Observatories in Malaysia: descendants of Islamic civilization superiority

Abstract

This article covers official observatories in Malaysia on their historical aspects of establishment and development. The observatories were built for the advancement of the science of falak in Malaysia in the fields of research, education and tourism. However, studies on observatory are few in numbers in spite of it being an important Islamic institution apart from mosques and schools. Hence, this study was carried out to examine the development history of official observatories in Malaysia. This research employed a qualitative method via document analyses, interviews and observations. It was found that the history of the establishment of official observatory in Malaysia commenced in the 1980’s and the institution rapidly grew until 2014. Up to date, there are eight official observatories in Malaysia excluding hilal observation stations, mobile observatories and private observatories, be they mobile or stationary.