Even as militant Islamists from Europe to the Philippines command headlines and the Bush administration feeds extremist sentiment with its effort to reinvent the “Greater Middle East” in America’s image, proponents of South-East Asia’s pragmatic blend of religion and politics are quietly but effectively developing a template for democratic governance infused with Muslim values. The landslide general election victory in March 2004 by Malaysia’s new prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the free-wheeling campaign for Indonesia’s first direct presidential elections, are vivid reminders that not all Muslims are extremists and not all democracies need be “Made in America”.