As witnessed by Martin Luther (1483-1546) in
the 16th century, the authorities of the Catholic Church have done many
actions that are contrary to Christian teaching itself. In Rome, the holy
city of Christians at that time, piety was neglected until witch doctors
and prostitutes filled the streets. Church authorities have also abused
their authority by selling religion for worldly interests, such as selling
indulgences as well as commercialising relics and places of pilgrimage
for money.
This bitter experience later turned into a very radical response, in
the form of the ideas of secularisation with the spirit to separate religion
from all aspects of human life, even resulting in an anti-religious spirit.
This condition further led to the emergence of materialism, Darwinism,
atheism, and so on, all of which contributed to the development of
science and education in the Western world. If these aspects of the
Western education system are adopted or borrowed without any
critical sorting or filtering, the Western ideology and worldview that
are inclined to atheism and secularism can infiltrate our education.
Arif Rohman (2013) explained that this borrowing method, namely
borrowing education from other nations or countries that are deemed
more advanced, regardless of the country’s own context has the potential
to cause problems. Each country has a different background and socio-
cultural context. Thus, what may be considered something appropriate
in other countries may not necessarily be appropriate in our own place.
Indonesian curriculum for Biology Majors mostly refers to
the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) (Mutia, 2016;
Suryadarma, 1993; Suyanto, 2011), a biology curriculum development

organisation in the United States, which was one of the pioneers of the
teaching of evolution in the United States in 1950’s, a time when the
teaching of evolution was still widely prohibited on the basis of the
Scopes Court ruling and the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling because
religious values (especially Protestant Christianity) were still deeply
rooted in society. By 1950, there was competition and increasingly
conflicts between the US and the Soviet Union, otherwise known as the
Cold War. The US fear of a new world dominated by the Soviets forced
the former to make a breakthrough in the field of education, by way of
preparing US students to study and take part in science, mathematics,
and engineering (Staver, 2015). In this regard, Arias-Vazquez has
conducted a study on the impact of education in the US on religiosity
(data recorded from 1972). He found that education has had a negative
impact on individual religiosity, as marked by a decrease in Church
attendance from year to year and a decrease in people’s belief about the
importance of religion in their lives (Arias-Vazquez, 2012).
Using Freire’s critical paradigm, the socio-historical background of
education in the US, as well as the results of Arias-Vasquez’s research,
may give us an idea that the teaching of creation (that God created
life) in the US was gradually facing increasing challenges, while the
teaching of evolution began to spread. Initially, the religious group tried
to champion their rights by demanding the teaching of alternative views
in terms of creation (known as Teach the Controversy), apart from the
teaching of the theory of evolution. In 1982, in the case of McLean v.
Arkansas Board of Education, the federal court stated that the Arkansas
law which requires the provision of a balanced portion of teaching
between evolution and creation has violated the US Constitution’s
Establishment Clause. The court stated that creationism is not a science.
This court verdict led the religious group to demand the teaching of
intelligent design in addition to the teaching of evolution. Ultimately,
in 2005, Judge John E. Jones at the US District Court issued a ruling
that intelligent design is not science, but only a form of endorsement
of religion, which highlight that its teaching is unnecessary. This court
ruling is in contrast to the fact that intelligent design has avoided all
forms of reference to religion and merely shows scientific evidence of
evolutionary errors (Matsumura & Mead, 2016; Staver, 2015).
This contextual background should be carefully considered by

all parties involved in education in Islamic schools, both curriculum
developers, teachers, and authorities (school principals). The Islamic
schools shall no longer use the same biology curriculum as the regular
curriculum used for public schools which have adopted many of the
BSCS curriculum structures. At the very least, there should be a fair
and equal portion in the provision of the syllabus and lesson plans
developed in Islamic schools, so as to allow sufficient space for the
teaching of Islamic creationism to counter scientific evolutionist
arguments. Teachers in Islamic schools must have a good understanding
of scientific arguments that can invalidate arguments about evolution
and vice versa, by way of proving the truth of the Qur’an and Hadith.
Islamic schools also require separate student books or modules that are
structured in a way that meets this need. This need is also in accordance
with Freire’s critique of cultural invasion through education by colonial
or oppressive groups by indoctrinating values and shifting the culture of
colonised communities in order to assert their superiority. According to
Freire, education should be dynamic, contextual, classless and without
discrimination (Mansyur, 2014).
The second point is on Freire’s view of the non-neutrality of
science. Science is not value free but is a reconstruction in a society. As
Foucault (1926-1984) articulated, the power system in society produces
a reconstruction of knowledge related to the interests of the ruling group
(Gianto, 2012). As seen from the fact that science talks are concerned
with objects or phenomena that are objective in nature, neutrality can
evidently be maximally pursued. Nonetheless, scientific products are
no longer mere raw data as they are. The product of science involves
the intellectual and psychological activities of scientists in viewing,
analysing and interpreting existing data, which opens the door for
the entry of scientist subjectivity in some scientific discussions. The
subjectivity of researchers has taken a role even since the very beginning,
when they have started the process of searching and researching facts
or choosing what theme to study (Fata & Noorhayati, 2016). Fata &
Noorhayati’s explanation is scientific and logical if it is not interpreted
negatively as a rejection of science but is interpreted as a critique that
modern science being taught today is motivated by a secular Western
epistemology (Setiawan, 2017; Tanjung, 2019). Biology as part of
science is also covered in this. Staver (2015) explains that Darwin’s
work has contributed three important elements in the advancement of

biological science. First, the theory of evolution to explain the origin of
species and as a unifying theme for the branches of biology. The same
idea was stated by Campbell et al. (2011). Second, to become a new
framework for future scientific studies. Third, to change the philosophy
of knowledge regarding the origin of life, in that, there is no mention
of God’s plans or actions, which put aside faith in biology. Moreover,
the American philosopher and cognitive scientist, Daniel C. Dennett,
calls Darwin’s work a “universal acid” that can destroy religious views
of the existence of God, the soul, and life after death. There is nothing
special in humans, because it is no different from other animals (Evans
& Selina, 2010; Sternberg, 1999). Dennett is known as one of “The Four
Horseman of New Atheism” along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris,
and Christopher Hitchens (Finley, 2019).
The third point is on Freire’s classification of human consciousness
into three: magical consciousness, naïve consciousness, and critical
awareness. We can use this classification to understand the state of the
people involved in education (including the students themselves and
their parents) in relation to the teaching of evolution. The first group
refers to people who are still in the level of magical consciousness. This
group is still shackled by the inferiority myth, that everything that exists
and originates from the Western world is progress. In their view, Western
science is entirely true, neutral and flawless; and therefore, the way to
achieve progress (including in education and scientific advancement)
is to entirely comply with them. As seen from the theory of the hidden
curriculum, if we position the hidden secularisation behind the teaching
of evolution as a hidden curriculum, it will be deliberately covered up
and stamped by scientific elites or colonisers as “legitimate science”
and otherwise considered unscientific; pseudoscience; and not science,
which makes people unaware of the problems in it, thinking that all is
well (Margolis, 2001). This was reinforced by Efendy who explained
that education observers had considered that the curriculum was actually
a political product, namely that the curriculum product was part of the
political process of a nation. As a political product, this curriculum is
vulnerable to politicisation of the elites of a nation. Epistemologically,
the curriculum is the result of a battle between the philosophical
discourses adopted by each ideological carrier, and likewise with the
Western curriculum. This Western influence, consciously or not, has had
an impact on the education system in Indonesia, which some experts

have included in the Third World construction. As a consequence, the
colonisation of markets and ideas in Indonesia has taken place very
smoothly. Often without even realising it, our society has participated
in the efforts to market the global ideas. This Western paradigm then
penetrates and influences the global epistemology system, which
requires that scientific studies and findings must refer to it. Otherwise,
they will be labelled as unscientific (Efendy, 2015).
Table 1. Some Freirean Views of Education and Their Relevance in
the Critique on the Teaching of Evolution
Relevance in the Critique of the
No Freire’s View
Teaching of Evolution
This serves as a criticism on
Indonesian education, which widely
adopts and is influenced by Western
education. In fact, Western education
is never free from certain agendas
Education is inseparable from
and ideologies. If these aspects of
politics (in a broad sense) and that it
the Western education system are
is not something neutral but must be
1 adopted or borrowed without being
understood in terms of the relation
critically sorted or filtered, the
between knowledge, power and
Western ideology and worldview
ideology.
that are inclined to atheism and
secularism can infiltrate our
education. This criticism also covers
a biology curriculum that includes
the teaching of evolution.
Schools reflect the interests of
the colonisers or oppressive elites The biology curriculum in Islamic
in power, so that the aspirations schools should be structured based
and needs of the colonised group on the context, and it is not to be
are usually ignored. The colonial equated with the curriculum for
2 group indoctrinated values through general schools, by way of providing
education and shifted the culture of a fair and equal portion for the
the colonised society in order to assert teaching of Islamic creationism
their superiority. Education should be to counter evolutionist scientific
dynamic, contextual, classless and arguments.
without discrimination.

No Freire’s View
Biology as part of science is also not
a neutral subject. Especially through
the theory of evolution, atheism
has infiltrated biological science.
The non-neutrality of science: Teaching evolution and evidence
science is not free of value but is a of evolution can destroy students’
3
reconstruction in a society related to religious beliefs about the existence
the interests of the ruling group. of God, the spirit, and the existence
of an afterlife. In this view, humans
are not special creatures, because
they are no different from other
animals.
In connection with the teaching of
evolution, the state of the people
involved in education can be divided
into three as well. The first group
is people who are still shackled by
the myth that everything that exists
and originates from the Western
world is progress; Western science
Freire’s classification of human is entirely true, neutral and flawless;
consciousness into three: magical and therefore, the way to progress
4
consciousness, naive consciousness, is to follow them. They do not
and critical awareness. realise that there is a problem in the
education system and consider that
all is well. The second group is those
who have gained an understanding
on the problem but do not dare to
leave the safe zone. The third group
is those who are aware of and trying
to change the situation according to
their own profession.
This concept can explain the
situation when students receive
educational materials that are not
in accordance with their religious
beliefs. This condition will lead
5 Freire’s concept of alienation
students to experience alienation
- alienation from society and even
from themselves, experience split
personality, and make them tossed
and torn.

No Freire’s View
Critical literacy program to raise It is necessary to implement critical
awareness on the reality of social literacy programs in Islamic schools
6 inequality as a manifestation of and colleges to raise awareness of
abuse of power, oppression, or problems in evolutionary theory and
marginalisation. its teaching.
The second group refers to people who are in the level of a naïve
consciousness. These people are actually aware of the real situation,
namely the problem in the teaching of evolution to children. They already
know the agenda or interests behind it. However, they do not want to act
or speak up to challenge and voice their rights. This condition may be
attributed to fear of being sanctioned because they are in an oppressive
system ruled by the elites who also believe in and justify evolution.
An example of this case is a lecturer at Biology Faculty at a university
who is afraid to speak out for creationism because he is worried about
the accusation of complying with the radical-fundamentalist group and
thus will be reported to his superiors so that he will be fired. Otherwise,
it could be because of a feeling of being unable to make changes. The
third group are those who have reached critical awareness. They have
been able to reflect and see the relationship between one factor and
another. In this case, for example, these group of people will be looking
at the relationship between the increasingly rapid secularisation and
materials in the curriculum that do lead to secular understanding. These
people refuse to perpetuate the oppression of these elites, and are trying
in whatever way they can to improve the situation.
The fourth point refers to Freire’s concept of alienation: human
consciousness that has been controlled or shackled by an ideological
superstructure that exists outside of themselves, which makes
them alienated and separated from their world, from their group or
society. This concept can explain the situation when students receive
educational material that is irrelevant to them, which contains the values
of secularism or atheism, which make them excluded from their social
community (which in this case is the context of a religious Indonesian
society), and even alienated from themselves, because they have to
accept what is contrary to their beliefs. The teaching of secular sciences
that is contrary to religious beliefs, in addition to the absence of answers
that can counter these views satisfactorily, will create a situation that
is described as someone who lives with a split personality. On the one

hand, he must speak as an educated person by referring to scientific
explanations of the origin of life, human origins, and the speciation
process; but on the other hand, he is a Muslim who believes in the
truth of divine revelation which contains values contradicting what is
described by science. Under these circumstances, he will be tossed and
torn between the two views (Kartanegara, 2005; Kuntowijoyo, 2001;
Sopater, 1987).
The fifth point refers to Freire’s literacy program, which aims to
raise awareness of the reality of social inequality as a manifestation of
abuse of power, oppression, or marginalisation. This program can be
applied to Islamic madrasas, schools or universities. This program is
not intended to teach students how to read letters, because problems
related to illiteracy have been resolved in Indonesia. The literacy of
this program refers to critical literacy, as a way to raise awareness of
problems in evolutionary theory and teaching. Libraries in Islamic
schools and colleges need to budget funds to provide books written by
scientists with proven credibility to challenge the theory of evolution. In
biology classes, teachers or lecturers can increase the critical literacy of
their students by programming them to read creationist books. Textbook
developers also need to include useful materials for cultivating this
awareness in student or teacher handbooks. Some examples may
include: the roots of Western philosophy behind the emergence of the
theory of evolution, scientists who reject the theory of evolution, gaps
that confuses Darwin in On the Origin of the Species, empirical evidence
against the theory of evolution, the relationship between Darwinism and
racism, and so on.
Discussion
The research implies that Freire’s critical paradigm can be a new way
of looking at teaching and learning critically by focusing on the attempt
to uncover key issues or concepts that include ideology, hegemony,
resistance, power, knowledge construction, class, cultural politics, and
emancipation. Freire’s ideas provide a perspective to help see the true
reality, which most people do not realise because their consciousness
lies in the level of magical consciousness, as they are trapped in myths
crammed by the elite. Thus, instead of struggling or changing the reality
in which they live, they justify it, reinforce it, and adjust themselves to
the oppression. Freire’s ideas are born out of original conception that
can hardly be found in, for instance, other philosophical schools. The
critical education paradigm is the only school of educational philosophy
that reveals the political content (in a broad sense) of all educational
activities. Education is not situated in a sterile space and mass, but is a
political activity in facing hegemonic systems and structures. Education
is understood in terms of the relations between knowledge, power and
ideology. This notion is very useful and becomes a gate to understanding
many educational social phenomena.
Based on philosophical studies and educational theories, this
research findings prove that criticism on the teaching of evolution is
possible and is part of a scientific academic discussion. Affiliation to a
particular faith and rejection of Darwinian views are not to be equated
with rejection of science. Even after Darwin published his work On the
Origin of Species in 1859, the foremost French biologist Louis Pasteur
(1822-1895) tried to test the correctness of the theory of abiogenesis or
spontaneous generation which formed the basis for the Darwinian view
of origin of life. Pasteur made a simple experiment using a flask that
had a long neck that curved downward like a goose and has proven the
theory of biogenesis and is recognised by the world. His revolutionary
ideas laid the foundation for modern medicine and science, such as:
sterilisation techniques, aseptic procedures in surgery, and epidemiology
(Gillen & Sherwin, 2008).
The results of the current research still lie at theoretical level, and
thus still need further developments. Some possible ideas for further
researches on this topic include: a phenomenological attempt to see how
teachers respond to curriculum policies in the teaching of evolution,
or the attempt to see whether there has been a change in students after
learning the theory of evolution. This research can also serve as the
basis for developing instructional designs in Islamic schools.
Conclusion
From this study, we can draw some conclusions based on the Freirean
perspective that leads to several criticisms on the teaching of evolution in
Islamic schools: (1) science, including biology is not completely neutral.
The teaching of evolution to Muslim students in a religious society in
Indonesia may potentially contribute to the process of secularisation
and bring about the formation of a split personality, (2) the applicable
biology curriculum - especially in Islamic schools - should be sorted

and filtered, (3) the biology curriculum in Islamic schools should not
be equated with that in public schools. Hence, it is necessary to prepare
the biology curriculum by considering the context, and there must be a
fair and equal portion of the teaching of Islamic creationism in addition
to the teaching of evolution as a way to counter evolutionist arguments,
(4) many parties involved in education (teachers, students, curriculum
developers, and so on) comply with the theory of evolution and fail to
see the problems because they are still trapped in magical consciousness,
and (5) it is necessary to promote critical literacy in Islamic schools and
colleges to raise the awareness of the problems in evolutionary theory
and in its teaching.
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The Role of Mass Media as a Channel to

