Numerous scholars have noted the saliency of Islam as the master sig-
nifier in Malaysian politics from the early 1980s to the 2000s. Nair (1997)
looked at how Islamic values and ideas impacted upon Malaysia’s foreign
policy in the 1980s and 1990s, where the Malaysian government presented
itself as a defender of Muslim concerns in the international arena; the author
also highlighted pressing issues such as the conflicts in Afghanistan and
Bosnia, and championing the rights of Palestinians and Muslims elsewhere.