Federalism and management of Islamic education in Kelantan

Abstract

In theory, federalism as a system of governance allows for an evenly balanced power arrangement between the central government and its autonomous component states, formally ascribed by the constitution. In practice, however, such power equilibrium is rarely the case. In Malaysia, the federal system skews heavily in favour of the strong central government despite the clear jurisdictional authority accorded to the states by the constitution. In this article we will illustrate why the central government in Malaysia has been able to transcend this constitutionally designed separation of powers by focusing on Islamic education. The Ninth Schedule and Article 3 of the Malaysian constitution stipulate that each state has the broad authority to administer Malay and Islamic affairs within its own boundary, of which Islamic education is part, with minimal interference from the central government. In reality, since the late 1970s at the onset of the wave of Islamic resurgence in Malaysia the central government has been ramping up effort to absorb many of the previously independent private Islamic schools into its control. This effort includes attempts to gain control over Islamic schools in the state of Kelantan, which is long known for its Islamic education traditions and oppositional politics against the central government. This article argues that the central government has been largely successful in its effort to gain control of Islamic education in Kelantan despite the state’s long-time fraught relationship with the central government in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.