Orientalism in the post-colonial context

Abstract

This article attempts to discuss the main thesis or theories and its traits of Orientalism. It also examines the applicability and its impacts of these main theories in relation to the issues concerning the Malay Muslim community in Singapore in the current post-colonial context. This is mainly a theoretical article based on the contemporary literature in relation to the topic. The article reveals a long tradition of romanticized images of Asia and the Middle Eastern Western culture had served as an implicit justification for European and American colonial and imperial ambitions. It is argued that a close reading of Singapore‟s state policies on multiracialism reflects the Orientalist mode of thinking as to how the Malay Muslim have continuously been subjected to bear the brunt of stereotype being relegated to the status of „other‟ within the multiracial community in Singapore.