Abstract:
The thesis â Religion, Nationalism and Regional Politics in Southeast Asia : The Relations Between Thailand and Malaysiaâ aims to study the extent to which religion can affect the foreign policy of the Southeast Asian governments, how they weigh the religious factor against the national interests, and eventually how religion impacts the regional relations. In this process, the thesis takes the Malaysian policy toward the Thaiâ Muslim insurgency as the main case study, then compares the findings with other similar cases in the region in order to reach the conclusion on the influence of religion on the foreign relations in the regional level. The thesis finds out that the religious similarity does not automatically lead to the religious solidarity across borders among the co-religionists. But religions can influence the foreign relations when they intertwine with the nationalism. However, when the governments pursue the foreign policy, the national interests are prioritized over the religious factor. And Southeast Asian governments appropriate the religious factor on the foreign policy mainly by imposing the official version of the religious interpretation or discourse. Eventually, the religious factor barely affects the regional relations in Southeast Asia, because the Southeast Asian governments need the regional cooperations in order to contribute to their national development, and therefore try to prevent the religious factor from affecting the foreign policy.
