Religion In Southeast Asia

Introduction

Southeast Asia is commonly understood as the region south of China and east of India. Historically, its strategic location along trade routes of China and India has made it a crossroad for the movement of people, goods, ideologies and especially religion. In Southeast Asia, religion has always been highly regarded in peoples’ everyday spheres of life. This can be attributed to agriculture being the dominant industry in the region in ancient times. Crop yields, essential to the livelihood and survival of communities, were critically dependent on the unpredictable forces of weather. Freak weather in form of torrential, flood-causing rains and severe droughts thus threatened the existence of entire communities. Naturally, religion

The importance of religion in people’s belief systems can be glimpsed in the many highly respected religious clerics and figureheads that assume much authority within their religious circles due to their central position in these local and even national religious networks. For instance, Mariano ‘Mike’ Zuniega Velarde, better known as Bro. Mike, is a well-known televangelist and founder of a Philippines based Catholic Charismatic religious group called El Shaddai. Based in Philippines, it has an estimated following of three to seven million. Physical manifestations of the importance and practice of religion can be seen not just in built places of worship e.g. churches and mosques, but altars and shrines that are more simply, religious tributes. Religions, employed in various ways, some of which are novel, have unified people across SEA for common causes. The historical significance of religion in the region can be thought of as a pre-existing condition that allows for its unifying ability on such varied scales today. This essay will explore the different ways in which religion can and is used to unify people in the region and as we shall see towards the end, sometimes creating a

At times, these aims also stood alongside a perceived outside threat to ideological values. By using a threat as a backdrop to unify their people, state rulers found much success in achieving their goals. The means to achieve these ends include the implementation of political agendas and diffusion of political messages intertwined with religious rhetoric and references. For example, in Malaysia, the Islamic political party UMNO (United Malays National Organization) led by Mahathir significantly increased its efforts to ‘rationalise, advertise and implement’ Islamic and nationalistic causes against a backdrop of threat to ideology posed by the West (Hamayotsu, 2002). The result is an Islamic Malaysia where religion is intertwined with national identity that continues