Are Muslim youths in Malaysia and Indonesia becoming more conservative? 

I had a Malaysian friend in university. While I had quite a few muslim peers (from India and central Asia), only he used to follow the 5 times a day prayer rule and go to the prayer room. He even used to check his watch every time. Funnily enough, the Arab students never followed this😂. I found it interesting. By the way, this was in Dubai.

In Sabah & Sarawak, they rejected Islamic conservative like PAS. When I asked my Dusun tribe Muslim or Christian friends from Sabah, they don't like PAS. They assumed PAS as extreme & radical political party.

This is normal, when liberal don't work, people tend to be conservative. When conservative doesn't work well, they become more liberal. It is fine as long they are not too extreme until it break the balance between the liberal and conservative.

TLDR : Malaysia : yes they are Indonesia : no, their millenials and Gen Z are driving away from conservative

The issue is mixing religion with politics.

Comparing religio-politically Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia is like comparing apples with oranges. However , comparing Sabah and Sarawak with Indonesia from this religio-political aspect is aples vs apples.

Malaysia is becoming more conservative and religious yes.

identity politics become so entrenched in malaysia...

And they want Taylor Swift to perform in Malaysia????? Who are they kidding!?!??

The sign of growing conservatism is very easy, look at the old photos of our parents or people before year 2000. I always find thay no woman wearing hijab those time. Now almost all muslim woman i see wear hijab. It is in Indonesia though.

May Indonesia be multicultural country as it has existed with different races since long time ago, and was started as Non-Muslim during Indonesia Kingdom.

As a youth in Indonesia who study in the Western country. I'd say I prefer to be conservative, to follow the instruction of my religion, if it brings peace to my soul (and it does) rather than living in neo-lib people.

Always remember this motto in Malaysia. Agama, Bangsa dan Negara. Religion comes first, Race is second, Country is last. So, it is okay for country to go down the drain, okay for race to go down the drain but religion must always be protected.

I'm one of those youths...I do consider myself more religious than my mom's generation, although my mom's generation became more religious as they grew older. Most of us young Malaysians are practicing more of the religion compared to before because we do not want to be like those generations before us who used to wear skimpy clothing, drink alcohol, not praying. Previous generations I observe were more laid back in religion, but there were so many social problems (drunk, divorce, domestic violence because of alcohol and gambling). My generation are are more conscious of religion and we try to follow as much as we can. I don't see it as a bad thing because it makes us less 'wild' and because we are more 'God Fearing', most of us don't dare do bad things.

Perhaps Singapore needs to be reminded of its history.

Short answer yes Long answer no but as a singaporean, we prefer malaysia as retirement and vacation destination as its offers more tranquility than liberal indonesia. In indonesia, even football is glorified higher than religion for some people.

Biased. You can't profile 2 very diverse populations with such tiny samples. The so-called "secular" Indonesians interviewed are no different from a huge percentage of Malaysian youths, and so many Indonesians are similar to the "religious" Malaysians portrayed too. There is a wide spectre of muslim youths in both countries, they're not all the same. While muslims on average are more religious these days in BOTH countries, much of the increased vote shares for PAS can be attributed to dissatisfaction for UMNO and distrust for Pakatan. It'd be naive to think that PAS won more seats this time mainly because people have become more religious. Not so simple.

I am an Indonesian and I am a high school teacher. I don't think so, what i've seen, Indonesian youth nowadays are actually becoming more liberal than before, they are increasingly open about not having a religion, and their thoughts are becoming more free. Social media in Indonesia does not portray the true Indonesia. For example, in Indonesian news and social media, many people show strong support for Palestine, but the reality is that the majority of people in Indonesia do not care about them and even tend to dislike the Middle East.

Indonesia as far as I know, is becoming more and more secular as time passes on. I wouldn't say we're leaving our Indonesian roots at all yet, lots of Indonesian youths are still expressing their interest in local cultures, history and heritages, and you can clearly see it in the games they made like Dreadout or A Space for the Unbound, we just wanted to leave our own mark in said heritage to put it into perspective From what I'm seeing, this happens not only to the Islamic community within Indonesia, but to the entire population as a whole. Not all young Indonesian Muslims have a positive opinion on Arab countries just like how not all young Indonesian Christians have a positive opinion on Israel, even thought their parents are most likely be inclined to side with those countries

“If i vote religious parties, me too gonna be religious” It is more like a compensatory mechanism, whether they are truly all that or not is up for debate. Classic case of social identity crisis and the politicians are really good at capitalizing on that.