Learn About Islam Among Muslims in
Gombak
Kamaruzzaman bin Abdul Manan*

Mohd Noh bin Abdul Jalil**
Muhammad Ayman al-Akiti***
Lihanna binti Borhan ****
Majdan bin Alias*****
Shukran bin Abd Rahman******
Khamsiah binti Mohd Ismail*******
Abstract: Mass media’s evolution today requires the dāʿiy to equip themselves
with communication skills as part of da’wah. This is because the mass media
offers borderless and limitless Islamic contents platform that can reach many
Muslim in 24/7. However, mass media also has disadvantages where fake
preacher and extremist can freely promote their ideologies. Moreover, past
literature on the mass media focusses more on the development of Islamic
* Senior. Lecturer. Dr., Dept. of Communication and Media, Faculty of

Language and Communication, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI),
Perak. kamaruzzaman@fbk.upsi.edu.my
** Assoc. Prof. Dr., Dept. of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion, KIRKHS,
IIUM, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. mohdnoh@iium.edu.my
*** Asst. Prof. Dr., Dept. of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion, KIRKHS,
IIUM, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. ayman@iium.edu.my
**** Assoc. Prof. Dr., Dept. of Psychology, KIRKHS, IIUM, Gombak, Kuala
Lumpur. lihanna@iium.edu.my
***** Asst. Prof. Dr., Dept. of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion,
KIRKHS, IIUM, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. majdan@iium.edu.my
****** Prof. Dr., Dept. of Psychology, KIRKHS, IIUM, Gombak, Kuala
Lumpur. shukran@iium.edu.my
******* Asst. Prof. Dr., ismailkhamsiah@gmail.com
content yet very few studied on the importance of its channel of distribution
for da’wah. This study focusses on mass media’s role in educating and analyse
its favourability as a tool for Islamic learning. The respondents were 596
Muslims in Gombak. The results highlight the practicality, importance, and
opportunities of mass media to propagate a better understanding of Islam
that can be utilised by the government and religious authorities in formulating
policies and strategies for teaching Islam more effectively.
Keywords: Mass Media, Traditional Media, New Media, Islamic Learning,

Globalisation, Gombak.
Abstrak: Evolusi media massa pada masa kini memerlukan para da’i
melengkapkan diri dengan kemahiran komunikasi sebagai sebahagian daripada
dakwah. Ini adalah kerana media massa menawarkan platform kandungan
Islamik yang meluas dan tanpa sempadan, serta boleh dicapai oleh pengguna
Muslim dalam tempoh 24 jam seminggu. Walau bagaimanapun, media massa
juga mempunyai kelemahan di mana penceramah palsu dan pelampau bebas
mempromosi ideologi atau fahaman mereka. Tambahan pula, kajian lepas
berkaitan media massa lebih tertumpu kepada pembangunan kandungan
Islamik namun, hanya sebilangan kecil kajian yang membincangkan mengenai
kepentingan saluran penyampaian untuk dakwah. Kajian ini menumpukan
kepada peranan media massa dalam mendidik dan mengkaji kelebihannya
sebagai alat untuk pembelajaran Islamik. Responden yang terlibat adalah
seramai 596 orang Muslim di Gombak. Hasil kajian telah mengetengahkan
kegunaan, kepentingan dan peluang media massa dalam mempropagandakan
kefahaman yang lebih baik mengenai Islam, di mana ianya boleh digunapakai
oleh kerajaan dan pihak berwajib agama dalam merangka polisi dan strategi
untuk mengajar tentang Islam dengan lebih berkesan.
Kata kunci: Media Massa, Media Tradisional, Media Baharu, Pembelajaran

Islamik, Globalisasi, Gombak
Introduction
The utilisation of mass media in the field of da’wah is nothing new as
the newspaper, radio, and television have already long taken this role in
conveying Islamic teaching to the community. The media also functions
as a channel for Muslims to acquire new knowledge, discuss current
issues, and share information on the Islamic lifestyle. Traditional mass
media such as the radio and magazines continue to be well received in
the Muslim community. Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM)
reported that Malaysian radio listeners has now increase 217,000 in
THE ROLE OF MASS MEDIA AS A CHANNEL
TO LEARN ABOUT ISLAM AMONG MUSLIMS IN GOMBAK 189
numbers to 21.3 million weekly listeners, equalling 96% of individuals

in Peninsular Malaysia (Kessler, 2022). Despite a decline in readers for
printed media, Statista statistics showed a rise of 5% of respondents
who acquire their news through traditional media such as television.
(Hirschmann, 2022).
With the invention of the internet, the da’wah field Malaysia has
gone a tremendous change due to new mass media is quickly overtaking
the traditional mass media’s functions as the mainstream channel
of da’wah. Since then, the internet has also become an important
channel for Muslims to learn Islamic teaching and to disseminate
Islamic belief in the global village (Ghani, 2010). The evolution of the
internet accompanied by advancements in communication technology
has exponentially increased the dependency of people on the media.
Research done by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC) (2018) found out that Malaysia has the highest
numbers of social media users in Asia - and Malaysian, on average,
stays about 8 hours per day on the internet. Nonetheless, most of their
reason for surfing is to seek information/knowledge. This study aims to
discover which media is frequently used by the Muslims in Malaysia in
their quest for information and Islamic education. The main
objective of this research is to describe the pattern of media usage among
Muslims in Gombak based on gender, age, education level, occupation,
and frequency of going to the mosque.
Mass Media and Islamic Learning
Traditional da’wah approaches are becoming more and more insufficient
to address Muslim issues as many modern problems require a more
modern approach in solving them. Nowadays, social issues within the
Muslim community—such as adultery and alcohol consumption in
public—have gone rampant without control. According to the National
Anti-Drugs Agency research in 2019, 80% of cases of a drug addict are
Malay Muslims (Statistics of drug addicts by ethnicity, 2014 – 2019,
2021). To address these issues – Hamka, according to what H. M.
Iskandar mentioned in his book “Pemikiran Hamka Tentang Dakwah,”
proposed five elements of Da’wah, which are: (1) the subject, (2) the
materials, (3) the methods, (4) media and means, (5) the object. Mass
media would be one of the means of da’wah, and its utilisation is a
part of da’wah methods. Utilising it well will contribute to the higher
success of da’wah to a more significant number of audiences (Iskandar,

2001, p. 251; Syobah, 2013, p. 29).
The introduction of mass media has changed the da’wah style and
Islamic education in the modern era. Mass media can be considered as a
channel, media/medium, means or a tool used in mass communication,
which is a communication directed to the mass people (channel of
mass communication) (A. Manaf, 2018, p. 196). The advancement of
mass media today has opened up many opportunities for Muslims to
increase their understanding of Islam through many sources and means.
Research by Piela (2010) discovers that many Muslim women in the
United States utilise the media as a platform for them to communicate,
educate themselves, and discuss related issues on Islam. Thus, media
has become an important platform for them and many other Muslims,
especially for the young Muslims, to discuss with their peers and consult
the religious authority/scholars regarding their understanding of Islam.
Traditional mass media such as radio, television, newspaper, and
magazine greatly impact Muslim society. Moreover, he possibility for
community radio to be a da’wah agent due to its cheap production
combined with its direct, flexible, and portable potential. Alfiatul
Rochmah (2020, p.5), on the other hand, analyses the probability of
some cases of its misuses by radical and populism movement, with a
specific case study on Dakwah Syariah Radio (RDS FM). Writings as a
means of da’wah are also utilised in newspapers and magazines such as
al-Manar, Solusi, and Al-Islam. Iwan Kuswandi (2017, p.17) in his study
showcased the impact of Kiyai (Indonesian religious teacher) writings
on the Muslim students, such as giving them motivations, exposing
them to a new finding of knowledge, and improving their understanding
of the religion.
Thus, a contemporary dāʿiy is in dire need of communication skills,
particularly skills related to media. The increasing cases of media
manipulation used to promote deviant groups and inauthentic teaching
of Islam need to be countered. Even more concerning is the fact that
the media—particularly new media—is where most young Muslims
spend their time. They usually refer to the new media on things related
to religion rather than consulting their nearest mosque or religious
authority. Without sufficient communication skills, the dāʿiy / duʿāt will
be losing their grip and influence on young Muslims that now have been
swayed by “shining” presentation and the “cosmetic” knowledge of

deviant/immoral figures, even though the dāʿiy / duʿāt possessed better
understanding of Islam. It is one of the main reasons why dāʿiy / duʿāt
need to make use of social media.
Many Muslim scholars have also begun to participate in the new
media to ensure the positive utilisation of those platforms. Several
names such as Quraish Shihab, Nouman Ali Khan, Mufti Menk, Yasmen
Mogahed, Ustādh Azhar Idrus, Ustādh Abdul Somad and others try
to counterbalance its negative influences by becoming somehow an
influencer themselves, flooding the new media with Islamic lectures and
information. Concerned Muslims also started to create pages and groups
disseminating their public lessons and classes, collecting millions of
followers worldwide. Localised Muslim scholars can now further
expand their presence to the global arena, while classes and courses are
no longer becoming exclusive and expensive.
Despite the transformation of many traditional media into new
media forms, new media will not be able to completely replace
traditional media in Malaysia. For instance, the number of people
reading newspapers in Malaysia has not yet decreased to a significant
level, and people continue to consider it to be relevant until now. It is
possible that the Internet has emerged as a more favourable option in
political discussion medium for the people, but the fact of the matter
is that the vast majority of Malaysians still acquire their news from
more traditional sources like newspapers and television (Yap, 2009).
Moreover, research done by Ali Salman et al. (2011b) showcased the
complimenting effect of traditional media and new media.
From da’wah and Islamic education point of view, as long as there
are mad’u (recipient of da’wah) available, the means to reach them is
always relevant and important. There is a large body of literature that
has been produced on the topic of the benefits of mass media for da’wah;
however, there is none that focuses on the various types of mass media
and narrows its influence according to each medium such as television,
radio, newspapers, websites, and other media. This research will fill in
the gap by broadening the scope of understanding on the utilisation of
traditional and new mass media and quantitatively analyse its usage
patterns among Muslims with different backgrounds in Gombak. It is
the first research of its kind that covered all 12 districts in Gombak, the
first one to look into various types of media and also the first one that
zooms into various backgrounds of the respondents.
The Impact of Mass Media on Muslim Society
Media predominantly influence the development of social behaviour
in this age of information. The mass media have power in creating
the awareness, construct thinking and belief as well as influence the
behaviour of the public. With the new technologies, the media now are no
longer act as a channel but it has become the part of human life (Manan,
Mohamad & Yakim, 2020). According to The Communications and
Multimedia Ministry (2021), in Malaysia, 122.8% of population have a
smartphone (The Star, 2021). Moreover, 85% of Malaysians are internet
user and 86.4% are active on social media. In general, Malaysians spend
38% of their daily life surfing internet. As for the traditional mass media
consumption, Malaysians spend nearly 3 hours watching television
and 1 hour listening to radio (Statista, 2021). Based on the above
argument, it is not an exaggeration to say that the mass media exist in
every aspect of Malaysian’s life including learning. It is in line with the
transformation of media, which has found its significance since entering
into a more open form towards freedom of expression as the basis for
shaping the structure of people’s lives. Meanwhile, the transformation
of information to a more open direction has resulted in drastic changes
in people’s behaviour. Significant changes are more visible from the
aspect of religious behaviour in addition to other elements. Changes
in religious behaviour resulting from the transformation of information
are indicated by society’s morality, which sometimes ignores religious
values. On the other hand, the media has also made a positive impact
on religious publicity. It can be seen from the variety of religious
events presented in the media, both printed and electronic, presenting
information on regional and national issues. It also helps to build critical
attitudes in society due to information disclosure (Shobah, 2014, p. 26).
In many regards, the impact of mass media on the Muslim community
can be understood as follows:
Positive Impact of Mass Media on Islam
The advent of mass media marked the beginning of a new era in modern
society. People today rely heavily on mass media to stay updated on
daily news, global issues, and recent events that take place in their
immediate environments. Almost all people in the world have access
to the mass media of various forms with 4.2 billion people are users of
social media (Tankovska, 2021). Among the positive impacts of mass
media in the Muslim’s society can be derived as follows:
Encourage Socialisation and Human Interaction
Among positive aspects of mass media, particularly the new media is
it makes us easier to know new people worldwide. Social media can
help people keep in touch with their old friends and keep updated with
their relatives. People can easily make new friends through chat room
or discuss interesting topics with strangers of different background on
many issues. The Qur’ān says:
“O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male
and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you
might get to know one another. Surely the noblest of you in
the sight of Allah is he who is the most righteous. Allah is
All-Knowledgeable, All-Aware.” (al-Qur’ān, 49:13)
With the utilisation of new media, people can get to know each other’s
beliefs and backgrounds and promote good inter-cultural and inter-
religious relationships.
Channel of Da’wah and Islamic Learning
New media also help to improve the quality of the da’wah presentation.
People can interactively react with the contents and ask any question
directly on the channel. It has become easier to ask any questions or
share any opinion on the discussion. They can also utilise new media
to reconfirm latest fatāwā and clearing up any ambiguities on current
issues. Religious authority such as MAIWP has effectively utilized their
website to address questions and issues from the masses (Persekutuan,
2015). They regularly published Islamic articles on their social media
and website to address current issues of the masses. When used together,
traditional and new forms of media, such as articles and bulletins, as
well as social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram, can be very
effective in spreading Islamic information to large groups of people.
To ease the people in the way of da’wah coincides with The Prophet
SAAS says, “Make things easy and do not make them difficult, cheer
the people up by conveying glad tidings to them and do not repulse
(them)” (Al-Bukhārī, 78:152).
Increase Awareness and Solidarity on Muslim Issues

