1 ISSUE: 2016 NO. 24 ISSN 2335-6677 RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE SHARE THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF CURRENT EVENTS Singapore | 16 May 2016 ISIS in Southeast Asia: Internalized Wahhabism is a Major Factor Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  Recent media reports have speculated on an impending declaration of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) caliphate in Southeast Asia. Such an eventuality poses a grave threat to the pluralistic landscape of Southeast Asian societies.  Surveys over the past few years have worryingly indicated a rise in the level of extremist tendencies among Southeast Asian Muslims, albeit these tendencies are still at a comparatively low level.  The internalization since the 1970s of the Wahhabi brand of Salafism among Southeast Asian Muslims is the major factor behind this apparent shift towards a more radical worldview. The relatively low level of concern over rising Islamist extremism among Indonesian and Malaysian Muslims indicates a worrying institutionalization of radical interpretations of Islam in the general Islamic landscape of both countries.  Countering Salafization is rendered difficult by the fact that influential Muslim personalities and elements within Muslim-majority states have themselves embraced aspects of Wahhabism. Between Wahhabism and ISIS, which is but its violent manifestation, lies a short and slippery slope. 1 Dr Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid is Visiting Senior Fellow, Malaysia Studies Programme, ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute (1 September 2015 – 31 May 2016). Emails: afauzi@usm.my, ahmad_fauzi@iseas.edu.sg.