The articles in this special issue examine the interactions of religious, economic and political power by exploring the impact on multi-ethnic societies in Malaysia and Singapore of prominent non-mainstream Christian and Muslim groups whose significant business activities relate to their religious faith. A study of the enterprises developed by these groups provides insights into the importance of religion to their leaders and the groups they represent when initiating and operating these businesses. Because these enterprises are engaged in sustained contact with different publics, the question is raised whether they are implicated in proselytization and if this leads to social conflict resulting in fragmentation and polarization, or whether they can be a force for positive change in society by contributing to the resolution of social and economic problems. Moreover, state authorities concerned about rival centres of power find it difficult to ignore potent combinations of economic and religious influence, but both the development of these combinations and the political response to their existence owe much to the globalization of religious ideas, current economic orthodoxies and the Southeast Asian context.
马来西亚和新加坡的宗教、商业和冲突
关键词：宗教，商业，伊斯兰教，基督教，东南亚，马来西亚，新加坡。
本期特刊的论文考察了宗教、经济和政治权力之间的互动，它们探讨马来西亚和新加坡主要的非主流基督教和穆斯林群体对其多族群社会的影响，这些群体的重要商业活动跟他们的宗教信仰密切相关。研究这些群体所创建的企业可以帮助我们洞察：对这些领袖人物和他们所代表的群体而言，宗教在创建和经营这些企业过程中有何种重要性。由于这些企业始终保持与各种公众群体的接触，我们不免质疑：它们是否涉及到劝使改宗，而这是否会导致社会冲突、招致社会分化和两极冲突；亦或，它们是否会通过对解决社会经济问题作出贡献而成为带来积极变化的驱动力量。进一步而言，政府对竞争性的 权力中心心存顾忌，发现自己难以无视这种经济和宗教结合体的强大影响力，但是不论是这些结合体的发展，还是对其政治性的反应，很大程度上都要归结到宗教理念全球化、当下的正统 经济学说以及东南亚语境几个方面的影响。
Translated from English by Li Guo
Edmund Terence Gomez