Law and Society in Malaysia
This book provides a systematic and interdisciplinary examination of law and legal institutions in Malaysia. It examines legal issues from historical, social, and political perspectives, and discusses the role of law in relation to Malaysian multiculturalism, religion, politics, and society. It shows how the Malaysian legal system is at the heart of debates about how to deal with the countrys problems, which include ethnic and religious divisions, uneven and unsustainable development, and political authoritarianism; and it argues that the Malaysian legal system has much to teach other plural polities, nations within the common law tradition, and federal states.
Andrew Harding is a Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.
Dian A. H. Shah is a research fellow at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), National University of Singapore, and a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Routledge Law in Asia
Series editors
Randall Peerenboom
Pip Nicholson
9 Public Interest Litigation in Asia
Edited by Po Jen Yap and Holning Lau
10 Freedom of Information Reform in China
Information Flow Analysis
Weibing Xiao
11 Law and Development in Asia
Edited by Gerald Paul McAlinn and Caslav Pejovic
12 The Judicialization of Politics in Asia
Edited by Bjrn Dressel
13 Juries in the Japanese Legal System
The Continuing Struggle for Citizen Participation and Democracy
Dimitri Vanoverbeke
14 Confucian Constitutionalism in East Asia
Bui Ngoc Son
15 Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia
Edited by Tim Lindsey and Helen Pausacker
16 Constitutional Interpretation in Singapore
Theory and Practice
Edited by Jaclyn L. Neo
17 Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia
Edited by Marco Bnte and Bjrn Dressel
18 Law and Society in Malaysia
Pluralism, Religion, and Ethnicity
Edited by Andrew Harding and Dian A. H. Shah
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2018 selection and editorial matter, Andrew Harding and Dian Shah; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Andrew Harding and Dian Shah to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harding, Andrew, 1950-, editor. | Shah, Dian Abdul Hamed, editor.
Title: Law and society in Malaysia : pluralism, religion, and ethnicity / Edited by Andrew Harding and Dian Shah.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge law in Asia; volume 18 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017029216 | ISBN 9781138307568 (hardback) | ISBN 9780203710265 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: LawMalaysia. | Sociological jurisprudenceMalaysia. | Legal polycentricityMalaysia. | Freedom of religionMalaysia.
Classification: LCC KPG465 .L39 2018 | DDC 340/.11509595dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029216
ISBN: 978-1-138-30756-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-71026-5 (ebk)
Rueban Ratna Balasubramaniam is an associate professor of law and legal studies at Carleton University, Canada. He did his doctoral work in law at the University of Toronto. His principal area of research in legal philosophy has been on the subject of legal pathology or rule by law as this problem relates to the Malaysian context. His most recent article is entitled What Is Rule by Law? (2015) Journal of Malaysian and Comparative Law 42(2): 99121. Presently, he is working on a book that sets out a theory of the Malaysian constitution entitled A New Social Contract for Malaysia.
Noraida Endut is an associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, where she also serves as the Director of the Centre for Research on Women and Gender. She obtained her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law from the University of Sheffield and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, respectively. Her academic and research interests lie with law and women issues. She has been involved in various research projects, most of which are focused on the issue of violence against women.
Andrew Harding is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He is former Head of the Law Schools, SOAS, University of London; former Director, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, NUS; and former Director, Asian Law Institute. He is a founding editor of the Hart/ Bloomsbury book series Constitutional Systems of the World, and has written extensively on Malaysia and Southeast Asia, including the books on Malaysia and Thailand in that series (2012). National University of Singapore.
Intan Hashimah Mohamed Hashim is an associate professor in psychology and a board member of Centre for Research on Women and Gender in Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has been working with the university since completing her PhD at the University of Warwick in 1999. Her research background is social/positive psychology with special interest in interpersonal relationships and happiness. Currently, she is working on several projects related to well-being and relationships. She is also particularly interested in the issue of women and gender.
Jaclyn L. C. Neo is an assistant professor of law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). A graduate of the NUS Law Faculty, Jaclyn worked as a litigation lawyer before joining the faculty. She was awarded the NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship to pursue her masters in law from Yale Law School and subsequently received another scholarship from NUS to pursue a doctorate in law at Yale. Jaclyn teaches constitutional and administrative law, comparative state and religion, and law, migration, and citizenship. Her research is primarily in the areas of constitutional and human rights law, with specific focus on women and minorities.
Saw Tiong Guan read law at the University of Malaya and became an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2005. In 2011, Tiong Guan obtained a PhD from the University of Melbourne with a thesis entitled The final cut: Film censorship in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. Besides lecturing administrative law and criminal procedure at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Tiong Guan also produces and directs films.