The mass media could also help Muslims to quickly get any update
on their brother’s condition from all over the world. Issues such as
aggression that happens in Palestine, or ethnic cleansing on Rakhine
and Uyghur - with the utilisation of mass media - will bring the world
attention to that place. Global awareness campaigns and petition were
initiated and moved by Muslims and non-Muslims on their respective
countries to force their authorities to criticize and pressure the
oppressor; economically and also politically. This awareness is easily
spread through the channel of mass media through writings, posters,
and videos. This spirit of brotherhood is in accordance with the Prophet
PBUH saying: “None of you will have faith till he wishes for his brother
what he likes for himself” (Al-Bukhārī, 2:6).
The Problem of Mass Media on Islam
The mass media is a double-edged sword; as much as it can be used to
benefit Muslims, it can also harm them. As an open platform, all types
of people can take advantage of the mass media, including the wrong
person. Some people might use the mass media for evil agenda, such
as promoting hate speech, conducting shady businesses, and spreading
illegal sexual content. There are several other disadvantages of mass
media, such as:
Distortion of Facts, Infamy and Hate Speech on Islam (Islamophobia)
There has been an increase in hate speech in Islam in the mass media
in recent years (Civila et al., 2020). Many cases of Islamophobia
recently happen in several Muslim-minority countries in the West as
a result. The utilisation of mass media in promoting self-acted revenge
or Muslim killing also happens in several places. The Christchurch
incidents in New Zealand were examples of how new media were
used to broadcast Muslims’ killings “live” to the viewers (Christchurch
Shootings: “Bad Actors” Helped Attack Videos Spread Online, 2019).
The hatred and infamy for Muslims are among the major reasons for the
harsh treatment and discrimination against Muslims in several Muslim-
minority communities (Barzegar & Arain, 2019).
Ideological Clash and Globalisation of Value
Many social media challenges bring harm to us and the surrounding.
Social media challenges such as “The Outlet Challenge” asked the users
to stick a metal fork to the wall socket (Lee, 2020). “Momo Challenge”
allegedly used social media channels and WhatsApp to encourage
children to perform self-harm, and two teenagers from Colombia have
died due to this challenge (Newsroom, 2018). A viral Choking Challenge
in 2007 joined by 79,000 Ontario students resulting in some of the
students need to be taken to the hospital (The Canadian Press, 2008).
Another challenge, the “Tide Pod Challenge,” encouraged children to
post videos of themselves eating Tide Pods, resulting in about 12,000
cases of ingesting laundry detergent pods in 2017 (Janeway, 2017).
Psychological Issues and Losing Touch on Reality
Many studies show the negative psychological impact of the mass
media on people, mainly social media users. A study done in 2019
showed that social media could cause addiction that may impact the
sleep cycle, daily routine, and hinder work progress (Hou et al., 2019).
It can also lead to psychological illnesses such as narcissism, stress,
anxiety, and depression (Eraslan-Capan, 2015; Malik & Khan, 2015).
Most of the contents published on social media do not reflect the reality.
Celebrities and influencers will often show off their lavish lifestyle and
fortunes. Simultaneously, their fans will imitate that kind of lifestyle
to the degree of faking and denying reality. It will incur conflict within
their mind and impact their psychological health. Study shows that
frequent exposure to hate-speech online could plausibly influence the
online stress expression of individuals (Saha et al., 2019).
Media Landscape in Malaysia
The mass media industry in Malaysia is made up of traditional mass
media publisher such as the television, radio, newspapers, and the new
media developer or web-based media developer such as blogger and
independent content maker. Most of traditional media in Malaysia are
wholly owned by the government such as the Radio Televisyen Malaysia
(RTM) or maintained by business conglomerate such as the Media
Prima Group and Astro All Asia networks Ltd. Established in 1946,
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) or also known as the Department of
Broadcasting Malaysia – the earliest and the oldest broadcaster in the
country - currently manages 6 television channels and 34 radio stations
(Ahmad, 2009). Media Prima, on the other hand, owns four television
channels and four radio stations (Media Prima: Corporate Structure,
2020). Astro All Asia Networks Plc, Malaysia’s current sole satellite
television provider, is privately owned.
Printed newspaper in Malaysia is still widely read by the masses
despite competition by the alternative media. Well-known newspapers
such as The Star, New Straits Times, The Sun, Berita Harian, Utusan
Malaysia, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pau are still thriving
alongside 20 to 30 other newspapers and tabloids published in Malay,
English, Chinese and Tamil. Readership has yet to decrease to a
threatening degree, and advertisers continue to view it as the preferred
medium. Although the Internet has become a challenge to the traditional
mass media, the reality is that most Malaysians still get their news from
traditional media such as newspapers and television. This does not,
however, imply that Malaysian newspapers can sit back and expect
their readership to remain stable or grow. Most newspapers have also
started their own online versions to keep up with their modern readers.
Despite these changes in mass media trend, Malaysia’s traditional mass
media continue to attract advertising dollars. The presence of online
newspapers did not result in the extinction of the printed newspaper.
On the other hand, they actually enforcing each other. The new media
provide another form for traditional media to grow; as the form of
newspaper may change, but not the “newspaper” per se (Salman et al.,
2011a, p. 7).
Islamic radios and television have also started to gain more listeners
and viewers with several more channels have been made. Launched in
the early 2000s and funded by the government, IKIM-FM main features
are brief lectures, short prayers, and short passages from the Qur’ān
with several Islamic songs. In 2017, Zayan FM, a more modern and
contemporary Islamic radio was launched by Astro. On Islamic television
channel, Astro also launched Astro Oasis for full Islamic content while
Media Prime focused one of their channels, TV9, mainly for da’wah
purpose. The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia has also
started their own free-to-air Islamic television channel, TV AlHijrah,
in order to expand the reach of da’wah in Malaysia. The new media
helped the traditional media publisher to thrive with a new form as the
television channels, radios and newspapers now can be accessed online
(A. M. A. Manaf, 2018, p. 122). A statistic by the Nielsen Company
showcased an increasing trend of Digital media consumption, with a
total reach of 73% and a growth of 4% in 2017. Embracing the changes
is the current trends of the mass media industry in Malaysia in order for
them to be relevant and adapt with the changes of their users (State of
the Media – The Malaysian Media Landscape in 2017, 2018).
Methodology
The respondents of this research are the Muslim community that lives
in Gombak. This research is part of Gombak Mosque educational
module construction project that aims to develop a more structured and
effective curriculum module for the mosque. Thus, only Muslims were
eligible to participate in this study. The research employed stratified
random sampling techniques, where the population is divided into
subcategories based on the geographical location that they belonged to,
and participants of the research were randomly selected to participate
based on those criteria.
Enumerators were chosen to assist in data collection. They were
given several briefings before the questionnaires were delivered, and
they needed to be aware of the research’s general background. The items
in the questionnaire were clarified so that respondents could get better
understanding on the items. They need to also familiarize themselves
with the sampling method as well as the data collection’s overall plan
and strategies. To achieve a positive outcome of the research, several
ethical and safety standards must be followed.
The questionnaire was organised into three sections: section A’s
items are related to mosque curriculum, section B contains questions
about the respondent demography, and section C contains items
on respondent attitude and behaviour. Enumerators were given the
opportunity to complete the questionnaire first in order to identify any
potential confusion or misunderstanding of the items in the field. Any
questions or concerns about the questionnaire’s conduct were addressed
directly by our main researcher.
The respondent’s sampling procedure must meet specific criteria,
including: (1) the respondent must live in Gombak district, (2) must
be a Malaysian Muslim, (3) they can be mosque goers or non-mosque
goers, and (4) the respondent must complete the questionnaire within
the data collection period (5th July to 16th July 2019). The following is
the breakdown target for every ten respondents: 5 adult males (40 years
old and above), 3 adult females (40 years old and above), and 2 youth
(between 15 to 39 years old).
Among the plans and strategies that could make it easier for the
enumerators to reach the required number of respondents are: (1) scout
the survey area ahead of time, (2) identify the key population area, (3)
set a daily target, (4) start collecting as soon as possible, (5) be friendly
but not overly friendly, (6) submit all completed questionnaires on time,
and (6) always consult the researcher if there are any problems with the
questionnaire.
To ensure a smooth data collection process, enumerators were
encouraged to follow several ethics and safety protocols while
conducting the study, including: (1) Be polite when approaching the
respondent, (2) Be clear and objective when dealing with respondents,
(3) Try to keep interactions short but sweet, (4) Allow the respondent
to answer the questionnaire with their own thoughts, (5) Assist the
respondent if they do not understand the questionnaire, (6) Do not cheat
by filling out the form yourself, (7) Always bring the data collecting
approval letter, (8) Do not dispute with respondents, (9) If respondents
refuse to take the survey, find a new one, and (10) Always return/contact
the researcher if you have a problem.
The surveys were distributed to 596 respondents from 12 Gombak
sub-districts namely Rawang, Selayang, Kuang, Subang, Taman
Templer, Batu Caves, Gombak Setia, Gombak, Hulu Kelang, Bukit
Antarabangsa, Ampang and Lembah Jaya. Data collection was carried
from 5th July to 16th July 2019. Collected data were analysed using the
SPSS software.
Results
This part presents the research output based on the trends of media
use in Islamic education. Figure 1 showcased the overall percentage
of how Muslim society in Gombak used media in learning Islam. The
majority of the respondents had chosen television (14.1%) as their
primary platform, followed by YouTube (12.8%) and book/magazine
(10.8%). It proves that television is the most used media platform in
Malaysia. Moreover, the advancement of technology has also affected
media consumption. Modern technology allows lessons conducted at
the mosque to be recorded or broadcasted live via YouTube channels,
and the respondents can view it at any time and place they wanted. The
research also found that many respondents still return to the printed
materials such as books and magazines to obtain Islamic knowledge.
Table 1 Media used in Learning Islam

Media Channel %
Television 14.1
YouTube 12.8
Book/ Magazine 10.8
Family 9.8
Website 9.6
Radio 9.5
Friends 9.1
Facebook 8.8
Usrah 8.1
Instagram 4.1
Ustādh went to their house (home-teaching) 3.4
Similarly, some respondents learn Islam from their families (9.8%),

websites (9.6%), radio (9.5%), and friends (9.1%), followed by
Facebook (8.8%) and ’Usrah (8.1%). This survey found out that not
many respondents learn Islam through Instagram (4.1%) and from
ustādh that went to their house (3.4%).
Hence, in general, the mainstream media is still the leading platform
for Muslims to learn more about Islam. The family institution also
plays quite a significant role in educating their members about Islam.
Interestingly, social media has become more popular as a source of
da’wah and Islamic education. Social media (25.7%) can allegedly be
considered a primary media source to learn about Islam if YouTube,
Facebook, and Instagram are combined.
Other Sources of Learning Islam
There are also unpopular sources that respondents have subscribed
to learn more about Islam. Figure 1 illustrates eleven other primary
sources/platforms for Islamic education (other than going to the
mosque), with 51.5% respondents stated that they took outside classes,
21.1% others invited ustādh to their house, and 12.1% others learned
through WhatsApp app.
Figure 1 Other sources of learning Islam
Some of the respondents are regular attendees of Islamic madrasah

(9.1%), some others learn based on personal research (3%), and some
of them opt to self-inspiration to learn Islam (3%). All of these channels
are problematic because their sources could not be determined and
monitored. All Islamic sources, including the teachers and books, need to
be certified by religious authorities such as JAIS for approval. Similarly,
learning Islam through WhatsApp, self-study, and inspiration prone to
misguidance and wrong interpretation. It might lead to extremism and
deviant teaching of Islam.
Learning Islam Based on Gender
Table 2 divides the output based on the gender of the respondents.
Overall, we can see a similar trend between men and women. Both
genders have chosen television (13.6% men; 14.6% women) as the
main platform followed by YouTube (12.2% men; 13.4% women) and
book/magazine (10.5% men; 10.9% women). A similar trend was also
found in social media (24.2% men; 27.3% women) such as YouTube,
due to the similarity of YouTube to television. Moreover, YouTube is
easy to use and accessible at any time and place. The users only need to
type down the name of the lecturers—and in a short time—they will be

presented with all lessons of that lecturers.
Table 2 Learning Islam Based on Gender
Gender Men Women
Television 13.6 14.6
YouTube 12.2 13.4
Books/Magazine 10.5 10.9
Family 10.0 9.2
Website 9.7 9.0
Radio 9.6 8.9
Facebook 8.6 8.9
’Usrah 7.8 8.5
Friends 9.8 7.8
Instagram 3.4 5.0

Ustādh that came to their houses
3.5 3.2
(home-learning)
Learning Islam Based on Age

Table 3 categorises the output of this research based on the age of the
respondent. Most teenagers (14.2%), young adults (13.5%), and elderly
(18%) have chosen YouTube as their primary channel for Islamic
learning and discussion. Some adults (14.7%) seem to prefer television
as their main source of learning Islam.
The second option/medium chose by the respondents showcased
a bit of diversity. The teenager prefers to learn Islam from their family
members while the young adult has chosen television as their second
option. Some adults watch YouTube (12.8%) while elderly participants
have selected television (16.8%) as their second channel to learn about
Islam.
Table 3 Learning Islam Based on Age

61 and
Age 15-25 26-40 41-60
above
Television 11.3 12.6 14.7 16.8
Radio 6.4 8.2 9.6 11.0
Books/Magazines 7.6 9.8 12.0 13.2
Friends 8.6 8.2 9.2 11.0
YouTube 14.2 13.5 12.8 18.1
Family 11.5 9.3 9.2 12.5
’Usrah 7.8 7.7 8.0 10.4
Facebook 7.8 11.6 8.7 15.6
Websites 10.9 11.0 9.7 14.7
Home Teaching 4.5 2.9 2.7 3.9
Instagram 9.5 4.7 2.8 6.3
External/Outside classes 0.0 0.5 0.6 0.6
Teenagers have chosen television (11.3%) as their third choice of

media platform. On the other hand, the young adult (11.6%) and the
elderly (15.6%) have chosen Facebook as their third-best media to learn
more about Islam. As for the adult, they are comfortable with books
and magazines. It is not surprising that teenagers and young adults
prefer YouTube, as their generations are the ICT generation, yet it is
intriguing that the elderly also opt for social media as their main channel
for Islamic learning and discussion. Similarly, the adult participants’
preference for television is also quite fascinating.
Learning Islam Based on Educational Background
Based on the data shown in Table 4, the respondents can be divided
into several educational backgrounds; primary education (21.8%),
secondary education (15.7%), and certificate/ diploma (13.1%). Most
of them used television as their primary source for Islamic knowledge.
Meanwhile, respondents with bachelor’s (13.9%) or master’s degrees
(14.1%) have chosen YouTube as their primary source. Ph.D. holders
preferred to read books and magazines as these media are usually more
in-depth and detail.
As for their second choice, respondents with primary education

(16.1%) preferred to learn from the radio, while respondents with
secondary education (12.3%) and certificate/diploma (13%) preferred
YouTube as their secondary media. Meanwhile, respondents with
bachelor’s degrees mostly learned about Islam through television
(12.2%), and the master holders would refer to books/magazines
(13.6%), and Ph.D. holders used to spend their time on YouTube (13%).
Table 4 Learning Islam Based on Educational Background
Primary Secondary Cert/ Bachelor
Education Education Education Diploma degree
Master PhD
Book and
11.5 10.2 10.0 11.2 13.6 14.5
Magazine
YouTube 5.7 12.3 13.0 13.9 14.1 13.0
Television 21.8 15.7 13.1 12.2 13.1 11.6
Radio 16.1 10.1 8.3 8.3 10.5 11.6
Website 3.4 8.2 9.7 11.8 11.5 10.1
Friends 9.2 10.0 9.5 7.5 7.3 10.1
Family 11.5 10.5 10.4 8.3 8.4 8.7
’Usrah 6.9 7.8 8.2 9.2 6.3 8.7
Facebook 4.6 8.2 9.4 10.2 7.9 4.3
Instagram 3.4 3.4 5.1 4.0 4.7 4.3
Ustādh come to
house (home- 5.7 3.6 3.3 3.3 2.6 2.9
learning)
Learning Islam Based on Occupational Background

Based on the employment type, Table 5 highlighted that most of the
respondents who are retired (17.8%), housewives (16.7%), government
officers (14.3%), and self-employed (13.3%) chose television as their
main channel to learn about Islam. Meanwhile, respondents who work
in the private sector had chosen YouTube as their main means to acquire
knowledge. The majority of students preferred to learn about Islam
through their family members.
Table 5 Learning Islam Based on Employment
Government
Housewives
employed
Students
Private
Retires
Sector
Sector
Self-
Occupation
Family 9.2 9.7 8.6 9.8 9.3 14.4

YouTube 13.7 13.5 10.4 12.6 13.9 12.7
Website 11.5 10.7 7.9 8.9 6.8 10.9
Television 14.3 13.0 17.8 13.3 16.7 10.5
Instagram 3.6 3.9 1.8 4.3 3.9 9.6
Books/
9.5 11.3 13.7 9.6 11.0 8.3
Magazines
’Usrah 7.6 7.7 7.5 8.5 10.3 8.3
Friends 8.1 9.3 10.4 9.4 7.8 7.9
Facebook 10.4 9.3 6.4 9.5 8.5 7.0
Radio 10.6 8.5 12.6 9.8 8.5 5.7
Ustādh
coming to
their house 1.4 3.2 3.1 4.3 3.2 4.8
(home-
teaching)
Learning Islam Based on Frequency of Going to The Mosque

The following data explain the relationship between the channels
used in learning Islam and the respondents’ frequency of going to the
mosque. Based on Table 6, respondents who go to the mosque five
times (13.8%), thrice (14.7%), and once (14.4%) a day used television
as their primary channel to learn about Islam. Respondents who go to
the mosque three to five times a week use YouTube (12.8%) as their
main channel to learn Islam. On the other hand, respondents who go to
the mosque once or twice a week also chose television (15.3%) as their
primary source of knowledge on Islam. Finally, respondents who go one
to four times a month used television and YouTube (14.2%) to enhance
their understanding of Islam.
Table 6 Learning Islam Based on Frequency Going to The Mosque

1–4 1-2 3-5
1 time 3 times 5 times
Frequency going times times times
in a in a in a
to the Mosque in a in a in a
day day day
month week week
Television 14.2 15.3 12.5 14.4 14.7 13.8
Book/Magazines 9.5 10.1 12.1 10.8 11.5 11.4
YouTube 14.2 13.4 12.8 13.8 11.9 11.2
Radio 8.0 8.2 9.5 10.2 11.0 10.7
Friends 7.6 9.4 8.1 9.6 10.6 10.0
’Usrah 7.0 7.4 7.7 9.0 8.4 10.0
Family 9.9 9.4 10.0 10.2 9.5 9.7
Websites 10.7 10.1 9.7 6.6 9.1 8.7
Facebook 10.6 9.6 8.6 9.0 7.4 7.6
Ustādh coming
to their house
(Home-teaching) 3.0 3.6 3.9 3.0 2.2 4.3
Instagram 5.4 3.6 5.1 3.6 3.5 2.5
Discussion and Conclusion

