The Malay Community Facing the 21st Century: Socio-cultural Hindrances to Overall Progress

Abstract

Malaysia expects to become a fully developed society by the year 2020. This is a challenging task, in which the Malay/Bumiputera community, mainly consisting of Muslims, has to play a key role. While some advances have been made in preparing the Malay Muslims for leadership roles, overall progress cannot be achieved without a dynamic action-oriented and highly ethical Qur’anic worldview. At the same time it is necessary to remove the socio­ cultural hinderances that block full realization of the potential of Malay Muslims. A number of such hindrances are discussed along with their symptoms and some possible causes.