Murray Hunter of the University Malaysia Perlis discusses the situation of Muslim-majority societies in Southeast Asia as well as the issues associated with the rise of Islam in the region.

Poverty, literacy, education, displacement, feudalism, unemployment, suppression, and control is dispossessing Muslims within ASEAN. Government and Ulama are trying to develop theocracies based little social and economic research and knowledge, and promote ritualized conformity instead. Islamic interpretations are patterned into rigid thinking and ideas where new interpretations are frowned upon.