Based on the data above, we may find a similar tendency between men
and women when it comes to learning Islam based on gender. Television
is the most popular platform for both men and women, followed by
YouTube and books/magazines. Due to YouTube’s resemblance
to television, a similar trend was observed in social media such as
YouTube. YouTube is also simple to use and accessible at anytime and
anywhere. Users merely need to key in the lecturer’s name, and they
will be presented with all of that lecturer’s classes in a short time. For
the approval of any Islamic source, whether it be a teacher or a book, it
is necessary to obtain certification from a religious authority such as the
JAIS. Similarly, understanding Islam through social media platforms
like WhatsApp, through independent research, or by inspiration might
lead to erroneous interpretations. It is possible that this will lead to
fanaticism as well as a misguided teaching of Islam.
When the respondents were broken down according to their ages,
we discovered that the vast majority of teenagers, young adults, and
senior citizens use YouTube as their primary medium for Islamic study
and conversation. It would appear that watching television is the primary
method of Islamic education for certain folks. It is not surprising that
teenagers and young adults prefer YouTube because their generations
are the generation of ICT; nonetheless, it is remarkable that senior
people also use social media as their primary medium for learning about
Islam and having discussions about Islamic topics. In a similar vein, the
predilection for television held by the adult participants is an aspect that
is quite remarkable.
There are a few different educational backgrounds that can be used
to categorise the respondents, which are primary education, secondary
education, and certificate or diploma. The majority of them relied mostly
on television as their primary medium for Islamic education. In the
meantime, respondents who hold either a bachelor’s or master’s degree
have said that YouTube is their preferred source. Ph.D. holders favour
reading books and periodicals since the content of these mediums is
typically more in-depth and detail oriented.
The research came to the conclusion that the majority of people
who were retired, housewives, government officers, and self-employed
chose television as their primary channel to learn about Islam. In the
meantime, respondents who are employed in the private sector have
indicated that they mostly acquire knowledge through the use of
YouTube. The vast majority of students indicate that they would rather
learn about Islam from members of their own families.
Television is the primary source of information about Islam for
respondents who attend prayers between once to five times per day
at a mosque. YouTube is the primary source of Islamic education for
respondents who attend religious services between three and five times
per week. On the other hand, respondents who attend to the mosque
once or twice a week selected television as their primary source of
information on Islam. Finally, respondents who go between once a
month and four times a month say they learn more about Islam through
watching television or watching videos on YouTube.
Based on the presented data, we could see that television is the
most popular channel for Islamic learning and education. The data
showcased that most respondents used television to learn about Islam
regardless of their demographic and psychographic background. These
findings are essential in discovering the role of television and its

relevance as a broadcasting channel in our modern ages. With the new
media’s popularity, many experts believe that television’s position as
a broadcasting agent will be outdated and soon becoming a deserted
industry. However, this study challenged that and suggested that
Malaysia’s television broadcasting industry is still relevant, particularly
in conveying Islamic material and teaching. Therefore, it is not an
exaggeration to argue that television is still efficient and effective in
conveying Islamic information to viewers.
In conclusion, the role of new media in educating the public cannot
be undermined, as the data also showed that YouTube and Facebook
are among the top three media chosen as well. The new media offered
plenty of interfaces that allow users to select relevant information,
ask questions, share information, and create Islamic content. With
this, respondents could enhance and expand their knowledge that they
obtained from the mosque and on television. For example, suppose a
pair of newlyweds is curious about their marriage responsibility- he or
she can search as many religious talks they like on marriages given by
any scholars worldwide. It will provide them with a comprehensive and
in-depth understanding of their marriage responsibility.
The data also showcased the importance of media as a channel in
distributing Islamic knowledge to the community. Hence, the mosque
should use the advantage of new media to broadcast their organised
lesson and classes. Facebook Live and IG Live are among the tools
that the mosque committee could use in their mosque in expanding
their reach to the people who cannot attend face-to-face classes at the
mosque. People who are working, disabled, or too occupied with their
daily activities can also join the courses online at their place.
Moreover, the classes can be recorded and uploaded to YouTube for
people who missed them. Similarly, these recorded classes and lectures
can also help random viewers who are perhaps in a difficult stage of
their life and now seeking true answers in Islam. They could type out
any keyword, and hopefully, some of the recorded videos could guide
them back to the right way. It will further enhance the efficiency of
mosque’s programmes from only benefiting the people who go to the
mosque to expand its benefit to the whole ummah in general.
Furthermore, the shared and viewed videos can also generate

income for the mosque. For example, when the mosque’s YouTube
account reaches a certain number of subscriptions, the mosque will be
paid handsomely for every viewer and advertisement embedded in the
video. The mosque account information can also be added to the video
to attract more donors. The mosque can use the generated income to
help the surrounding community especially the needy Muslims. For this
to happen, the mosque should have its media equipment, media team,
and social media accounts. Moreover, the mosque committee should be
equipped with the necessary media knowledge and production training.
It will promote a good new image and perspective of the mosque in the
eyes of the public. It will also further enhance and improve the mosque’s
role as the “Markaz al-Ummah” in producing excellent Muslims.
Finally, it is crucial to improve Muslim scholars’ perception of
media roles in da’wah so its strength could be used to improve Islamic
institutions such as the mosque. The mosque is not just a symbol of
Islam, yet it is the heart and centre of Muslims’ activity and it is important
to strategically utilise the media’s strength as part of a plan to diversify
and expand the mosque presence in the community. The objective of
this research in examining the pattern of media usage among Muslims
in Gombak based on gender, age, education level, occupation, and
frequency of going to the mosque is fruitful with the output discussed
above. Further study needs to be done by using a larger sample and
focussing on different districts in Selangor. This study also suggests that
this kind of surveys should be expanded to the national level to reaffirm
and discover the importance of media in da’wah and Islamic education.
It is essential to understand the degree of transformation needed to be
done on the mosque’s institution regarding improving its roles as an
institution that pillared the ummah’s excellence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
* This research is supported by
International Islamic University Malaysia under IIUM Flagship
Research Initiative Grant Scheme and Mosque Development Division,
Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor
– JAIS) with title: A New Standard for Mosque Curriculum in Gombak. A
special acknowledgement to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Che Mahzan Bin Ahamad,

Dr. Che’ Razi Bin Jusoh, Dr. Ismail bin Mamat, Dr. Aliza Bin Elias @
Mayah, Dr. Mohd Helmi Bin Mohd Sobri, Dr. Sofiah Binti Samsudin
and Br Mohamad Haeqal Bin Ishak for their effort and contribution in
this research.
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The Best Solution for Pandemic Prevention

of Covid-19: Important Notes in Light of the
Quranic Perspectives
Abur Hamdi Usman∗

Muhd. Najib Abdul Kadir∗∗
Mohd Farid Ravi Abdullah∗∗∗
Abstract: This article analytically discusses how the Quran commands

Muslims to be prudent in the face of a pandemic crisis. The Quran is the holy
book of Islam and is considered by Muslims to be the word of God and is a valid
source of guidance alongside science advisories from government authorities.
Using a qualitative method, this study investigates the Quranic assertion that
in the face of a pandemic crisis, Muslims are required to do charitable deeds
and keep striving with the hope that the solution to problems people face can
be actively found, rather than just fatalistically surrendering to fate and Allah’s
power alone. In this regard, the Quran commands Muslims to be prudent and to
take precautions against the spread of disease, practice charity, endure, not be
fooled by false gossip and to place trust in the religious and health authorities
during times of crisis.
Keywords: Pandemic, Covid-19, solution, health, light of the Quran
* Assistant Professor, Department of Dakwah and Usuluddin, Faculty of

Islamic and Civilisation Studies, Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor
(KUIS). Email: aburhamdi@kuis.edu.my (corresponding author)
** Professor, Research Center for Quran and Sunnah, Faculty of Islamic
Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Email: abunaseh@ukm.edu.
my
*** Associate Professor, Department of al-Quran and al-Sunnah, Faculty of
Islamic and Civilisation Studies, Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor
(KUIS). Email: faridravi@kuis.edu.my
Abstrak: Artikel ini secara analitikal membincangkan bagaimana al-Quran

memerintahkan umat Islam untuk berhemah dalam menghadapi krisis
pandemik. Al-Quran adalah kitab suci agama Islam dan dianggap oleh Muslim
sebagai firman Tuhan dan merupakan sumber panduan yang sah di samping
nasihat sains daripada pihak berkuasa kerajaan. Dengan menggunakan kaedah
kualitatif, kajian ini menyiasat penegasan al-Quran bahawa dalam menghadapi
krisis pandemik, umat Islam dituntut untuk beramal dan terus berusaha
dengan harapan penyelesaian kepada masalah yang dihadapi manusia dapat
dicari secara aktif, bukan hanya menyerah diri secara fatal kepada takdir dan
kekuasaan Allah SWT semata-mata. Dalam hal ini, al-Quran memerintahkan
umat Islam untuk berhemah dan mengambil langkah berjaga-jaga terhadap
penularan penyakit, beramal, bersabar, tidak terpedaya dengan gosip palsu dan
meletakkan kepercayaan kepada pihak berkuasa agama dan kesihatan semasa
krisis.
Kata kunci: Pandemik, Covid-19, penyelesaian, kesihatan, cahaya al-Quran
Introduction
The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is a worldwide phenomenon. As
of now, millions of people have been infected by this pandemic, and too
many lives have been lost. The spread was so fast that the entire world
was stumped and left in a state of restlessness and anger. All countries
of the world had to deal with this global phenomenon by taking drastic
preventive measures so that its transmission could be controlled and
subsequently stopped altogether (Komarova, Schang, & Wodarz, 2020).
In the Malaysian context, the Covid-19 pandemic was confirmed
to have spread on 25 January 2020. In Kuala Lumpur, a 14,000 strong
delegation of Islamic Tablighi-Jamaat was widely considered the cause
of the second wave of the pandemic in Malaysia, with attendees from
the event travelling to Brunei, Cambodia and Indonesia and later testing
positive with the virus (Barmania & Reiss, 2021). As shown in Figure
1, on 19 April 2021, there were 377,132 confirmed positive cases with
355,224 cases of recovery, 2,078 new cases, 1,386 deaths, 228 cases
treated in ICUs and respiratory assistance required in ninety-three cases
(“Current Situation of Covid-19”, 2021).
Important Notes in Light of the Quranic Perspectives 215
Figure 1: Covid-19 Data in Malaysia, as of 19th April 2021
Source: Current Situation of Covid-19 (2021)
To date, the Malaysian government has implemented several phases

of restriction when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred. Among them were
the movement control order (MCO), the enhanced movement control
order (EMCO), the conditional movement control order (CMCO),
and the recovery movement control order (RMCO) (Ng et al., 2020).
According to Yıldırım, Arslan, and Alkahtani (2021), fear of Covid-19
and negative religious coping may be detrimental to mental health, while
positive religious coping may reduce depression and stress. Hence,
the spread of pandemics such as Covid-19 needs to be endured wisely
(includes individual coping strategies or regulatory prevention strategies)
to avoid other problems such as depression and mental disorders. The
lockdowns and social restrictions led to a decrease in wellbeing (Morres
et al., 2021). According to Weber and Pargament (2014), religion and
spirituality can enhance mental health by encouraging constructive
religious coping mechanisms, community and support, and affirming
beliefs. Additionally, studies examining religious coping in medically
ill patients have found that between 34% and 86% have reported using
their religious/spiritual thoughts and activities in coping with their
illness (Thune-Boyle, Stygall, Keshtgar, & Newman, 2006). From all
this, we must manage the Covid-19 crisis with efficiency and wisdom
to reduce the negative effects on the individual and society. From the
Islamic perspective, Allah does not send down a calamity without

a positive aspect of wisdom behind it, as spoken in the words of the
Prophet, which means:
From ‘Ā’ishah, the wife of the Prophet said: “I have asked
the Prophet about the plague. Then the Prophet told me
that it is a punishment sent by Allah to whomever He wills,
and Allah made it a blessing for the believers. No one was
affected by the plague of this Year while they were staying in
their own country with patience and thoughtfulness, and they
understood that nothing happened to them unless everything
was determined by Allah, even then they will be rewarded
with martyrdom.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Aḥādīth
al-Anbiyā’, Bāb Ḥadīth al-Ghār, hadith number 3287).
Conrad (1982) argued about how plague terminology is used in Arabic

sources, which in many instances offer testimony of the highest value.
Conrad (1982) said, in classical Arabic, the term ṭā‘ūn is usually
assumed to mean “plague”, while wabā’ is considered a more general
term for “epidemic” or “pestilence”. Hence, in the Arabic writings
about the plague of the fourteenth century and after, one repeatedly
encounters the maxim, “Every ṭā‘ūn is a wabā’, but not every wabā’ is
a ṭā‘ūn.” According to this hadith, the test of the spread of disease was
a punishment for unbelievers (kuffār). However, as Muslims, it can be
considered mercy from God (al-‘Asqalānī, 2005). Therefore, the plague
or ṭā‘ūn is sent by God to whomever He wills as a token of divine mercy
for Muslims since it guarantees them entry into Paradise as martyrs.
This portrayal of the epidemic as a manifestation of divine kindness
and the tremendous recompense that will be bestowed upon those who
perish as a result of it must be contextualised within a broader view of
disease, and challenges or trials in general, as a type of test (ibtilā’).
Test as a means of establishing one’s faith and sincerity is a central
concept in religious traditions, which is undoubtedly true of Islam as
well (Shabana, 2021).
A Muslim should therefore take no action to flee from the plague
or enter an area known to be infected since both actions are attempts
to foil the will of God (Conrad, 1981). It is nevertheless cannot be
understood as ‘fatalistically surrendering’ as the effort shown by ‘Umar
ibn al-Khaṭṭāb in the famous incident of the plague that hit Syria.
According to reports, when ‘Umar was on his approach to Syria, the
army’s leaders went out to meet him to inform him of the outbreak of
the plague. When he conferred with his companions, a disagreement
arose. While some believed they should continue to Syria according to
their original plan when they left Medina, others believed they should
return and avoid spreading the disease to other Muslims. After more
contemplation, ‘Umar chose to return to Medina and avoid exposing
the people with him to the sickness. At that point, the army’s leader,
Abū ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāḥ, posed an exclamatory question on whether
‘Umar was escaping from God’s destiny by doing so. ‘Umar reacted by
emphasising that he would be escaping from one God’s destiny to the
next. The report finishes with a Prophetic warning not to enter or exit
an impacted location. According to the report, ‘Umar was unaware of
the Prophet’s words before deciding to return to Medina. When another
companion, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Awf brought it to his attention, ‘Umar
was satisfied that his conclusion matched this counsel. This report has
inspired discussions on the extent to which one can exercise one’s
agency in response to an action or event perceived to be part of divine
destiny (Shabana, 2021).
Regarding the pandemic, throughout history, Muslims have
experienced similar disasters. Ibn Ḥajar al-‘Asqalānī (d. 852 H) in his
book Badhl al-Mā‘ūn fī Faḍl al-Ṭā‘ūn records that in 749H there was a
great plague epidemic in the city of Damascus, Syria. To eliminate the
epidemic, the villagers prayed together in the open. al-‘Asqalānī (nd.:
328-329) said:
And the men came out towards the open fields with influential
people and dignitaries of the country, and they prayed to
Allah. Thus, the plague epidemic became much worse and
more widespread, while before they gathered together for
prayer, the epidemic was contained.
A similar incident, according to al-‘Asqalānī (nd.), occurred closer to

the present day, namely in Cairo, Egypt dated 27 Rabiulakhir year 833
H. Al-‘Asqalānī (nd.: 328-329) said:
The number of people who died due to the epidemic
numbered below 40. They then went out towards the open
field on 4th Jamadilawal after being asked to fast for three
days in advance. As with the Istisqā’ (prayer for rain),
they prayed and completed the prayer immediately before
returning home. In less than a month, the number of people
dead every day in Cairo reached a thousand and continued

to increase.
The historical record on the spread of the epidemic, as narrated by

al-‘Asqalānī above, proves that the phenomenon of epidemics has
been going on for a long time (Ayalon, 2021). Therefore, the current
generation must be prepared to face this pandemic by placing religious
guidance in primary position. Religion has always played the role of
a balm for the soul, and regular religious participation is associated
with better emotional health outcomes (Kowalczyk et al., 2020).
For those who believe in God, seeing oneself as having a close bond
with God could yield emotional benefits. People may find comfort by
believing that an all-powerful deity will provide support, guidance,
and protection (Exline, Grubbs, & Homolka, 2015). Accordingly, as a
religion that covers the entire lifestyle of its adherents, Islam has its set
rules, procedures, and standards for daily life. As a universal or holistic
religion that guides people to the right path, including when faced with
dangerous pandemics such as Covid-19, reflecting on arguments from
Islamic sources as a guide (including in terms of preventive measures
and effects) (Ameen et al., 2020) can reveal the hidden wisdom behind
this global pandemic.
In this article, the author parses the methods for managing challenges
people face from Covid-19 using the Quran as the primary source of
legislation in Islam. The breakdown is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: The best Covid-19 pandemic prevention solution in the light of the
Quran
On Viruses in the Light of the Quran