What is the scope of conservatism in this context? Is CNA using a western minded definition of conservatism? These two countries were never liberal in the first place.

Indonesia have seen what excessive religionism has affected their political lives that they are no longer seen more conservative and become towards liberal. Malaysia on the other hand, is still relatively new on grasping how excessive religionism will affect their political lives. Both countries lived in the safe religious bubble sphere. The difference: Indonesia burst first and now is trying to create a new ideological or political safe sphere, that they do not want to rely on religion anymore.

In Malaysia, the growth of private religious and tahfiz school are quite sporadic in the last decade. This generation are the key group of the young eligible voters now. I think that's the major factor.

As indonesian i dont trust islamic party, but i choose leader with good islamic behavior

Indonesia already facing the radicalism since early days of independence,religious radicalism or communist radicalism we've been through of it,we more mature than malaysian how to select information from scholars,politicians or religious figures.

what about muslim youth in singapore ?

This is how the westerner put emphasize their idea into our local mindset. They put a narrative that if people tend to be more into religious value then they considered conservative, and it is one step to say it will become extremist and finally become terrorist. They think we the eastern people are stupid and easy to be poison by their words. The reality is that it shows how progress of nation would never left the religion value. The westerner always thought if they make a nation more progresive, they wil become more loose of their faith because they think science oppose to religion teachings. It just show how they got it wrong, in malaysia, the more people espcially muslim, when they learn more, become progresive, become more richer, they tend to be more good muslim which westerner think it is conservative. This is all because of knowledge, education, because islam asked it follower to seek knowledge, to learn about the world and afterworld, so when we learn more then we realise why Allah SWT send us to earth, and living in this world is just a small part/journey whereby the goal is the akhirah....

What is CNA motives for making this clip with this subject?

Muslims in Malaysia are getting more conservative which is a norm nowadays. Why it is a big issue? I guess due to the facts that these conservatives are professional and well verse in English. It won't be a big fuss if these conservatives are illiterate and very poor.

saya indonesia dan saya memandang islam paling utama jika islam tegak toleransi akan datang juga buktinya ada pada kisah riyanto banser natal islam is best way of life

I have met a few ex muslim Malays from Malaysia and Indonesia, and they are tired of religion being forced onto them. Many are hiding their ex-muslim identity, even though they still practiced their religious rituals to avoid suspicion from their community.

As an Indonesian, I don't think so. I grew up having conservative parents, also most of my friends are the same, somehow all of us don't deliberately ended up as conservative. In fact, we're trying not to be one.

I don’t know what defines conservative in terms of religion.. indonesian youths care a lot about their religions.. but mostly keep their faith for themselves.. because they are tired of hypocrisy from the same side or the other side

Indonesian are slightly better, at least they have religion freedom, unlike Malaysian majority.

People in the comment section seem could not differentiate between being religious and being conservative. Being religious does not mean being conservatif and vice versa. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid (Indonesian former presidents), both of them are very religious, spritual AND open minded.

Thats apparently truth, they had become so easily radicalised, it has become hinderance towards more harmonious societies

It's always dangerous when you have people who listen word for word from figures who are out of touch with the rest of society. When religion is placed as a priority over all else in turn you will have a country which will struggle in all other aspects. Economics, health, education when all these are already not the best and you decide to make religion a priority over these the country will take a few steps backwards.

Indonesia tends to be moderate, meaning that it is in the middle between Progressive and Conservative, it is more balanced than choosing far left or far right, moderate can take the progressive side and the conservative side.

The west like USA, Europe & Down Under also hav a fair share of conservative people. However the same term cannot be applied to conservatives in Malaysia. Their conservatives do not judge nor critisise the liberals in any way except for political ideology. Tho they disagree with those liberals, they do not bark, spit or try to illegalise them about sex orientation, attire , nudity, religious views etc. They mind their own business & see these differences as personal. Very different from our local conservatives. 😢And i digress at these local conservatives.

So you're a bad person for simply voting for an islamic party ? Now i know why many people don't trust CNA's journalism. The quality of these analysis can support an entire circus.

