Surau and Mosques in Malaysia

Abstract

One major issue in the current programme of Islamization in Malaysia is the construction of Islamic institutional infrastructures in new growth centres.In Bandar Baru Bangi, a new town close to Kuala Lumpur, both the State and its Muslim residents address the issue by building mosques and surau (communal prayer places). Outstanding as an Islamic symbol and sanctuary in the town is not a mosque, but rather a surau that is endowed with vast human and financial resources mobilized through grassroots operations, upon which it continues to function. The growth of mosques and surau, and differences in their identities in Bandar Baru Bangi, may not represent typical trends in Malaysia, but they do reveal the on-going competition between State and society to promote the Islamization cause.