According to Islam, all organisms such as cells, viruses, bacteria and
even the biosphere are Allah’s creation, consisting of various forms
involving unique structures (Mehmood et al., 2021). An interesting study
conducted by scholars from Algeria argued that al-Muddaththir [74], a
sura in the Quran, discusses viruses, which can be explicitly applied to
Covid-19 (Khenenou, Laabed, & Laabed, 2020). Other Quranic verses
that discuss viruses are 2:26 & 243, and 21:83.
i. al-Baqarah [2] verse 26 on Mosquitoes

An epidemic is a natural phenomenon that should not be taken lightly.
Throughout history, among the epidemics that have shocked the world
are mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, both major
global health problems faced by the human population. The single-cell
protozoan responsible for malaria and the virus that causes dengue,
both carried by mosquitoes, are leading causes of death and disease
throughout tropical and subtropical countries (Cowman et al., 2016).
Although mosquitoes are small insects, they can significantly impact
human life. John Robert McNeill, a history professor and author of
Mosquito Empires, mentions that mosquitoes can even influence world
change in some situations. In the history of wars of the 20th century,
the number of casualties from disease transmitted by mosquitoes was
proven greater than that of weapons (McNeill, 2010). In the Quran, 2:26
can be referred to regarding the plague that comes from this tiny insect.
The parable found in Quran, 2:26 reflects the power of Allah, who
can create small creatures like the mosquito and so can create even
smaller life forms such as the Covid-19 virus. Suppose the existence
of a tiny pest like the mosquito can cause humans to suffer from deadly
diseases such as dengue fever. In that case, it is only natural that a
micro-sized virus can kill millions of people around the world today
(Laishram et al., 2012). Therefore, it is understood that the smaller
something is, the more difficult it can be to unravel its secrets (al-Rāzī,
1995). Although the polytheists are cynical about the small animals as
mentioned by Allah in the Quran, scientific studies of today find that the
creation of small animals such as mosquitoes reflects the greatness of
Allah in creation (Othman & Yusoff, 2012).
Although mosquitoes are tiny in shape and form, they have a
significant relationship with human health. From ancient times to the
present, mosquitoes have been the leading cause of significant health
problems for humans and livestock worldwide. Mosquitoes cause
various diseases. The Anopheles mosquito is a malaria vector; the
Aedes mosquito is a dengue, yellow fever (in America and Africa) and
encephalitis (in America and Europe) vector. Meanwhile, the Mansonia
and Culex mosquitoes are filariasis vectors (Salleh, 1997). Humans get
various diseases through mosquitoes, such as dengue fever, malaria and
others. However, the effects of mosquito bites are negligible to humans,
with only allergic reactions such as itching, red swelling on the body
and so on. The danger of mosquitoes is that they are vectors or carriers
of microorganisms or parasites that cause fatal or debilitating diseases
(Salleh, 1997).
ii. al-Baqarah [2] verse 243 on the Plague Virus
The Quran insists on the prohibition of leaving one’s hometown or
area affected by the plague. The plague epidemic that broke out among
the Israelites a long time ago can be used as a lesson for the current
generation, as stated by Allah in Quran, 2:243.
Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabari (d. 310 H.), shared this interpretation of verse 243
from sura al-Baqarah through the account of a majority of companions
and followers that the Israelites fled from their villages in groups, and
they either fled to avoid fighting their enemies or to escape from the
plague (al-Ṭabari, nd.; Conrad, 1981). Ibn Kathīr (2000) added this
interpretation by quoting Ibn ‘Abbās’s view that the Israelites numbered
four thousand, all leaving their homelands to avoid the plague affecting
their state.
In response to the interpretation of the account above, Muslims
can cite the wisdom of teachings and evidence that show that there is
no benefit of vigilance in the face of destiny, and there is no refuge
from Allah save by Him. Ibn Kathīr (2000) opined that the Israelites ran
away to escape the epidemic that struck them to continue their lives.
However, in the end, the fate that befell them was the opposite of what
was expected. Death came swiftly and destroyed them all. Despite the
strictness of the law in entering and fleeing from an area plagued by
disease outbreaks, there is debate among scholars about rukhṣah (a
special dispensation that can be invoked in the case of an emergency
situation with only one plausible solution, the non-performance of
which will threaten human life or well-being) for those in the area to
get out of it or vice versa. It can be pointed out that there is flexibility
for certain groups to do so with certain conditions, as explained by
al-Qurṭubī (2006) in his Quranic exegesis. For example, obtaining
or providing treatment, performing employment, running a business,
pursuing studies, providing essential services, delivering assistance,
controlling security, or others related to general and special benefits are
included in the rukhsah that can be considered necessary. However, it is
still subject to the conditions from authoritative reference experts such
as obtaining confirmation of not suffering from or carrying the virus of

the disease for those who wish to do so, and other related.
iii. al-Anbiyā’ [21] verse 83 on leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused by a Mycobacterium
leprae infection (Worobec, 2009). Leprosy is one of the major skin
diseases that causes body deformities. The consequence of this
disease is paralysis of the limbs with symptoms of pain, fever, loss
of limb function, and eventually leading to mental disorders or death
(Arikrishnan, 2020). In the Quran, this disease has been mentioned in
sura Quran, 21:83.
In his interpretation, Ibn Kathīr (2000) stated that Allah spoke
about Prophet Ayub (Job) and the calamity that befell him as a test. The
tragedy befell his property, children, as well as his body. Prophet Ayub
was a wealthy person who owned much livestock and agricultural land.
He also had many children and a large comfortable home. So, Allah
tested Prophet Ayub’s faith by first taking away his property; all of them
disappeared without a trace. Then the test was imposed on the body of
the Prophet Ayub himself. The ailment that attacked him was leprosy on
his whole body. Not a single part of his body was safe from this illness,
except the heart and tongue that always remembered praising Allah.
This specific test of the Prophet Ayub made the people around him not
want to be near him. So, Prophet Ayub secluded himself in the city’s
outskirts where he lived. No human being wanted to come near him
save his wife, who oversaw caring for and managing his daily needs.
Based on the interpretation, it can be understood that leprosy
suffered by Prophet Ayub was so severe that the people around did not
want to approach him. The action of the whole community distancing
themselves from Prophet Ayub was in line with the words of the
Prophet. The Prophet specifically stressed that the public must stay
away from leprosy patients for fear of being infected. As narrated by
Abū Hurairah, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stated, “[t]here are no
contagious diseases, ill omens, owls nor ṣafar (which are considered to
bring misfortune). Stay away from leprosy just as you flee from a lion.”
(Narrated by al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Ṭib, Bāb al-Judhām, hadith number
5707).
In this noble hadith, an elaborate medical plan was developed by
the illiterate prophet at a time when there was no known “quarantine”
or others, obliging the Muslim who is present in a country where the

plague was rampant not to come out of it even if he is healthy because
he may have carried the disease, and whoever is outside the country
should not enter it. Also, isolation and blocking epidemics are required
from a religious point of view. Islam forbade the exit of a person from
an endemic environment into a safe environment, and he does not enter
into an endemic environment while in a healthy environment (Al Eid &
Arnout, 2020).
Hence, the argument of avoiding infectious diseases such as leprosy
has been compared to avoiding the Covid-19 viral disease because it
resembles a cause and effect in terms of infectious concern. Logically,
staying away from people suspected of having the Covid-19 virus is
more important because it is difficult to ascertain whether a person is
indeed positive compared to leprosy, which can be detected and clearly
seen (Ramos-e-Silva & Rebello, 2001).
Covid-19 Pandemic Solution According to the Understanding of
Quranic Guidance
Based on the thematic study conducted on the Quran’s verses related to
plague, specifically, there were no control and treatment methods for the
plague in the Quran. Even so, some interpreters associate plague with
the kind of punishment that was once inflicted on the Israelites (Fancy &
Green, 2021). Other accounts remain silent and do not interpret the type
of punishment the Israelites faced. Nevertheless, it is possible to work
out some of the concepts listed below as methods that can be derived to
control or treat Covid-19 according to the light of the Quran.
i. Tawakkul (Trust in God)
Islam emphasises faith’s strength, which acts as an emergency medical
treatment (Alyanak, 2020). Individuals who experience avoidance
or anxious attachment to God reported higher levels of anxiety and
depression, lower levels of life satisfaction, and poorer physical health
compared to individuals with a secure attachment to God (Parenteau,
Hurd, Wu, & Feck, 2019). Theoretically, the element of reliance or
tawakkul is evaluated as a principal factor in determining one’s spiritual
intelligence (Nemati, Rassouli, & Baghestani, 2017). It functions to
produce a strong soul, leading an individual towards high resilience
in the face of life’s challenges (Huda, Yusuf, Azmi Jasmi, & Zakaria,
2016). Tawakkul refers to the state of the heart that depends entirely on
Allah and feels calm with Him and without fear (Ibn Qayyim, 1993).
Tawakkul also means trusting Allah’s purpose in carrying out a plan,
leaning on Him and surrendering oneself under His protection (al-
Ghazālī, 1998; Watt, 1986).
In this way, an individual who applies tawakkul will give birth to a
strong soul because he is confident that Allah will always help and guide
him in all aspects of behaviour. This then shapes the individual into
a person with high resilience in the face of life’s challenges (Usman,
Stapa, & Abdullah, 2020), as decreed by Allah in Quran, 65:2-3. This
strategy may be a reactive process in response to a stressor (resulting in
prayers for help), a lifelong trained habit (in terms of a “trait”), or the
conviction that faith is a stronghold and God is at one’s side whatever
life brings. This can be regarded as a robust basic trust in God, who is
expected to carry one through such phases of insecurity or illness. As a
result, people who rely on theistic beliefs may pray for distinct reasons:
to connect with the Sacred (communication), to become healthy again
(invocation), or to articulate fears and worries without any further
expectation of healing (which nevertheless may result in feelings of
relief). Interestingly, research on this topic has shown that most patients
with chronic diseases pray to find relief from their suffering; they do
not necessarily pray to receive healing, but to “positively transform the
experience of their illness” (Büssing, Recchia, & Baumann, 2015).
ii. Tabayyun (research/verification)
The spread of the Covid-19 virus has impacted various sectors of
life, including economic growth and mental health. As the entire world
struggles in the face of this pandemic, various inappropriate statements
or writings (fake news) are uploaded or shared on various social media
sites, adding to the existing tensions worldwide. Additionally, many
chain messages of false information have been spread to the public
regarding the Covid-19 virus. There is fear that the spread of false
statements or materials related to this issue will cause concern and panic
among the community. Thus, in the seriousness of fighting the Covid-19
pandemic, the Quran urges the community not to underestimate the
matter of tabayyun.
With that, Allah commands all to conduct research and get the truth
of the news conveyed by a person to avoid unwanted events (Usman,
Sailin, & Mutalib, 2019). Allah shows this matter in the Quran, 49:6.
When interpreting this verse, al-Ṭabarī (nd.) states that tabayyun is the
intention of delaying for a while the information or news that arrives
until one knows with confidence it is undeniably the truth. This means
that one should not be in a hurry to receive news. Allah’s command to
first carefully examine the news, according to Ibn Kathīr (2000), as an
advised precautionary measure (iḥtiyāṭ). This ensures that a person does
not pre-judge with reckless words, which could lead to lies or factual
errors.
iii. Patience
The scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be faced patiently and
wisely by Muslims. Acts of extreme annoyance or despair in the face of
such a situation should be avoided; it is better to try to reflect upon and
understand the wisdom behind it (Mandal & Pal, 2020). This pandemic
should be understood as a form of test from Allah on His servants.
With the success of being patient in facing this test, a person can get
unfathomable joy from Allah. The Quran records the words of Allah
in 2:155 as to the importance of patience (Afsaruddin, 2007; Al Eid &
Arnout, 2020).
Abū ‘Abdullah Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abū Bakr al-Anṣarī al-
Qurṭubī (d. 671 H.), author of the book al-Jāmi‘ li Aḥkām al-Qur’ān wa
al-Mubayyin li mā Taḍammanahu min al-Sunnah wa Āiy al-Furqān,
when interpreting Quran, 2:155 states that a reward is provided and
promised by Allah for those who are patient. The origin of patience
is restraint, and its reward is innumerable. However, it will not be
obtained unless patience occurs at the beginning of the test (al-Qurṭubī,
2006). Outwardly, the views of this insightful account may come across
to Muslims who evaluate the tests of Allah as sometimes brutal and
cruel. However, when viewed in a new light, it is found that the fruit of
patience contains grace.
It is not farfetched to claim that testing is a way Allah signifies his
love for his servants. Through a life test such as Covid-19, a person
can be made aware of his smallness and the greatness of Allah. Thus, a
person will become increasingly humble towards his God, continuously
asking for forgiveness and repenting of all sins and wrongdoings.
Therefore, patience in facing this test of life is evaluated as a virtue
in the eyes of religion (Al Eid & Arnout, 2020). In line with that, an
account of the hadith narrated by Suhaib stated that the Prophet (pbuh)
explicated as such:
The condition of a believer is amazing. The whole affair is
good; this matter is not found except in a believer. If he gets
pleasure, he is grateful. Then it is good for him. If he gets
into trouble, he is patient, then that also is good for him.
(Narrated by Muslim, Kitāb al-Zuhd wa al-Raqā’iq, Bāb al-
Mu’min amruh kulluhu khair, hadith number 2999).
iv. Staying at Home

Staying at home is surely a good option in some cases but not in all (i.e.,
fire, tsunamis). However, during the Covid-19 outbreak, this solution is
highly recommended and can help reduce activities associated with the
spread of plague (Moreland et al., 2020). Hence, the Quran emphasised
the importance of staying in one’s home when in a situation of danger, as
decreed by Allah in 27:18. This sura presents the account of the Prophet
Solomon’s army in the Valley of the Ants. While some scholars accept
the literal meaning and suggest a miracle in communicating with ants,
others believe “The Ants” was the name of a human tribe that Solomon
encountered (El-Mallak, & El-Mallakh, 1994).
In this sura, Allah describes how an ant was so concerned about
the safety of other ants, advising them to enter their nests so as not
to be trampled by the Prophet Solomon and his armies. Ibn Kathīr
(2000) interprets that when the Prophet Solomon and his army reached
the valley of the ants, one of the ants was worried about his people
who would perish because they were trampled by the horses of the
army of the Prophet Solomon. So, he called on his fellow-creatures to
immediately enter their nests.
According to the former Sheikh of al-Azhar, Muḥammad Musṭafā
al-Marāghī (d. 1945), the story of the ants in the Quran is meant to be
a lesson to the rational so that they can understand the state of these
creatures. The situation of the ants that had successfully gathered their
friends to escape from any danger by organising themselves to find
resources (al-Marāghī, 1946). As a result, it can be understood that
the orderliness and discipline found in the ant kingdom, as stated by
Allah in the above verse, the ants sought immediate protection (after
receiving a warning from their scout) so as not to be trampled by Prophet
Solomon and his army. Indirectly, Allah also reminds human beings
that in striving to meet their daily needs, they should also prioritise the
common good to take refuge in one’s house from the evils that come
and other calamities.
The ant was one of the soldier ants whose role was to defend the
colony and protect it from danger. Logically, these worker ants were
the first to detect any danger approaching the colony, such as the arrival
of the Prophet Solomon and his army as the ants kept watch outside
the nest (Güneş, 2004). Upon reflection, the ants can assume that the
Prophet Solomon and his army are larger creatures that would trample
and destroy the ant population. Thus, the ant tries to escape from a
danger collectively, as this instinct had been placed into the ants by
Allah to preserve the colony’s life. One lesson that can be learned from
this event is that even a tiny insect has feelings of affinity for its kind;
to be spared from destruction, together they seek refuge in their nest
during challenging times (Ross, 1994). Although the ant’s nest is not
as strong, efforts to save the colony must be implemented without any
reason for delay.
In this vein, the strategy of ‘social distancing’ is currently
recommended to hinder the spread of the Covid-19 virus which includes
the closure of workplaces and educational institutions, the avoidance of
large gatherings, the quarantine of persons in contact with confirmed
cases, the isolation of suspected or confirmed cases, the recommendation
of staying at home, and even the mandatory quarantine or lock-down of
certain residential areas and cities (Islam, Islam, & Adam, 2020).
v. Conduct Endeavours Based on Reason
Muslims need to realise and understand that nothing happens in heaven
or on earth except by the will of Allah. When this fact is appreciated,
it can create peace in a believer’s heart. Of course, a Muslim should
strive to avoid being infected by whatever effective means, including
quarantining, maintaining personal hygiene, maintaining a balanced
diet, social distancing as directed by the authorities, and medicinal
treatment (Ahmad & Ahad, 2021). Allah recommends endeavours of
spiritual healing through the verses of the Quran through His words in
17:82.
The interpretation of this verse explains that Allah sent down the
Quran as a cure for ignorance, misguidance, eliminating severe diseases,
hypocrisy, deviation and polytheism. The Quran is a blessing to the