This observation of Indonesia is a bit off, Indonesian youth are also increasingly conservative but in different ways, while the muslim youths of Malaysia are socially more activist in their conservatism, and tend to more radicalized, meaning they would likely to actively oppose unislamic behavior whenever they can, Muslims youth in Indonesia are(at least most of them, especially in java island) keeping it for themselves, they pray more(5times a day), muslimah(female muslim) wearing hijab more, halal everything, changing "unislamic" cultural practices to suit the sharia, etc. But they tend to follow and support Islamic clerics, ullema, and ustadz that are easy-going, modern-minded, tolerant and moderate, they also avoid any contents that uses Islam as political tools, even I, an atheist(former muslim/a murtad) is much more comfortable hanging out with my religious friends(they rarely skip 5times prayers), rather than my family, because they never talk about religion, unlike the older generation, they more mindful and sensitive about that subject. Also, unlike malaysia where muslim is stereotypically "malay", in Indonesia that's not the case, so the muslim can't simply "unite under 1way or sentiment" A and B might be Muslim, but they eat different foods for iftar and shahoor, A maybe eat sweeter foods, B maybe eat spicier foods, and that's just food, how about the mindset? It's simple, Indonesian youth are Religiously Conservative, Socially moderate-liberal. And Indonesia also have larger population so she automatically have more liberal-minded and non-muslim demographics.

It's not conservative, for the Muslim it's the way of life; where life in the world is temporary, while life hereafter is eternity.

Don't get Indonesia wrong,. It's not that islam is weaken by our national core value called Pancasila. Instead, Pancasila core value itself is based on the very core values of islam, and so to say also including major good value in any major religion. So we didn't think that there's something better to replace it. Pancasila should be worldwide if possible. You know that Prophet Mohammed and many others prophet is preaching the same thing about Unity and Submission to God, wich is something you will clearly find on Pancasila.

It’s ok. They can be as conservative or as liberal as they want. As long as they are not spreading extremism ideology and do not infringe on the rights of non-Muslim. Malaysia, in my opinion, is still a secular society.

love how they put “radical” and “Islam” in the same sentence. Totally not equating em, wow unbiased cna😂

Thank god majority indonesian is still holding true to pancasila as their ideology 😊. That way we can be more advanced in future instead of holding on to the past or using religion glorifying the past achievements instead of making new achievements ahead.

Not only in Malaysia and Indonesia. Same in Bangladesh too .... Celebration of Bengali New year is now become Hindu celebration ( a shrik for muslim) . Hindu, Buddhists r continuously getting harrassed online and offline daily by muslim. The traditional dress sarees got replaced by Burkha, hijab . Bcz now tradition bengali dress is haram for them. These were not the cases before. Before there were muslims too.

Very good analysis I must say. also in Karachi Pakistan we have same mosque infront of the cathedral since centuries

Even as more muslims youth in Malaysia becoming more religious, they are still accepting of foreigners and are friendly towards them. In the western countries, people are becoming conservative with xenophobic and discriminatory behaviours. Americans vs Mexicans and hispanic minority, Canada vs foreign nationals, Britons against EU nationals, Australian vs Chinese immigrants, German vs Turkish minorities, France vs Algerian minority, Sweden vs Syrians refugees etc. In fact more, westerners are coming to live in Malaysia lately. You can see many youtubers would promote Malaysia as holiday destinations and a place to live and retire. Conservatives countries like UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia now are fast becoming developed countries and world-class while liberal western countries are sinking down the drain. In the long run, Malaysian religious conservatism will prevail over ridiculous liberal agenda of the west.

As if you try to make affiliating with something islamic is wrong or embarrassing. It's their country, it's their land. Let them do what they wish with it. Everything have balance. Even their God do not like something excessive.

Me as an Indonesian personally i dont like being called moderate muslim but i also dont like when someone calling me fundamentalist/conservative muslim. It sounds derogatory to me. I always tried to do what muslim suppose to do like daily prayer, charity, fasting in ramadhan and inshaallah someday i will go pilgrim to mekkah and avoid anything that considered as sin such as consuming non halal foods, drinking alcohol, gambling, indecency behaviour etc

In Malaysia many parents send their children to religious schools or tahfiz schools... no wonder this happens... Alhamdulillah...

Well, the youths in indonesia is tired from all the conservatives scandals. And the last election is the proof of that. And i believe the conservatives bloc are still able to gather 25% vote in the presidential election is because the president candidate is a respected figure in the education society, and the strongest opponent has a human rights scandal in the past. If not for that the vote will be much lower than that.

While you call it conservatism, others call it being more educated and knowledgeable on religious matters. I look at the Malay/ Muslim kids in Sg who are not only academically weak but also have poor religious upbringing, and I wonder what will become of them. Will they become the burden of Singapore in future? Proper religious upbringing would have kept them in check, to a certain extent. Saying it as I see it.

UAI instead of targeting concerts, why dont you do something with locals like sajat and aliff syukri? or the issue is selective?

Good for Singapore!

