Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia

All Sikh functions, collective as well as individual, are generally performed in local Gurdwaras, which can play an essential role in developing the Sikh community. As Sikhism is a faith which recognises no division between religion and politics, in 1988 a central council of Gurdwaras called the...

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Main Authors: Sarjit S. Gill,, Charanjit Kaur,
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2008
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1140/1/Gurdwara_and_Its_Politics.pdf
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spelling my-ukm.journal.11402016-12-14T06:28:56Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1140/ Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia Sarjit S. Gill, Charanjit Kaur, All Sikh functions, collective as well as individual, are generally performed in local Gurdwaras, which can play an essential role in developing the Sikh community. As Sikhism is a faith which recognises no division between religion and politics, in 1988 a central council of Gurdwaras called the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council was established to coordinate the functioning of these Gurdwaras. Based on our research, we found that, most of the Malaysian Gurdwaras face similar challenges. The ideal roles of the Granthi Sahib as a religious specialist are in question. The Granthi Sahib and Gurdwaras Management Committee (GMC) are in a dilemma about their roles. The reason for this conflict is explored in this paper. There are also conflicts between the GMC and Granthi Sahib due to committee members’ influence and their abuse of power in their relations with religious specialists. Therefore, the nature of role of the Malaysian Gurdwara Council in addressing these tensions which in turn affect the formation of Sikh identity is discussed Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2008 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1140/1/Gurdwara_and_Its_Politics.pdf Sarjit S. Gill, and Charanjit Kaur, (2008) Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia. SARI: Jurnal Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, 26 . pp. 243-255. ISSN 0127-2721 http://www.ukm.my/sari/index.html
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Perpustakaan Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description All Sikh functions, collective as well as individual, are generally performed in local Gurdwaras, which can play an essential role in developing the Sikh community. As Sikhism is a faith which recognises no division between religion and politics, in 1988 a central council of Gurdwaras called the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council was established to coordinate the functioning of these Gurdwaras. Based on our research, we found that, most of the Malaysian Gurdwaras face similar challenges. The ideal roles of the Granthi Sahib as a religious specialist are in question. The Granthi Sahib and Gurdwaras Management Committee (GMC) are in a dilemma about their roles. The reason for this conflict is explored in this paper. There are also conflicts between the GMC and Granthi Sahib due to committee members’ influence and their abuse of power in their relations with religious specialists. Therefore, the nature of role of the Malaysian Gurdwara Council in addressing these tensions which in turn affect the formation of Sikh identity is discussed
format Article
author Sarjit S. Gill,
Charanjit Kaur,
spellingShingle Sarjit S. Gill,
Charanjit Kaur,
Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
author_facet Sarjit S. Gill,
Charanjit Kaur,
author_sort Sarjit S. Gill,
title Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
title_short Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
title_full Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
title_fullStr Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Gurdwara and its politics: Current debate on Sikh identity in Malaysia
title_sort gurdwara and its politics: current debate on sikh identity in malaysia
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2008
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1140/1/Gurdwara_and_Its_Politics.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1140/
http://www.ukm.my/sari/index.html
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score 13.209306