What Happened in the 80′s?

When I looked at some old photos from the 70′s (and prior), I couldn’t help but notice how different people dressed. I do not mean the baggy pants and the hippie looks, but the fact that people exposed more skin. Even in the early 80′s, when I started going to school, boys wore shorts and girls donned pinafores. There were hardly any women covering their heads. But almost immediately after that, things changed. People became more religious, or should I say more Islamic. By fourth grade, long pants were made compulsory and girls started to wear loose-fitting baju kurung and tudung.

I remember newscaster Wan Chik Daud was barred from her usual prime time news on RTM after she decided to adopt the tudung as one of her permanent clothing articles. Well into the 90′s, many female newscasters and presenters wore tudung without similar repercussion. By the time I was in secondary school, shorts were downright banned, even during sports. Flash some of that skin above the knee, the ustaz will be looking for you!

What happened in the 80′s that changed people to become more religious? I asked this question a few months ago and since then, I have come across several opinions on the matter.

The first — strange but rather interesting opinion — came from Barry Wain in his book Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times.

He wrote: He (Tun Dr. Mahathir) Islamised Malaysia not to promote the religion but was hoping to use Islam to promote his development agenda (chapter 9). Mahathir even tried to use Islam to endorse his mega projects (page 224).

This sounds crazy at first, but I got to admit that it really put my mind on hyper-drive! I mean… leaders use religions to their benefits all the time, be it in the past, now, and probably till the end of time. Could this be true? We’ll never know I guess. But one thing for sure is that we can’t ignore its possibility — TDM is more than capable to attempt such feat!

The second came from Dina Zaman. She said:

“We are becoming more religious because we want a solid identity. The Malays may feel that their ethnic race is beleaguered, hence the trump card: Islam.”

“If our race is weak, then all we can depend on is our religion. What else does the average Malaysian have left, if not for his beliefs?”

I do feel it is easier for me to associate myself with Islam than being a Malay. A large part of being culturally Malay has been forgotten (at least among the people I hang out with). Some people say religion is the reason why we abandoned some adat and other cultural stuff, but I feel those would eventually disappear anyway due to globalization and whatever not. Plus, Islam never hinder oneself from being cultural, instead it acknowledges its importance.

Also, by being a Muslim, one can better connect with other Muslim brothers and sisters everywhere. This can be an advantage from both personal and national fronts. We meet foreign nationals much more often now than ever. Islam offers a larger camaraderie than the Malay race.

The third came from a friend. He thought the increasing number of religious scholars (ulama’) was the reason. People got caught up with Islamisation that happened elsewhere, like in Egypt, Pakistan, India, and Sudan. So it was not really a Malaysian phenomenon, but more of a global one. More people aspire to be religious experts and study Islam in the middle east. They then come back and teach and inspire others.

What do you think?