Salam,saya dari malaysia. Di malaysia keadaan politiknya berbeza kerana selepas pilihanraya umum pada tahun 2018 telah menjadi sebuah buku baru dalam politik malaysia.We are divided sama seperti di amerika ketika donald trump menjadi presiden negaranya.

Good coverage CNA

A person who celebrate Chinese new year or moon light festival will they considered as conservative ?

May Allah bless all.

In Indonesia more liberal than Conservative

Indonesia has always been less converative than Malaysia though, remember their non-Muslim population is far larger than Malaysia's.

In islam there is only 1, no such thing as conservative. A muslim need to follow islamic teaching strictly...one may choose pahala or dosa

Without Lies Islam Dies!!!

Their "conservative" is bashing and vehemently criticizing things they disagree with even when its 99.99% harmless, e.g. girls without hijab, or coldplay concert. Doing these vicious verbal abuse, to them is a "good deed".

As Indonesian Muslim I will never vote based on religion first. Never!! I love Being Indonesian more than being muslim

my biggest problem with this lies on Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia considering even Shia Muslims "Kafir"

when a child is rigorously indoctrinated since young on a particular way of life, they would most likely hold on to it because it becomes their identity. islam is very good at this. a child is taught to pray 5 times a day since young. no other religion can compare to this dedication.

Menurut saya indonesia memang lebih liberal, anak2 muda lebih menganut surat al-kafirun. Dimana apapun agama orang lain yg penting kita main bareng, dan menurut saya itu bagus berarti toleransi indonesia semakin tinggi. Itu salah satu alasan kenapa agama di indonesia sudah tidak bisa lagi dipolitisasi. Menurut saya liberal atau konservatif tidak masalah karena tidak ada jaminan kalo orang konservatif lebih beragama/berilmu dari orang2 liberal. Hanya Allah yg tahu isi hati orang lain. Lagian agama itu bukan ajang balapan, dan yang bisa memberi hidayah itu Tuhan. Jadi kenapa harus takut? Negara sekuler dan liberal terbesar di dunia sekelas Amerika saja penganut agama islamnya semakin bertambah. Sekali lagi agama itu urusan manusia dan Allah. Tapi sebagai orangtua, saya hanya mengajarkan batas rendah dan atas sebagai muslim konservatif dan liberal. Jadi anak saya tidak akan terlalu konservatif hingga menjadi radikal, dan tidak terlalu liberal hingga ia menjadi sesat.

Not conservative, but toward hardline extremist, more like Afghanistan

People said be yourself, be who you are never care about what others thinking. But when you really did , the one who said it, begins to feel bother about your change.

Being conservative is common practices in the east not just Islam.

It's okay to become conservative. But be careful, you may trapped to extremism if polarization keep you in the bubble.

Honestly, me myself since 17yrs old live in hedonism and always strive to become rich. But now I'm 35 yrs old and start thinking I cant forever live like this, I got everything I'm looking for, money, house, wife, job..Now i know, this is not my life goal..thus I'm back to Islam, to Allah, to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. I strive for hereafter..😢 O Allah please forgive my ignorance..

percayalah,,menjalin hubugan dgn tetangga lebih baik dri pada saudara yg jauh🤝

In this world, either we can have sexy influencers, or have strict religious ones. The moderate space does not exist.

non muslim in kelantan and terenganu no complain about PAS. Why outsider always show bad influent about conservative party

Malay already conservative even before malaysia exist. because our race are merge with islam, this have no problem in Malaysia since Malay & and islam already merged together, we are ethnoreligious, (race with only 1 religion) similar like jews, which only adopt judaism Javanese are different. they never merge their race with religion, they are not ethnoreligious, you can find javanese hindu, javanese christian, javanese muslim, but no way you will find malay adopt other religion except islam Javanese and malay are different. sadly, most chinese & indian didnt know about this Thats why javanese decendant in malaysia have no choice other than assimilate themselves into malay society because they fear malay people will reject them, Malay are simple, if you claim you are muslim but not follow / practicing islam, you will never be part of our family indonesia is javanese majority country, they are not malay

In my personal experience, I find more relevance in religion. When there are conflicting values around, I find that my religion offers me strong ground to justify my moral and ethical viewpoint. Another contributing factors I think because many religious institutions such as dawah community and mosque start exploring broader topics in their sermons or preaches. It may include social, political, and ecological discussions that resonate with our daily experiences. For instance, my community put emphasis on eco-consciousness rooted in Islam. I think the notion of conservatism can be viewed in a more positive manner. As long as we still put respect towards other religious communities.

