Intellectual Discourse (Journal)
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“Secularism”: A Key to Turkish Politics
Get PDFAbstract: In posing Serif Mardin’s question of Turkey’s center-periphery relations in a revised version, this article considers secularism to be a key to understanding Turkish politics. It views the confrontation between secularists and Islamists in the light of Turkey’s center-periphery polarization and identifies the secularist doctrine of Kemalism as a major obstacle to democratic political change. The protection of Turkey’s secular order developed into the ideological cornerstone of Kemalist rule, which ranks prime amongst the ideological tools used to justify the political supremacy of the Turkish armed forces. Examining the interrelation between secularism and the almost religious cult around Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the article concludes that the increasing visibility of Islamic symbols and practices in Turkey is a logical consequence of the country’s current European Union(EU) reform process, rather than a sign of Turkey’s deviation from its political and societal modernization process
Contemporary Issues in Malaysian Psychology. Edited by Zafar A. Ansari, Noraini M. Noor and Amber Haque.
Get PDFPerception of Development: A Micro Study of the Poor in Terengganu, Malaysia
Get PDFAbstract: The surveys conducted in 1999 and 2004 in six poverty-stricken areas in Terengganu show that the poor perceive development in almost identical terms as those suggested by development experts. The poor’s perception about the importance of social overhead capital has become stronger in 2004 compared to 1999. With minor variation, they have positive opinion about their leaders. The better educated among them seem to be better in preference for both material and moral considerations. The poor are poor in religiosity but that may be due to the nature of the profession and the distance of the shari’ah-based financial institutions. The government should pay attention to their demands for better physical and social infrastructural facilities
Controversy Surrounding the Grand Qāḍī of the Sudan, 1899 – 1956: A Historical Analysis
Get PDFAbstract: The establishment of a nominally Anglo-Egyptian partnership, but practically a defacto British rule in the Sudan, led the British to appoint Egyptians in religious posts, including the position of the Grand Qāḍī. But the British drive to de-Egyptianise the Sudan administration, and the steady rise of Sudanese nationalism led the British government, after a long acrimonious debate, to appoint a Sudanese to be the Grand Qāḍī. This move, the historical survey shows, was well received by the Sudanese ‘ulamā and the Muftī apparently went to the extent of “fabricating” religious evidence in its favour.  
Democratising Afghanistan: An Analysis of the 2005 Parliamentary Elections
Get PDFAbstract: The interviews and observation of the September 2005 elections for the lower house of parliament and provincial councils in Afghanistan disclose that despite shortcomings, the elections were relatively free. The elections, conducted in the absence of party politics, created a divided legislature struggling to unite. Women members, equally divided by region and ethnicity, may exert a moderating influence on the legislature, which is dominated by the “Islamist right.