believers who practice all the required obligations. Believers partake
in what is lawful and reject what is forbidden. Then they enter Paradise
and are delivered from Allah’s divine punishment (al-Marāghī, 1946).
Therefore, Islam has made it obligatory to treat patients by practising
endeavours or ikhtiyār in close collaboration with tawakkul towards
Allah. This proves the absolute conviction to the practice that no one
can prevent, benefit or cause harm other than by His will. According
to Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (d. 1393), one of the famous Sunni scholars of
the Hanbali School of thought, tawakkul shows a heart that genuinely
depends on Allah in obtaining benefits and rejecting harm in matters of
this world and the hereafter, up to the smallest detail and the greatest
extent of things (Ibn Rajab, 2001). Subsequently, to face the Covid-19
epidemic, efforts can be conducted as advised by the Prophet through
a hadith narrated by Usāmah ibn Zaid (Nuryana & Fauzi, 2020). The
Prophet (pbuh) once said, “[w]hen you hear the news of Plague in a
place, then do not enter it, and if you are in the place where the Plague
occurs, then do not go out of it.” (Narrated by al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Ṭib,
Bāb mā yudhkar fī al-ṭā‘ūn, no. 5396).
Another effort that can be made is to recite the al-Fātiḥah with
the sick or affected person. The advantages of the sura al-Fātiḥah
can be derived from the incident of how a companion of the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) named Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī had saved a village chief
who was stung by a poisonous animal. Abū Sa’īd al-Khudrī recited the
al-Fātiḥah to treat the village chief, and with the permission of Allah,
the patient was cured (al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Ṭib, Bāb al-Ruqyā bi fātiḥat
al-kitāb, no. 5404).
vi. Mental Soothingness with Dhikr (remembrance of Allah)
In the Quran, there is a method of healing therapy for the heart, and
through those, other diseases can be weathered. The words of Allah in
13:28 prescribes treatment of a weak heart with dhikr. Evidence of this
discourse can be seen in relation to a weak heart disposition of a person
(Haque & Keshavarzi, 2014; Hussein, 2018; Saniotis, 2018).
Dhikr, in terms of language, means to say and remember. While in
terms of terminology, it means remembrance that is done to remember
Allah to escape from negligence and forgetfulness of the heart by
constantly feeling the presence of Allah in one’s heart (Hooker, (2021;
al-Sakandarī, 1961). Thus, dhikr is the memory and presence of a

strong and continuous heart praising and gravitating towards the divine
meanings of Allah so that negligence is removed from the heart in ways
that are allowed by Islamic law, such as through speech, deeds or with
the heart (Abuali, 2020).
There are many verses of the Quran related to the call to always
perform dhikr by remembering Allah (Geels, 1996). Among them are
the words of Allah in 33:41 (Guemuesay, 2012). Al-Qurṭubī (2006)
interprets this verse by stating that Allah commands His servants to
remember and be grateful to Him. Let them continue to practice and
expand the practice because rewards will be bestowed upon them. Allah
makes the matter (of remembrance and gratitude) as one without limits
since it is easy to do by a servant and contains an even greater reward.
vii. Maintaining Cleanliness
Covid-19 has presented unprecedented health challenges across all
strata in society worldwide. The Covid-19 experience has caused us to
reflect on the quality of life, health and well-being and, just as important,
the end of life (Roman, Mthembu, & Hoosen, 2020). During this time,
cleanliness is a vital component to be practised and is encouraged by
all respected authorities (Piwko, 2021). In Arabic, cleanliness refers
to the word al-naẓāfah, which is purification (Ibn Manẓūr, 2010). This
cleanliness starts from the physicality of an individual to the cleanliness
of the environment. From a health point of view, hygiene is one of
the things that is highly emphasised. This includes self-care and care
for the surrounding occupied area. Children and the elderly are more
susceptible to diseases, especially with pandemics and viruses (She,
Liu, & Liu, 2020).
Therefore, good hygiene needs to be given exposure, emphasis and
practised by those of all walks of life. The scenario that occurred due to
Covid-19 has shown significant changes to the community in Malaysia.
Everyone begins to practice good hygiene by washing their hands
regularly, keeping themselves from moving outside unnecessarily, and
being in dirty places like markets until they can clean purchased items
before being stored or cooked. This new norm is sure to significantly
impact the community’s health, with everyone ensuring that the area
around them is clean and free of dirt (Awan, Shamim, & Ahn, 2020).
Allah explicated in Quran, 8:11 about the falling of rain as a method of
purifying human beings. This verse proves that Allah sends rain from
the sky to His servants to purify them from all impurities and sin. The
same is true of removing oneself from Satan’s temptations and his vices
(al-Sa‘dī, 2002). Therefore, if Muslims take the underlying wisdom of
this Covid-19 pandemic, there is no problem in putting cleanliness as
the primary act that needs to be implemented and maintained in daily
life.
Conclusion
Pandemic outbreaks are not an odd or new phenomenon. The accounts
of Islamic scholars prove that such events took place as early as the time
of the Israelites. The Quran also reveals some debates about viruses,
epidemics, and so on, although not in intricate detail. The verses of the
Quran on these matters are found in Quran, 2:26, 243 & 249, 21:83 and
others.
If Allah has destined that the entire world will be infected with
the Covid-19 virus even after various efforts and endeavours, then
humans could never stop it because humans are insignificant creatures.
Although Covid-19 has caused various harms and even death, efforts
can be made by choosing a vaccine as one of the cures to control the
covid-19 disease so far, and in accordance with the demands of Maqāṣid
al-Sharī‘ah (the objective and purpose of the Islamic law) which is to
preserve life. As a result, the Covid-19 pandemic must be appreciated as
a shower of mercy and love from Allah to His believers. In other words,
if the disease persists, we believers remain confident of the great gift
of forgiveness and rewards to come. Thus, the commitment of patience
is also at stake in undergoing a period of quarantine and isolation
quietly in our respective homes. Muslims are expressly advised to use
the Quran as a guide in overcoming this pandemic. The Quran offers
several essential notes to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus, such
as applying tawakkul, tabayyun on every news or information received,
having patience, making home your haven, increasing remembrance
towards Allah and maintaining one’s cleanliness.
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Propagating an Alternative Solution for

Indonesia`s Problems: A Framing Analysis on
Hizb ut-Tahrir`s Narratives
Hasbi Aswar*
Abstract: As part of a global movement, Hizb ut-Tahrir has a single mission

that is to call Muslim people to implement Islam and sharī‘ah as the state
ideology and law. On the other hand, Muslims should leave the secular ideology
adopted in the Muslim world today. This article will discuss HT`s perspective
on Islam and secular thought like democracy, nationalism, and liberalism in
the Indonesian context. This issue will be explained through framing theory in
social movement study that will help understand how a movement perceives
the root of the social problem, offers the solution, and invites people to join
the movement. This article argues that Hizb ut-Tahrir has used the framing
approach to disseminate its ideological and political mission in Indonesia.
Keywords: Framing Theory, Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia, Ideology, Secularism,

Social Movement.
Abstrak: Sebagai sebahagian daripada gerakan global, Hizbut Tahrir

mempunyai satu misi iaitu menyeru umat Islam untuk melaksanakan Islam dan
syari‘ah sebagai ideologi dan undang-undang negara. Sebaliknya, umat Islam
seharusnya meninggalkan fahaman sekular yang diterima pakai dalam dunia
Islam hari ini. Artikel ini akan membincangkan perspektif HT tentang Islam
dan pemikiran sekular seperti demokrasi, nasionalisme, dan liberalisme dalam
konteks Indonesia. Isu ini akan dijelaskan melalui teori pembingkaian dalam
* Lecturer at International Relations Department, Faculty of Psychology and

Social Sciences, Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Email: hasbiaswar@uii.ac.id
kajian gerakan sosial yang akan membantu memahami bagaimana pergerakan

melihat punca masalah sosial, menawarkan penyelesaian, dan menjemput orang
ramai untuk menyertai pergerakan itu. Artikel ini berhujah bahawa Hizbut
Tahrir telah menggunakan pendekatan pembingkaian untuk menyebarkan misi
ideologi dan politiknya di Indonesia.
Kata Kunci: Teori Pembingkaian, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, Ideologi,

Sekularisme, Gerakan Sosial.
Introduction
Hizb ut-Tahrir in Indonesia (HTI) could be considered as one of the
most successful branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir globally. More specifically,
in the Muslim world, HT in Indonesia enjoys political freedom as a
legal and registered Islamic group compared to other Muslim states that
treat this group as dangerous. From 2004 to 2017, HTI has had legal
status in Indonesia, making this group free to contact many levels of
society in Indonesia, including politicians, academics or intellectuals,
businesspersons, students, and others. It also makes it easier to mobilise
people to attend its national and international events.
In 2017, however, the Indonesian government revoked the legal
status of HTI by issuing a special law. This paper will specifically
discuss the HTI`s way of constructing Indonesian political problems
from its point of view. This case will be analysed through the framing
theory, which will help explain how a social movement creates its
narratives on problem solutions and invites people to participate in a
movement`s activities.
This descriptive article analyses HTI`s dynamic in Indonesia,
focusing on its narrative on Indonesian problems. The primary sources
used for this article are collected from HTI`s books, websites, magazines,
and seminar papers. On the one hand, secondary sources are gathered
from books and articles related to Hizb ut-Tahrir. All the sources are
analysed qualitatively to find the main narratives of HTI in Indonesia
using the framing theory`s elements, including diagnostic, prognostic,
and motivational elements.
Framing Theory
Before mobilising people to participate in collective action, one
important aspect of social movement is to socialise a problem to become
A Framing Analysis on Hizb ut-Tahrir`s Narratives 239
a collective identity. Because collective action can only be achieved

once a collective identity has been established, collective identity can
only be achieved through the socialisation of meaning through the
framing process.
Frames have been defined as “schemata of interpretation,” a group of
ideas, or a collective representation that allows individuals to discover,
perceive, identify, and label events in their living space and the world
at large. The frame will guide everyone in understanding the world and
dealing with whatever events occur in this world. By frame analysis,
one can understand the construction of ideas or meanings behind the
emergence of certain social movements (Della Porta & Diani, 2006).
The frame also guides people’s interpretation of what needs to change;
why, and how to do it.
Benford (2000) argues that the individuals construct the frame
through the process of negotiating a shared understanding of some
problematic conditions or situations they define as requiring change,
making attributions as to who or what is to blame, articulating an
alternative set of arrangements, and urging others to act together to effect
change. Furthermore, frames are developed to achieve specific goals:
recruiting new members, mobilising members, acquiring resources, and
so on (Benford & Snow, 2000).
The framing process is divided into three stages: addressing a
particular event as a social problem (diagnostic), a strategy that will
probably solve this (prognostic), and motivation to act on this knowledge
(motivational) (Della Porta & Diani, 2006).
The diagnostic dimension of framing analysis refers to the efforts
of a particular group or individual to interpret a phenomenon to become
a social problem. Interpretations of the problem may differ depending
on who interprets it, which creates a contestation of interpretations
among actors, including social movements, media, and governments.
Using the “frame of injustice” for a social movement is considered the
most common to create collective action. The “framework of injustice”
means that actors produce interpretations that acts of political authority
are deemed unfair. Therefore, in the diagnostic element, while social
movements look for social problems, they also identify the source of
causality, blame, and agent guilt or so-called adversarial framing or
boundary framing (Benford & Snow, 2000). This process, for example,
can be found in the arguments of the anti-globalisation movement, which

blames the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary
Fund (IMF), and the World Bank for the greatest responsibility of all
victims of neoliberalism.
Prognostic means to build “new solutions, new social patterns, new
ways of regulating relationships between groups, a new articulation
of consensus and exercise of power.” Using prognostics for social
movements is quite difficult because it occurs in the multi-organisational
field. Framing social movements will face counter-frames from
opponents, especially if the opponent has a more rational argument than
a social movement. On the other hand, opposing framing activities can
affect the framing of a movement by turning movement activists on the
defensive (Benford & Snow, 2000, p. 616) 617. For example, it was
shown in the 1990s when hundreds of Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia
demanded political reforms but were later branded extremists by the
government. Framing by the government then became legitimacy to
suppress the opposition movement.
The motivational dimension means that social constructs and
interpretations are necessary to convince and legitimise an action to
motivate people to engage in collective action. According to Snow and
Benford (2000), this dimension provides a “call to arm” or a reason
to engage in collective action, including constructing appropriate
vocabularies of motive. Therefore, the most important thing in this
framing task is how to convince other people or movements to come
together in collective action. In this framing task, the so-called agency
component is necessary to ensure engagement and maintain participation
in collective action. The agency component requires some vocabulary
commonly used by social movements: the vocabulary of severity,
urgency, efficacy, and propriety (Benford & Snow, 2000).
It is necessary to emphasise that ideology and framing are not the
same, although, at the same time, ideology can also be a source of
framing. Framing is considered more flexible than ideology. Framing is
a product of a culture in which individuals construct their interpretation
of social objects and give them meaning. On the one hand, ideology
is a unified set of principles and assumptions that provide the key to
understanding the world (Della Porta & Diani, 2006). For example, the
impact of neoliberalism or globalisation can be felt differently by many
people and movements. Some respond from an ideological lens, such as

socialist or Marxist ideology, while others use a different lens.
In this study, HT`s Islamic ideology produces HT’s frame against the
idea of democracy, liberalism, and nationalism. In Muslim communities,
these three ideas are responded to differently depending on how
Muslims interpret Islamic texts, as there are conflicting interpretations
of this—as a result, determining Muslim behaviour towards these for
either welcoming or rejecting it. The framing theory will be used to
understand Hizb ut-Tahrir’s interpretation of these ideas and how HT
makes them a social problem, which is then socialised to others or
movements for HT’s ultimate purpose.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia
From the beginning, Hizb ut-Tahrir (liberation party) has declared itself
a political party, and politics has become its job and identity. Elsewhere
around the world, the group has consistently shown itself to be a political
party working solely on politics. As a political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir has
adopted Islam as its ideology and is working to spread Islamic sharīʿah
ideas among Muslims so that all Islamic societies can understand Islam
and, together with Hizb ut-Tahrir, implement Islam as the country’s
constitution. The group believes that the only accepted state in Islam
is the khilāfah system. So, for HT, the only job or political activity to
pursue today is to rebuild the khilāfah state. This message is spread by
Hizb ut-Tahrir in more than 40 states worldwide.
The group was first introduced in Jerusalem by Shaykh Taqiuddin
an-Nabahani, an Islamic jurist and scholar, in 1948. In 1953, Hizb ut-
Tahrir was declared a legitimate political party but was later banned by
the government in the same year. From the 1950s to the 1970s, under
An-Nabhani’s leadership, the group’s work still existed around the
Middle East. Under the second leader, Sheikh Abdel Qadeem Zalloom,
from 1977-2003, the group has spread to many other countries outside
the Middle East, such as Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain,
Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and
Brunei, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, Canada, and the United
States (Osman, 2018).
From 2003 until now, Hizb ut-Tahrir is led by Sheikh Ata bin Khalil
Abu Rashta. Under his leadership, the group expanded globally and
actively worked on the internet as the group’s political propaganda

medium. The group has its official website in its global centre and
national branches. It also has its own YouTube channel, Facebook,
Twitter, and other social media. HT`s members are also often invited to
discuss contemporary issues in media such as Aljazeera, CNN, and the
Australia Times.
As an active work to spread this ideology, Zeyno Baran noted that
HT has succeeded in raising global awareness of Islam as the only link
between Muslims and the need for a caliphate:
“HT’S greatest achievement to date is that it has shifted
the terms of debate within the Muslim world. Until a few
years ago, most Islamist groups considered the notion
of establishing a new caliphate utopian goal. Now, an
increasing number of people consider it a serious objective.
And after decades of stressing the existence and unity of
a global Islamic community (umma), HT can take pride
in the growing feeling among Muslims that their primary
identity stems from, and their primary loyalty is owed to,
their religion rather than their race, ethnicity, or nationality”
(Baran, 2005).
As a political party, the group seeks to turn the current political