The common thread among the people interviewed (and what I believe is mostly true) is that youths follow INFLUENCERS on social media. Politics do not 'influence' the masses as well as religion. Especially in non-secular countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, religion is a backbone of their society; therefore, they are more familiar with it, albeit without the best context in some cases, and that's how religion prosper where politics don't. But let's be real, youths aren't the only group that are easily influenced by religion. Boomers and beyond are as well - that's how the culture is set up in the first place.

If more conservative means closer islam than i'm all in. Life is short.

I don't know about Malaysia, but in Indonesia many young people are becoming irreligious.

How is that a problem?

what we can see is that there is growing interest towards conservatism in malaysia especially due to weakness of the so called liberal political parties. Malaysia has been quite liberal in the past and now facing an increase of interest towards religious aspect.Indonesia, on the other hand moving towards the opposite direction.

.... and what is the problem , with YOuth becoming more religious in any muslim country in the world ? what's the point of such title for this video ?

If you want to adopt them keep an eye on them, don't spread in ASEAN. we are tired of radicals been exporting here in ph.

there was a presidential candidate who canceled the U23 WC on the pretext of Israel..we punished him for becoming president..can you imagine this happening in the biggest country of Islam..

As long as the govt is just and fair towards its citizens, every thing is and will be better.

Herd mentality. All due respect to religion and their practices but you have to feel sorry for these youths. You’re on a joyride instead of journey..

Malaysia becoming more pro-PAS means more talents will flow to Singapore.

In the backdrop of difficulties from the covid pandemic, many are reflecting inwards and see value in mental health and reslience. Many are seeking self discipline and life structure to rid anxiety and mindlessness. And no makeshift exercise can help since it lacks a fundamental backbone which is purpose and objective truths. Islam in particular is seen incredibly attractive, even in the west, because of its holistic effectiveness.

If practicing religion interferes with cultures, work, or whatever is important then it is wrong. You can pray 5x a day but as holg as you dont use up company work time, fine but dont affect your works. Prayers are personal do at your own time and space, dont affect others

The reason why Indonesia is relatively progressing forward in leaps and bounds when compared to Malaysia , which is regressing in leaps and bounds.

RTM reports on Malaysian issues but CNA reports on Malaysia issues also? No wonder PAP is rarely criticized on Singaporean media.

Indonesia is definitely a liberal country as the main priority is pancasila despite religion obligation

as indonesia youth, we become irreligious

Indonesian Muslims were Hindus and Buddhists in past. Converted to Islam. Although they were not converted by sword as in the case of ancestors of Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi Muslims, Indonesian Muslims were earlier proud of their ancestry.

0:05 sums up stupidity

This is my favourite verse in the Holy Quran O believers! Do not enter the homes of the Prophet without permission ˹and if invited˺ for a meal, do not ˹come too early and˺ linger until the meal is ready. But if you are invited, then enter ˹on time˺. Once you have eaten, then go on your way, and do not stay for casual talk. Such behaviour is truly annoying to the Prophet, yet he is too shy to ask you to leave. But Allah is never shy of the truth. And when you ˹believers˺ ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a barrier. This is purer for your hearts and theirs. And it is not right for you to annoy the Messenger of Allah, nor ever marry his wives after him. This would certainly be a major offence in the sight of Allah.

Menurut saya, Politik dan Kekonservatifan dalam beragama (khususnya islam) memang akan saling kait-mengait. Apabila di suatu negara aliran politiknya masih mendudukkan antara Islam vs non-Islam, dan persaingan kedua kubu ini sangat kuat, maka masyarakatnya akan cenderung menjadi lebih konservatif karena didorong oleh usaha sejumlah pihak untuk memenangkan kubu yang lebih islami. Sebelumnya indonesia juga mengalami politik "identitas" beberapa waktu lalu, namun hal tersebut menjadi ujian bagi bangsa Indonesia dan akhirnya rakyat dan pemerintah sadar bahwa para politisi lah yang menjadi biang kerok dari persoalan tersebut. Akhirnya, rakyat tidak lagi mendukung orang-orang atau politisi yang "radikal" atau "penjual agama", karena mereka inilah orang yang bisa memecah belah rakyat. Hal itu alhamdulillah didukung juga oleh pemerintah dimana pemerintah melakukan "tindakan" seperti pelarangan organisasi agama seperti Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) yg mengosong Khilafah, juga organisasi masyarakat seperti Front Pembela Islam (FPI). Mungkin Indonesia bersyukur karena Pemerintahnya dan Tentaranya tetap menjaga keutuhan bangsa dan menjadi penjaga kesatuan dan persatuan bangsa.