Young Malaysians Turn to Fundamentalist Islam

Moderate Islam is a rapidly disappearing force, yet it forms the centerpiece of the both mainstream left and right thinking on how to deal with Islam. Support moderate Islamists and through the magic juju, they will transform all the other Muslims. Instead, fundamentalist Islam is gaining ground in the moderate states such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Growing popularity of conservative Islam in Malaysia linked to overseas students

The growing appetite for religion-based rule in Malaysia was brought into sharp focus a fortnight ago, when the Islamist opposition Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) put forward a bill to implement the Islamic hudud penal code throughout the state of Kelantan.

The proposal received support from the BN coalition as well as the People's Justice Party (PKR) of jailed opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

Under hudud law, the penalty for adulterers and apostates is death while thieves will have their hands amputated.

The only party in the opposition coalition who opposed the hudud proposal was the secular, ethnic-Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party.

The PAS, founded in 1951, is the country's oldest and largest opposition party. It draws inspiration from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Indonesian teachers concerned by Wahhabist high school textbooks

Iwan Hermawan, vice principal of the State Senior High School 9, said his school received 440 books on Islamic teachings, which contain a chapter titled “Rise Up All Islamic Fighters” and details the teachings of Muhammad Abd Wahhab, the founder of the Wahhabi Muslim movement.

Wahhabism is known for its ultraconservative, literal interpretation of Islam.

One part of the book reads: “Those who worship other than Allah are infidels and must be killed.”

At least the books are more challenging than Common Core textbooks, so there's that.