conditions dominated by secular ideologies into Islamic ideologies or
systems. A secular system based on the separation between religion and
politics is now applied in most countries of the world. Characteristics
of secular systems are laws made by humans, and the purpose of the
political system is primarily for material needs. In comparison, the
Islamic system is based on the sovereignty of sharīʿah, where only the
Quran and Hadith (prophetic tradition) are the primary sources of law
in a country. Also, the state’s goal is to implement sharīʿah, protect and
unite the Ummah, and carry out da‘wah and Jihād abroad. As a result,
Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects all ideas derived from secular ideologies, including
democracy, human rights, liberalism, and nationalism, because they are
incompatible with Islamic ideas (Hizb ut-Tahrir, 1953).
To fight for the establishment of an Islamic system or khilāfah
state, Hizb ut-Tahrir claimed to follow the steps of Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him), which are based on intellectual and political
activities. HT believes that the Prophet not only taught how to establish
the state but also how to fight for it, which HT says is through three
steps: First, the process of cultivars and organising in which Islamic

groups or parties begin to gather and educate people with Islamic ideas
and create groups or parties. Second, engage with people to develop a
shared awareness of the need for an Islamic system and reduce people’s
confidence in the current political system and regime. In this step also,
HT tries to persuade the military force to support its revolutionary ideas
once it was ready to do so. Third, establish a caliphate that implements
all sharīʿah laws (Hizb ut-Tahrir, 1999).
Framing Hizb ut-Tahrir on Indonesia’s Problems
In Indonesia, the group was first introduced in the 1980s after Abdullah
bin Nuh invited Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi to come to Indonesia.
Abdullah bin Nuh was a prominent Islamic scholar living in Bogor,
West Java, who founded an Islamic Boarding School (pesantren) called
al-Ghazali. Bin Nuh met members of HT, mainly from the Middle East,
when he visited his son studying in Australia. Later, Abdurrahman al-
Baghdadi came, stayed, and carried out his da‘wah activities facilitated
by Abdullah bin Nuh in Indonesia (Fealy, 2007). From the 1980s to the
1990s, HT’s work under Al-Baghdadi’s leadership was underground,
where HT was not used as a symbol of the movement until political
reforms in 1998.
HT declared its existence officially after two years of the reformation.
The declaration was proclaimed at the First International Conference in
August 2000, attended by about 2000-3000 people at Senayan Tennis
Stadium, Jakarta, and attended by international speakers such as Ismail
al-Wahwah (HT Australia) and Dr. Sharifuddin Md Zain (HT Malaysia).
Many HT members from other countries, Australia, Malaysia, Jordan,
and the United Kingdom, attended the event. The conference declared
that HT would step from the first stage (culturing and organising) to the
second stage (interacting with the ummah) of the three phases to achieve
its political goals.
From 2000 to 2017, Hizb ut-Tahrir has hosted hundreds of events,
demonstrations, talk shows, seminars, conferences, and published
media and books. This is part of HT’s strategy in the second stage of
da‘wah activities to win the hearts and minds of Muslims in Indonesia
to support the idea of sharīʿah and khilāfah. But in 2017, the Indonesian
government decided to revoke the group’s status as a legal Islamic group
in Indonesia because the HT issue is contrary to Indonesian ideology,
causes polarity in society, and threatens Indonesian unity (Aswar et al.,

2020).
Working for the khilāfah, HT claims, is to follow the methods
adopted from the struggle of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH to destroy
the existing non-Islamic political system, which is not taking part in
elections, coups, including military action. The idea of change and the
way to think of problems and solutions are adopted and followed by
HT members everywhere in every branch. The only difference is the
content or issues they respond to depends on each region in which HT
exists (Members of Hizb ut-Tahrir In Britain, 2000).
Diagnostic Dimensions
Sharīʿah and khilāfah, as opposed to secularism, are utilised by HTI to
persuade Indonesian Muslims through contextualising these narratives
in the Indonesian context. First, HTI argues that all problems in
Indonesia are due to a secular system that ignores sharīʿah law. This
secular system then potentially invites foreign countries to infiltrate
Indonesian politics (Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, 2011).
Secularism manifests itself in various forms, such as democracy,
capitalism, and nationalism, and these brought disasters to Indonesia.
In democracy, for example, the authority of the people (representatives)
to pass laws can then be used as a tool of the colonial state to infiltrate
such representatives in the legislature to produce regulations that serve
colonial interests. HTI stated that in Indonesia, there are about 76
products formulated by, and served, foreign countries; such as mineral
and gas, electricity, foreign investment, natural resources, bank and
finance, agriculture, and water (Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, 2009a).
On the other hand, according to HT, political corruption is also
inevitable in democracies as the system was created with high cost, for
example, in choosing political leaders in the executive or legislature. In
2014, the Indonesian government spent about 14.4 trillion rupiahs (more
than one billion USD) for the general election. Legislative candidates
spent an average of 1.18 billion rupiahs (approximately 82,600 USD).
As for presidential candidates, in 2014, each spent about 61 billion
rupiahs. According to HTI, this costly democratic process inevitably
invites capitalists to engage in this process that they will demand a return
once their candidate wins. In the end, elected leaders will serve only the
interests of their capitalist counterparts manifesting in regulation and

other state projects in economic activity. It also resulted in the growth of
corruption and nepotism in Indonesian politics (Zaid, 2016).
HTI argued that the problems that arise in democracies stem from
the democratic system itself. HTI calls it a structural and systemic
problem. Therefore, anyone running for office and winning elections
in a democracy will not bring significant change to Indonesia. Elected
leaders simply continue the existing systems, laws, and regulations
without having the authority to change them fundamentally. Even their
authority is limited by other state systems such as the legislature and
the judiciary. The participation of Islamic parties in democracy is also
uneventful because even though democracy accommodates each party
with different ideologies to compete, it does not allow any change to
the system and ideology of the secular state. Hence, Muslims’ role in
politics are limited only to the ritual aspects such as marriage, banking,
and ḥajj or pilgrimage (Affandi, 2014).
Another issue of democracy, HTI stated, is the dependence of
Indonesia to liberal international organisations: WTO, IMF, World
Bank, APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), and AEC (ASEAN
Economic Community). These institutions can be a restraint on
Indonesia in formulating economic policies for the benefit of the people,
rather they even weaken Indonesia’s political capacity to develop its
politics, economy, and military (Ishaq, 2014).
This argument becomes the reason of HTI’s abstinence in
Indonesian general elections. According to HTI, basically voting
in elections is allowed in Islam (mubāḥ), in Islamic jurisprudence,
referred to as Wakālah (representation). However, it can turn out to be
ḥarām (unlawful) or ḥalāl (legitimate) depending on the purpose of
the representation. If a person represents another person in a legitimate
activity, it becomes legitimate; on the contrary, if that representation
is for unlawful activity, it becomes unlawful or ḥarām. In terms of
engaging in elections aimed at electing representatives or leaders to
make laws and implement secular laws and systems, according to HTI,
it is unlawful and sinful in Islam. It is against the principle of Sharīʿah:
“Wasīlah (medium) that can definitely bring to ḥarām (forbidden)
activities are also ḥarām (forbidden) (Al-Islam, 2009).”
However, HTI allows someone who wants to get involved as a
member of the legislature but on certain conditions: should be from
Islamic parties and running without collision with secular parties, no

bribery, fraud, and fake; campaign with ideas and programmes inspired
by Islam; parliament as the place to do da‘wah in implementing sharīʿah,
resisting colonial domination, and controlling the government; and must
be consistent (Al-Islam, 2009).
On the other hand, HTI believes that although there will be benefits
from participating in election, no significant changes have been
achieved through it. The regime is changing, but the system is still the
same. The secular democratic system itself is what makes Indonesia
worse. So, according to HTI, participating in elections is not just a way
to bring about change for Indonesia. Hence, the best way to change is
to follow the method of change exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) which is the method of the social change a la Islam
(Interview with Ismail Yusanto, 2014).
Another problem that goes hand in hand with democracy is
neoliberalism or capitalism. This idea minimises the state’s role in
organising the economic aspects of a country. For HTI, this idea is a
tool to weaken the country and turn it into a corporate state where the
leading players who get more benefits are businesses and the wealthy
people. Neoliberalism deprived Indonesia of control over most of its
vast natural resources and state public ownership to private companies/
individuals: in the oil and gas industries, coal, gold and copper,
agriculture, telecommunications, consumer goods, banks, insurance,
capital markets, and media. As a result, Indonesia lost its primary
resources to provide accessible services to its people. It ended with
economic, social, cultural, political, and military crises (“Indonesia
Dicengkeram Neoliberalisme dan Neoimperialism,” 2015).
Nationalism, for HTI, is another issue that contributes to the
problems of Indonesia and the Muslim World. Nationalism damaged
Muslims from one country to more than fifty nation-states. Indeed, this
idea weakens the Ummah and is vulnerable to infiltration by foreign
powers. Nationalism contrasts with Islam because of its basic idea that
people are bound by nations, while in Islam, people are bound by Islamic
creeds. In addition, in Islam, the concept of a state must be one state for
all Muslims, not separated. With the Islamic State, and the Caliphate,
Muslims will have a strong state that can take on the current capitalist
countries led by the United States and its allies (Al-Jawi, 2014).
According to Ismail Yusanto (2014), in Indonesia’s history, the heroes

who fought for Indonesian independence against Dutch colonialism were
motivated only by the spirit of Islam, not by nationalism. Nationalism
is an emotional construct that makes it very temporary and weak. Many
ruling regimes claim to be nationalist in Indonesian politics as President
Megawati (2002-2004) and Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-2014);
in reality, they only served neoliberal economies that prioritise foreign
over national interests. Ismail Yusanto, (2014), HTI spokesperson,
argued that the way Islam loves Indonesia should be on an Islamic basis
that can save Indonesia from capitalism, liberalism, and secularism
(Interview with M. Ismail Yusanto, 2014).
Prognostic Dimension
The next step in the framing process undertaken by a movement is an
effort to build “new solutions, new social patterns, or new ways of
regulating relationships between groups, consensus and the exercise
of power in a society or state” (Benford & Snow, 2000). This is to
respond to the root of the problem that has been spelled out through the
diagnostic dimensions.
Through diagnostic elements, HT explains that Muslims have two
problems, namely the internal and external aspects. From the external
side, the attack from the enemies of Islam distances Muslims from the
teachings of Islam itself by dividing the unity of Muslims politically
and imposing ideas that are contrary to the teachings of Islam. This
effort is made either with direct or indirect activity, like through Muslim
figures. This is what HT says keeps Muslims occupied in thought even
though it is physically and militarily independent. The second factor is
the internal factor, where Muslims are far from their religion by only
practicing Islam in pieces. On the other hand, they claim to be Muslim,
but their life practice is no different from non-Muslims.
The root of the problems that exist according to HT is the absence of
Islamic life in which the state applies Islamic sharīʿah to all aspects of
life. The absence of a caliphate that has collapsed since 1924, according
to HT, is the source of the catastrophe of the destruction of Muslims.
Therefore, the main solution is to uphold the caliphate as a method to
enforce the laws of Allah SWT both in terms of economic, political,
social, cultural, and others.
In terms of solutions to all existing problems (prognostic), HT

explained that upholding the caliphate, beside as a solution to the
problem of Muslims, it is also an obligation for Muslims to uphold it.
This obligation, according to HT, has been stated in the Qur’ān, Sunnah,
Ijma‘ (the consensus of prophet companions) as the only system
recognised by Islam and different from other systems of government
including empire, monarchy, federal state, and republic or democracy
(Hizb ut-Tahrir, 2005b). The function of this system is to apply the laws
of Allah and his messenger and carry out da‘wah to the whole world.
HT explained four important pillars of the khilāfah state system.
The first principle is that sovereignty is in the hands of sharīʿah, not
belonging to humans or people. It means that the primary source of
law is only Allah’s law, sharīʿah law. Man-made laws are considered
transgressions and sins if they violate these provisions (Hizb ut-Tahrir,
n.d.,). This principle clearly reinforces HT’s attitude towards democracy
and the modern state that makes sovereignty in the hands of the people.
The second principle is that power is in the hands of the people, which
means that it is the people who have the right to choose the leader to
manage their affairs. Furthermore, bay‘ah is a formal process to appoint
a leader that is a statement of public loyalty to the elected leader.
The third principle is the obligation for all Muslims to appoint a
caliph to unite Muslims in a single polity. HT considers the existence of
a nation-state that divides Muslims as a violation of sharīʿah law, and
it weakens the unity of the Ummah. The fourth principle is that a caliph
has the authority to carry out legislation to be applied in a society (Hizb
ut-Tahrir, n.d.).
Historically, Hizb ut-Tahrir explained that the concept of an Islamic
state had been applied by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and
then continued by the caliphs of the four dynasties from the 7th century
CE to the 20th century CE. During that time, no law was applied except
Islamic law in all aspects of life: political affairs, law, economy, social,
education, the system of government, and foreign policy (Regulation of
life in Islam) (An-Nabahani, 2002, p. 58).
The impact of the application of this system, according to HT, is
tremendous on human civilisation. Islam transformed the Arab nation
from a low-thinking, ignorant, fanatical level to a nation capable of
thinking brilliantly and spreading Islam to various regions such as
Persia, Iraq, Shām, Egypt, and North Africa. Islam can merge these
different Muslim nations by eliminating the barriers of their national
identity with Islam (An-Nabahani, 2002, p. 63).
In the regulatory aspect of society, HT explained that Islam does not
distinguish between Muslims and Non-Muslims, all are protected to the
same degree, including the obligation of the state to ensure justice and
security. In science, the world has been indebted to various scientific
discoveries in Islamic civilisation, such as in medicine, astronomy,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and others. In terms of
international politics, the Islamic State, or caliphate, has also proven
to be the world›s number one state for centuries, capable of leading
society with full justice, security, and prosperity. While the secular
system, according to HT, will not produce the good and progress in
society because of its damaged character and contrary to the teachings
of Islam (Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia, 2009).
The mechanism for electing leaders in Islam is also inexpensive,
according to HTI, because only the caliph is directly elected through
elections or by representatives of the people in the assembly of the
Ummah (house of representatives). On the one hand, officials under the
caliph are appointed directly by the caliph because of their status as an
aide. The house of representatives can also be directly elected by the
people, but its function is only supervision and providing input to the
ruler, not making laws. This mechanism covers the huge costs for the
electoral process as in the democratic system (Hizb ut Tahrir Indonesia,
2009; Zaid, 2016).
On the other hand, in terms of economic issues, HT argues that
sharīʿah guarantees the basic needs of every community, education,
health, security, food, and board. The state utilises all its natural resources
for the welfare of the people, while privatisation, liberalisation, and
revocation of subsidies should not be carried out in an Islamic state. For
Indonesia, which has a wealth of abundant natural resources, the correct
management of the country will make the country’s finances abundant
to serve its people.
To do that, Islam suggests that a state be independent in its political
thoughts and policies from foreign thoughts and intervention. States
should not cooperate with international institutions that can deprive a
state of its political sovereignty. It should also not cooperate with the
IMF and the World Bank, which are symbols of neoliberalism and
global neo-imperialism (Al-Jawi, 2015).
Regarding nationalism, Shiddiq Al-Jawi (2014) revealed the
concept of the caliphate is clearly superior to the idea of nationalism.
The concept of nationalism is weak because it stands on emotional and
artificial foundations such as song, flag, language, and history. The idea
of a nation is imaginary because many countries are made up of several
nations but simply described as a nation, such as Indonesia and the
United States of America. Some regions have one national identity but
different countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which are Malay
in nature. In addition, in the application aspect in a state, nationalism
can be filled by the ideology of secularism, Marxism, or socialism, and
other ideologies.
While in the concept of an Islamic state, Al-Jawi (2014) contended
that the binder of society is not a nation or tribal identity but an Islamic
creed, and the highest state’s interest in all its activities is not in the
national interest but the interest of Muslims, through the application
of sharīʿah domestically and the spread of Islamic da‘wah abroad.
In terms of territorial boundaries, the khilāfah state will continue to
develop, not be fixed like a nation-state. It will develop along with the
activities of da‘wah and Jiḥād carried out by the state. Furthermore, the
only source of law is. The flag used is only one flag of tawḥīd, a black
flag that is written with white tawḥīd word called Rāyah, and a white
flag that is written with black tawḥīd word called Liwa’. The official
language used is only Arabic as a unifying language of Muslims, even
though it is also not forbidden to use the local language as a colloquial
language (Al-Jawi, 2014). Fighting for the caliphate will be considered
as obedience to Allah SWT while fighting for the nation-state will be
worth the maximum (Al-Jawi, 2014).
Motivational Dimension
The most important thing in this framing task is how to convince
people or other movements to unite in collective action. This dimension
of motivation requires a vocabulary to ensure the involvement of
individuals or other movements in an attempt to change. Commonly
used words are emergencies/severity, urgency, effectiveness, and
feasibility (Benford & Snow, 2000).
HTI uses the motivational dimension to invite Muslims in Indonesia

