Date: Wednesday, 24th August 2016
Time: 8.00 PM-10.00PM
Venue: Training Room, Penang Institute
In an age of terror attacks, states are beginning to realize the utility of religious discourse through public diplomacy to counter the religiously inspired hate and violence. In the case of Indonesia, the government is relying on ‘Islam Nusantara’ or archipelagic Islam to as a counter weight to the more violent variant endorsed and pursued by organizations such as Islamic state or those from countries in the Middle East. This seminar will explore the meaning and context of which Islam Nusantara stems from as well the implication for other Muslim polities within the Southeast Asian region. This presentation will also broach the topic of whether such discourse serves the purpose of under-mining religiously inspired violence not only within the region but also the world.
This talk will be delivered by Dr Leong Kar Yen, an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Department of Global Politics and Economics. He has recently embarked on a two-year long research project looking at the shape and form of religious discourse has taken in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Due to limited seats, registration is encouraged.