A CONVERSATION WITH USM UNDERGRADUATES ON ETHNIC RELATIONS: AN INTRODUCTION

USM, PENANG, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Opening Remarks

This is a 2 credit course compulsory for all students There ought to be a series of such lectures, one or two is inadequate So I want to, this time, to open a discussion/ study, not close it Welcome any practical alternative ideas that would allow Malaysia to excel - not just to survive and certainly not to diminish, but excel - in a changed and changing world

An Introduction to Ethnic Relations in Malaysia

Historical backdrop

Whats not mentioned in Tun Ghazali Shafies Paper is the fact about the inter-relationship between the history of the land, on the one hand, and the Malay language and Islam, on the other

An unbroken relationship in the development of the Peninsula since the 15th century (Malacca Sultanate during which Malays traded as equals with Chinese, Indian, Arab and European counterparts)

This special relationship of the three elements must be recognised and cannot be denied

All his out aside with colonialism: Portuguese, Dutch, English

Synopsis of Tuns Paper

i.

The Japanese linked Malaya and Singapore to Sumatra providing limited identity. And rise of Malay nationalism We are a young nation. This country was never a single nation until 1946 after the formation of the Malayan Union (MU) In 1948, MU was replaced by the Federation of Malaya and in 1963 by Malaysia

i.

i.

ii.

Social contract worked out by leaders of all the communities enshrined in the Federal Constitution of 1957 which, inter alia recognises the official position of both Malay and Islam while providing continued existence of other languages and religions. In short, recognition of need of special status for the Malays

Evolution of social contract

Before 1969 incident, it was laissez-faire economics Rukun Negara embodies the same principle in its quest for inter-ethnic harmony Vision 2020 is yet another encapsulation of the Constitution and Rukun Negara in the context of achieving developed status nation.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Need to correct income differentials: gap between rural and urban population and spectre of Malays being marginalise in their own land. Inspired by the Federal Constitution and Rukun Negara, the NEP had 2 prongs: first, poverty exists among all communities and, second, ethnic groups being identified by their occupations. NEP not a policy to enrich the Malays, rather to empower them to play an important role in the economy Abuses in implementation

Models/ Approaches to Nation-building

A. Assimilation

The American melting pot or salad bowl concept of so-called equal treatment of all languages and cultures, though what is unstated is that others must merge into and accept Americanised mainstream Anglo-Saxon elements. In the Malaysian context, it would mean negation of historical realities and lead to drastic alteration to the historical identity of the country. It would mean non-recognition of the special relationship between Malay, Islam and land.

Models/ Approaches to Nation-building

B. Based on the dominant culture (language & religion)
a)

Malay history and identity be accorded absolute role in nationbuilding. Others treated as external or irrelevant. In a sense not dissimilar to (A) above.

a)

Not acceptable in the Malaysian context because it does not do any justice to the interest of other communities who have made Malaysia their home.
Few societies today are mono -ethnic. It goes against the modern concept of citizenship which recognises the need to accord equal political and economic rights to all irrespective of their ethnic origin. Islam itself accepts cultural diversity in its concept of state and society.

a)

a)

Models/ Approaches to Nation-building

C. Integration The social contract that leaders of independence had chosen and is the Malaysian way.

Position of Malay as the official and national language and the status of Islam as the official religion is recognised. At the same time, the use and study of other religions, cultures and practices and their perpetuation is guaranteed.

Non-Malays enjoy equal citizenship with same rights and responsibilities as the Malay community.
Position of Malay and Islam should not be perceived as inimical to the interest of others as it accepts historical realities of Malay, Islam and land.

Malaysian system of Governance.

Alliance and Barisan Nasional (BN) government is nonracial since the party which wins elections is the BN, not component parties and Members of Parliament represent BN, not their individual parties.
In short, Malaysian model/approach is a) noncommunal or non-racial political system where democracy is consensual - ours is a system that rejects winners takes all policy.

Pluralism

Malaysia is a plural society. In the social sciences, it refers to the existence of different types of people, who have different types of beliefs and opinions, within the same society.
No civilisation in history has demonstrated a more resolute commitment to pluralism than Islam. The principles of pluralism is anchored in the Noble Quran itself (Surah 30:22; 5:48; 22:67; 49:13 and 11:118).

Overwhelming majority non-racial

The late Prime Minister Tun Hj. Abdul Razak once observed: But racial or communal feeling or antagonism is more common among educated Malaysians despite the fact that most of these people went to the same type of schools and learned the same subject and possess identical social values and aspirations. Chinese and Malay farmers normally seldom talk about communalism. Some are not even aware of it and they live like Malaysians, until some communal politician starts talking and preaching hatred to them (Selected speeches of the late Tun edited by JV Morais)