to participate in the da‘wah, calling for the caliphate. HTI emphasises
that by referring to Qur’ān and Sunnah, establishing a caliphate is an
obligation for Muslims, and if it is neglected, it is then considered a
sinful action, and will get punishment from Allah SWT. HTI quoted
the ḥadīth of the Prophet Muhammad narrated by Imām Muslim, that
“whoever dies, while on his shoulders there is no bay‘ah (declaration of
allegiance) to the imām or caliph then he dies like the death of ignorance
(Hizb ut-Tahrir, 2005).”
The importance of the caliphate, according to HT, is exemplified
by the companions of the Prophet, who were willing to postpone the
Prophet’s funeral after death to focus on choosing the leader after the
Prophet. Similarly, Umar ibn Khattab as the second caliph, limited the
election period of the caliph to three days. According to HTI, the attitude
of prophet companions towards the election of leaders is proof of the
urgency of the caliphate for Muslims because it is strongly related to the
life and death of Islam and Muslims (Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia, 2011).
Not only that, HTI explained that the caliphate is a historical
inevitability because it has been promised by Allah and his messengers
contained in the verses of the Qur’ān and ḥadīth of the Prophet. As the
popular ḥadīth is often conveyed by HTI, narrated by Imām Aḥmad
that Muslims will be in the five phases of history, the prophetic phase,
the rightly guided caliphates phase, the phase of biting power (mulkan
‘āḍḍan), the phase of coercive power (mulkan jabriyyatan), and the last
phase of the return of the caliphate that follows the prophetic method
(Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia, 2011).
From factual conditions, the caliphate, according to HT, is an urgent
need for a world damaged by the implementation of the secular capitalist
system. Capitalism creates a gap between rich and poor countries. A
vulnerable financial system collapses and free-market myths benefit
only the rich. Democracy, too, promised freedoms to result in moral
damage, destruction of creeds, destruction of families, and free sex. In
the legal aspect, the law is used as a means for capitalists to colonise
and exploit the people’s wealth (Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia, 2011, p. 44).
Khilāfah, according to HTI, will lead the world so that people can
live together to support each other, share, and help each other without
the arrogance of nationality and territoriality.
Fighting for a caliphate for HTI is an obligation that is worth

a great reward but must be with the Prophet’s demands,
namely non-violence, politics, and intellectual. “If one
reward is so great, then how great is our intercession:
hundreds, thousands, even millions of people who get the
blessings of Allah SWT. Remember that it is this Islamic
caliphate that we are fighting for that will carry out Islamic
treatises to the whole world and be a way for people to
convert to Islam in droves, Subhānallah!” (Hizb ut-Tahrir
Indonesia, 2011, p. 49).
Conclusion
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global movement that has been in dozens of Muslim
countries covering various continents such as Asia, Australia, Europe,
America, and Africa. In Indonesia, this movement has been present
since the 1980s but with a movement that is still hiding. After political
reform in Indonesia, HTI began to actively move openly through
various methods such as demonstrations, seminars, lectures, media
publications, and so on. Major agendas have been held by the group
since the 2000s until it was finally dissolved by the government in 2017
on charges of radicalism, against state ideology, and endangering the
country’s stability.
During the struggle of HTI in Indonesia, this group invites
people to fight together by using three basic elements used by social
movements in general when moving, namely diagnostic elements by
making secularism ideology the root of the problem in Indonesia. This
secularism ideology gave birth to derivative systems such as democracy,
human rights, capitalism, and nationalism that made Indonesia damaged
and colonised.
The second element used by HTI is prognostic, which provides
solutions to problems that occur in Indonesia due to secularism
through the enforcement of sharīʿah and khilāfah. The khilāfah is a
political system that will apply sharīʿah law in all aspects of life by
indiscriminately ensuring justice, welfare, and security for both Muslims
and non-Muslims.
Then the motivational element becomes the ultimate element of this
group by emphasising the obligation to uphold sharīʿah and khilāfah
for Muslims and the retribution of great sin for those who neglect it.
The caliphate is also part of the promise of Allah and his Messenger,
which will indeed happen. Those who fight for it will get a reward that
will continue to flow when the caliphate is upright. The khilāfah is also
considered an urgent necessity because secularism is considered to be
ruining human life.
During its activities in Indonesia for approximately 20 years, until
it was dissolved, it is obvious that the sequence of framing used by HTI
can be seen from its speeches, lectures, discussions, and media they
produced, such as leaflets, magazines, tabloids, and online media. The
message conveyed by HTI through such framing, however, proved to
be not only simplistic but also controversial. Its ban in 2017 halted the
propagation of such message to the general Indonesian public.
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Interview with M. Ismail Yusanto. (2014). M. Ismail Yusanto: Khilafah
Menjadikan Kita Kuat. Al-Waìe, 18–22.
Ishaq, M. (2014). Di Bawah Presiden Baru, Ekonomi Indonesia Lebih Baik?
Al-Waìe, 57–59.
Members of Hizb ut-Tahrir In Britain. (2000). The Method to Re-establish the
Khilafah. Al-Khilafah Publications.
Osman, M. N. M. (2018). Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Political Islam Identity,
Ideology and Religio-Political Mobilization. Routledge.
Zaid, A. (2016). Mencegah Dominasi Korporasi Terhadap Negara. Al-Waìe,
14–18.
Book Review
Al-Kawakibi, Abdul Rahman. The Nature of Tyranny and

The Devastating Results of Oppression. Foreword by Leon T.
Goldsmith. Translated by Amer Chaikhouni. London: Hurst, 2021,
152 pp. Hardback. ISBN: 9781787385481. £45.
Reviewer: Carimo Mohomed, Collaborator Researcher, Catholic
University of Portugal, Lisbon.
Considered as one of the architects of Arab political philosophy in the

19th century, the Syrian educationalist ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Kawākibī
(born in mid-19th century and died in 1902) was influenced by reform
ideas of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838/9-1897) and Muhammad Abduh
(1849-1905), and he advocated a return to the original purity of Islam,
claiming that alien concepts and distortions such as mysticism, fatalism,
sectarian divisions, and imitation had led to ignorance and submission
to stagnant theologians and despotic rulers who suppressed freedoms,
promoted false religion, and corrupted the moral, social, educational,
and financial systems of the Muslim nation. According to him, the
best, or in this case the worst, example was the Ottoman Empire, while
advocated Arab independence and an elected Arab caliph with limited
powers as the basis for the revival of Islam.
His book is no less than revolutionary in its call for the overthrow
of despotic regimes and the restoration of governance by the people
and for the people. Appearing in English for the first time, the text
has a foreword from Leon T. Goldsmith, offering an overview of Al-
Kawakibi’s intellectual contributions. The first chapter of the text
provides a definition of tyranny, presenting it as akin to a sickness or
malaise that seeps into all classes of society, leaving behind decay. The
following seven chapters apply this conception of tyranny to what Al-
Kawakibi sees as society’s crucial elements: religion, knowledge, honour,
economy, ethics, and progress. Having laid a theoretical framework
for understanding the centrality of tyranny, its characteristics, and its

devastating effects, Al-Kawakibi concludes by setting forth a brief
programme for remedying the ‘disease’ of tyranny. The final chapter
outlines another book in which he had planned to elaborate upon his
ideas, but his death, under mysterious circumstances, came first.
Al-Kawakibi was born in Aleppo to an influential Syrian family. He
received a thorough education in the Islamic sciences and the languages
of the region including Arabic, Turkish and Persian. As a young man,
he was very interested in literature and politics, having edited Furat,
the official paper of Aleppo from 1875 to 1880. He also edited the
highly influential reformist journal, al-Manar, which was started by
Rashid Rida (1865-1935). After working at Furat and al-Manar, Al-
Kawakibi started his own literary journal called the al-Sahba, a journal
which vehemently criticised the despots and dictators of his time and
alluded to the tyranny of the Ottoman Empire. He especially focused his
criticism on the new wali of Aleppo, Jamil Pasha. Due to Al-Kawakibi’s
political outspokenness, the journal was shut down by the local
Ottoman Government after only fifteen issues. After his work as editor,
Al-Kawakibi entered politics more directly, and worked for various
positions in the Ottoman civil service in Aleppo. Despite his opposition
to the Ottoman Empire, Al-Kawakibi wanted to serve the Arabs. During
this point in his career, he became an honourary member of the board
of lawyer examinations. Al-Kawakibi, along with other Aleppans,
complained about the wali to the central government in Istanbul,
criticisms which fell on deaf ears until Istanbul sent a representative
to Aleppo to investigate, and immediately threw Kawakibi and his
followers into prison in 1886 after an unsuccessful attempt on the life of
Jamil Pasha. Once released from prison, Al-Kawakibi’s popularity rose,
and he became the mayor of Aleppo in 1892. Later, he went to Istanbul
to study the Ottoman Empire’s despotism and problematic leadership
more extensively. With his newfound knowledge, he returned to Aleppo
and began working for the Ottoman government again. Because of his
opinions, he was subject to harassment and intimidated on a regular
basis. He decided to publish his book Umm al-Qura (The Mother of
Cities: Mecca) in Egypt, rather than in Syria, and finally left his home
country in 1899, moving to Egypt, where he was welcomed by other
Islamic intellectuals residing there.
Written between 1898 and 1902, Tabāi’ al-Istibdād wa-Maṣāri’ al-
Isti’bād (The Nature of Despotism and the Harm of Enslavement / The
BOOK REVIEW 257
Characteristics of Despotism and the Destructions of Enslavement / The

Nature of Tyranny and the Devastating Results of Oppression) is a text
which can be placed within the realm of political philosophy. Apart from
being a criticism of the despotic regime of the Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd-ul
Hamid II (1842-1918, r. 1876-1909), the book is also an exposé of the
causes of despotism and its effects upon the society and the individuals.
At the same time, it looks at the relation between the status of knowledge
and despotism and at the mechanisms which prevent knowledge and
promote ignorance within the despotic society, mechanisms which are
closely related to how despotism spreads in it. Despotism is portrayed
by the author like a virus that penetrates all layers of society, pervades all
social classes and, in the end, destroys the social body. To be sustained,
despotism needs people’s ignorance or a general absence of knowledge.
According to Kawakibi, knowledge is important because through it,
human beings will come to know their rights and only if they know
their rights can they demand it and thus force the evil despot to act in
the interest of the people. Hence, knowledge is the remedy that cures
the illness of despotism. A combination of conscious and unconscious
processes prevents knowledge from spreading; psychological factors in
the individuals, the relation between the various groups within society
and the physical outlook of the despotic society which is defined by
chaos and unrest leaves no room for organised education. These factors
contribute to the fact that knowledge under despotism has a confined
and limited status.
The text is characterised by a rich vocabulary and a wide use of
metaphors, something which makes it vital and refreshing. Kawakibi
employs rhetorical tools and the book at times bears resemblance with
that of a political speech. Following the events of the so-called “Arab
Spring”, this translation by Amer Chaikhouni makes a seminal historical
text available to English audiences [a French translation was published
in 2016 under the title Du despotisme et autres texts (On Despotism and
Other Texts)] and demonstrates that Al-Kawakibi’s pioneering thought
remains relevant not only to intellectuals and young generations but to
people all over the world who are searching for ideological doctrines to
bolster their aspirations for political and social change.
GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS
Intellectual Discourse is an academic, refereed journal, published twice a year.
Four types of contributions are considered for publication in this journal: major
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To submit manuscript, go to http://www.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse
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1. Original research and review articles should be 5,000-8,000 words
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7. References should be alphabetically ordered. Some examples are given
below:
Book
In-text citations:
Al-Faruqi & al-Faruqi (1986)
Reference:
Al-Faruqi, I. R., & al-Faruqi, L. L. (1986). The cultural atlas of Islam. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company.
Chapter in a Book
In-text:
Alias (2009)
Reference:
Alias, A. (2009). Human nature. In N. M. Noor (Ed.), Human nature from
an Islamic perspective: A guide to teaching and learning (pp.79-117). Kuala
Lumpur: IIUM Press.
Journal Article
In-text:
Chapra (2002)
Reference:
Chapra, M. U. (2002). Islam and the international debt problem. Journal of
Islamic Studies, 10, 214-232.
The Qur’ān
In-text:
(i) direct quotation, write as 30:36
(ii) indirect quotation, write as Qur’ān, 30:36
Reference:
The glorious Qur’ān. Translation and commentary by A. Yusuf Ali (1977). US:
American Trust Publications.
Ḥadīth
In-text:
(i) Al-Bukhārī, 88:204 (where 88 is the book number, 204 is the ḥadīth number)
(ii) Ibn Hanbal, vol. 1, p. 1
Reference:
(i) Al-Bukhārī, M. (1981). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
(ii) Ibn Ḥanbal, A. (1982). Musnad Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal. Istanbul: Cagri Yayinlari.
The Bible
In-text:
Matthew 12:31-32
Reference:
The new Oxford annonated Bible. (2007). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Transliteration of Arabic words should follow the style indicated in ROTAS
Transliteration Kit as detailed on its website (http://rotas.iium.edu.my/?Table_of_
Transliteration), which is a slight modification of ALA-LC (Library of Congress
and the American Library Association) transliteration scheme. Transliteration
of Persian, Urdu, Turkish and other scripts should follow ALA-LC scheme.
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Volume 30 Number 1 2022

Editor-in-Chief Associate Editors

Intellectual Discourse is a highly respected, academic refereed journal of the

Intellectual Discourse is abstracted in SCOPUS, ProQuest, International Political

ISSN 0128-4878 (Print); ISSN 2289-5639 (Online)

Note from the Editor 1

Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case of Malaysia:

The Issue of the Elderly Homeless in Kuala Lumpur: Family

Muslim Inventors of Reading and Writing Methods for

Confirmation Bias among Adherents of Red and Yellow

Secularisation of Muslim Students: A Freirean Perspective on

The Role of Mass Media As A Channel To Learn About Islam

The Best Solution for Pandemic Prevention of Covid-19:

Propagating an Alternative Solution for Indonesia`s Problems:

Arabic Roman Arabic Roman

Transliteration Table: Vowels and Diphthongs

Arabic Roman Arabic Roman

Source: ROTAS Transliteration Kit: http://rotas.iium.edu.my

Note from the Editor

because personal attributes are important in determining one’s public

ruling coalition. The succeeding government—Perikatan Nasional—

Tunku Mohar Mokhtar

Understanding Malaysian Youth’s Social

Abstract: The exploitation of social media to spread propaganda and violent

attitude. Considering that social media technology is constantly changing, it

Keywords: Social media, countering violent extremism, Technology

Abstrak: Penyalahgunaan media sosial untuk penyebaran propaganda,

Kata kunci: Media sosial, membenteras keganasan dan ekstremisme, Model

Although high internet penetration is a welcome development,

social media and violent radicalisation is at best limited and still

TAM as a standalone model, is very robust in predicting one’s acceptance

Perception towards violent extremism was another variable included in

According to TAM, attitude is crucial in influencing one’s behavioural

Figure 1. The proposed framework of the study

This study addressed the following research objectives:

Table 1: Variables and Measurement Items

Table 2: Cronbach’s Alpha Results Based on the Pilot Study Data

Perception on violent extremism 0.769

Table 3: Demographic Findings

In term of the respondents’ age, 53.9% of them were 18-24 years

Duration of usage 4 hours> 177 44.3

Most of the respondents (97.8%) indicated that they accessed social

Respondents in the 18-24 age group preferred Instagram, while

Chi-square test was also conducted to examine the respondents’

Table 8: Chi-square Test – Preferred Types of Content

Similarly, there was a significant relation between respondents’

Factors influencing youth’s attitude towards violent extremism on

Table 11: Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

Based on the findings of the multiple linear regression analysis

radicalisation process (START, 2018). Continuous exposure to the

to-use social media technology can encourage youth towards violent

based on the demographics of the country. This is to provide a more

continue to be conducted to understand the usage pattern in relation

Crump, J. (2020). Terrorism and security threat trends in 2021. Security.

Kruglanski, A. W., Gunaratna, R., Ellenberg, M., & Speckhard, A. (2020).

Nurhayati-Wolff, H. (2020). Internet user penetration in Malaysia from 2015 to

academic purpose in Malaysia. Journal of information communication and

Should Heterogeneity Matter? The Case

Nadia Hezlin Yashaiya*