Why Are the Youth of SEA increasingly embracing Islamic Political Parties ?

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Most of the discourse on this website is focused on anglophone countries with a persistent narrative being a liberal prograssive youth opposed to a conservative older generation; but in South East Asia we see the opposite phenomena where young people seem to express greater reliogist in particulary more extreme views on various social issues with this being reflected in voting(though in Malasiya most of it is a product of younger generations being increasing malay and muslim through demographic changes)

Why are islamic parties gaining so much strenght here ?

https://theconversation.com/how-the-daily-lives-of-indonesian-youth-can-tell-us-why-they-become-more-conservative-132019

[lfromnj]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

[Estrella]

I guess it’s similar to reasons why the same phenomenon has been taking place in MENA since the 70s or so. Nationalism used to act as a mobilizing force and became a victim of its own success. Nationalists gained power, ruled for decades, became the establishment and (rightly) got blamed for stagnating living standards, rampant corruption and everything else that authoritarianism and/or one-party dominance brings. Popular anger needed to find something new to rally around and Islam was it.

Islam is traditional but also not associated with the old order. Advancements in communication made it easier to identify with the ummah rather than one’s own country. Radical Islam is seen as anti-colonialist, which is absolute bullshxt considering how made-in-Saudi-Arabia fundamentalism stomps on local Muslim traditions. It probably also helps that unlike 20th century movements, religion is by definition non-materialist and cannot be blamed for material poverty even if said poverty is the result of rule of religious parties.

That, and Saudi money. Lots of Saudi money.

[Estrella]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

True, but the difference is that Thailand is (bar a small strip in the south) a Buddhist country. IMO it’s not just about differences in philosophy but also organization. Comparing Buddhism and Islam is a bit like comparing a rural New England Episcopalian chapel with a suburban Southern Charismatic prosperity gospel megarchurch. The former is not as liberal as the stereotype goes, but it will never get its parishioners (most of them, anyway) to donate a part of every paycheck and make them raise their children with membership of their church as a part of their identity. Or introduce the preachers with laser shows.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Thirty years ago in Beyond Belief, Naipaul noted that there were several strands of Islamism in S.E. Asia (especially Indonesia) where some Islamists were presenting themselves as a force of modernization. Often, at that time, a little clumsily, a little absurdly even, but if there's one thing we do know about Islamism, it is that its adherents are fine with playing the long game.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Nationalism, which is often in some kind of low-level conflict with Islamism, is very much not in decline or waning in Indonesia.

[CumbrianLefty]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

True, but the difference is that Thailand is (bar a small strip in the south) a Buddhist country. IMO it’s not just about differences in philosophy but also organization. Comparing Buddhism and Islam is a bit like comparing a rural New England Episcopalian chapel with a suburban Southern Charismatic prosperity gospel megarchurch. The former is not as liberal as the stereotype goes, but it will never get its parishioners (most of them, anyway) to donate a part of every paycheck and make them raise their children with membership of their church as a part of their identity. Or introduce the preachers with laser shows.

Does that happen with Muslims?

[Estrella]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

True, but the difference is that Thailand is (bar a small strip in the south) a Buddhist country. IMO it’s not just about differences in philosophy but also organization. Comparing Buddhism and Islam is a bit like comparing a rural New England Episcopalian chapel with a suburban Southern Charismatic prosperity gospel megarchurch. The former is not as liberal as the stereotype goes, but it will never get its parishioners (most of them, anyway) to donate a part of every paycheck and make them raise their children with membership of their church as a part of their identity. Or introduce the preachers with laser shows.

Does that happen with Muslims?

I did say “a bit like” What I clumsily tried to hint at was that even though “Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion” is not really true, Islam stands out because of its rituals and spectacle. Things like adhan, mass prayer at a mosque five times a day, Ramadan, going to Mecca and whatever else make it a lot easier to treat Islam as something your life revolves around. Burning incense to honor your grandpa doesn’t really have the same effect.

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

True, but the difference is that Thailand is (bar a small strip in the south) a Buddhist country. IMO it’s not just about differences in philosophy but also organization. Comparing Buddhism and Islam is a bit like comparing a rural New England Episcopalian chapel with a suburban Southern Charismatic prosperity gospel megarchurch. The former is not as liberal as the stereotype goes, but it will never get its parishioners (most of them, anyway) to donate a part of every paycheck and make them raise their children with membership of their church as a part of their identity. Or introduce the preachers with laser shows.

Does that happen with Muslims?

I did say “a bit like” What I clumsily tried to hint at was that even though “Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion” is not really true, Islam stands out because of its rituals and spectacle. Things like adhan, mass prayer at a mosque five times a day, Ramadan, going to Mecca and whatever else make it a lot easier to treat Islam as something your life revolves around. Burning incense to honor your grandpa doesn’t really have the same effect.

This also happens among the East/Southeast Asian diaspora in the Anglosphere. There's asymmetrical conversion from (usually Mahayana) Buddhism to various forms of Christianity, partly due to the cultural and institutional dominance of Christianity in the West- but also because societies with an Abrahamic cultural legacy tend to be a lot more normative than Confucianist Asia, which is more on the pragmatic end of this Hofstede cultural axis. This phenomenon isn't exclusive to the Confucianist Asia diaspora of course- it might also be a thing with Filipinos and evangelical/Protestant Christianity?

This also has to do with the comparative secularism of Confucianist Asia (i.e. non-Christian Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans were never uniformly Buddhist to begin with), but I do think differences between Abrahamic and Dharmic theology play some role in differential soft power of these religions, and also partially explains why Islam historically became as prevalent in the Indian subcontinent as it did.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

It could just be in opposition to the ruling system?
Thailand had that election where it was a progressive party that won a large amount of support from the Youth.

True, but the difference is that Thailand is (bar a small strip in the south) a Buddhist country. IMO it’s not just about differences in philosophy but also organization. Comparing Buddhism and Islam is a bit like comparing a rural New England Episcopalian chapel with a suburban Southern Charismatic prosperity gospel megarchurch. The former is not as liberal as the stereotype goes, but it will never get its parishioners (most of them, anyway) to donate a part of every paycheck and make them raise their children with membership of their church as a part of their identity. Or introduce the preachers with laser shows.

Does that happen with Muslims?

I did say “a bit like” What I clumsily tried to hint at was that even though “Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion” is not really true, Islam stands out because of its rituals and spectacle. Things like adhan, mass prayer at a mosque five times a day, Ramadan, going to Mecca and whatever else make it a lot easier to treat Islam as something your life revolves around. Burning incense to honor your grandpa doesn’t really have the same effect.

This also happens among the East/Southeast Asian diaspora in the Anglosphere. There's asymmetrical conversion from (usually Mahayana) Buddhism to various forms of Christianity, partly due to the cultural and institutional dominance of Christianity in the West- but also because societies with an Abrahamic cultural legacy tend to be a lot more normative than Confucianist Asia, which is more on the pragmatic end of this Hofstede cultural axis. This phenomenon isn't exclusive to the Confucianist Asia diaspora of course- it might also be a thing with Filipinos and evangelical/Protestant Christianity?

This also has to do with the comparative secularism of Confucianist Asia (i.e. non-Christian Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans were never uniformly Buddhist to begin with), but I do think differences between Abrahamic and Dharmic theology play some role in differential soft power of these religions, and also partially explains why Islam historically became as prevalent in the Indian subcontinent as it did.

This "Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions" thing is really cool, thanks!