Ethnic Relations & Community Harmony: A Malaysian Perspective

By Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria

1. MALAYSIAN HISTORY & CONTEMPORARY REALITIES

Historical origins of Independent Malaya (August 31, 1957) & Formation of Malaysia (September 16, 1963)


Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society. Malaysian population is 23.27 million (2000 Census) (Malays & natives of Sabah & Sarawak, including the Orang Asli (65.1%), Chinese (26%), Indians (7.7%) & non citizens (5.9%)


Malaysia a multi-religious society (Islam (60.4%), Buddhism (19.2%), Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism (6.3%), Other Chinese religions (2.6%), Paganism


Malaysia a multi-cultural society (Malay, Chinese, Indian, variety of indigenous cultures of the natives of Sabah, [for example, KadazanDusun, Muruts, Bajaus, Rungus etc], Sarawak [for example, Ibans, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu etc], orang asli or 'aborigines' of Peninsular Malaysia.


Malaysia is a multi-lingual society (The national language is Bahasa Melayu but other languages spoken include English, Mandarin, and the many Chinese dialects, Tamil, Malayalee, Punjabi, Iban, KadazanDusun, Rungus, various Orang asli languages).


These diversities reflect the rich Malaysian heritage. It provides unique opportunities for community harmony but at the same time there are challenges which require greater attention to addressing differences with understanding.


2. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP & DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Malaysia adopted a form of government which is based on parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. The Federal Constitution provides protection for all the Malaysian communities.


Independence struggle & political formation for the newly independent nation-state from the British required inter-ethnic political collaboration and partnership among ethnic based political parties - the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) & Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).


Modern Malaysia was built on the basis of consensus leadership through discussions, consultations, a 'give and take' approach and a comprehensive agenda of power sharing. The leadership and decision making models of all the Malaysian Prime Ministers is indicative of being inclusive political leaders trying to accommodate the wishes and aspirations of all the communities.


Since the first general elections in 1959 till the 12th General Election in 2008, the ruling coalition is based of a variety of racial and multi racial political parties. Every community is represented either by elected or appointed political community representatives.


The 12th General Election results saw tremendous changes to the political landscape as an alternative multi racial coalition has emerged with alternative views but still holding to the core value of multi racial appeal.


There is now a challenge to the nature and style of Malaysian politics which centres on whether the way forward for Malaysia is through individual racial based parties working together in a coalition or as individual multi racial parties with differing political ideologies.


4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC POLICIES & DEVELOPMENTS

The post independent Malaya saw tremendous socio-economic disparities especially among the Malay community and the Chinese and Indian communities. Majority of the Malays were rural based farmers in contrast to Chinese who were in the towns and had an economic advantage. In a similar way there was a section of the Indian community who were English educated with good professional qualifications especially in medicine and law.


The government introduced new policies and programmes to address the socio-economic disadvantage of the Malay community after the 'inter- racial conflicts on May 13, 1969'. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced in 1970 which was based on the principle of positive discrimination to address the socio-economic disadvantage through education and economic development.


Malaysia has seen tremendous changes in the socio-economic dimensions with outstanding achievements in poverty reduction from 50% of the households to less than 3.6% in 2007 and overall improvements of household income levels of all the communities. Sizable sections of the Malay community have advanced socio-economically. However their economic achievements of Malays is still lagging behind the Chinese community and therefore the Government feels that it must give greater focus towards this objective.


The contemporary grievances among all the communities centre around ineffective delivery and implementation, abuses of the special provisions, the emergence of the dependency syndrome, restrictive employment opportunities and promotions for non Malays in the public sector, rising income inequalities among the Malay and indigenous communities and complaints from other communities (especially among the poor and low income families- sections of displaced Indian plantation workers, urban poor Malays and forest based communities) that their needs and concerns are not adequately addressed.


There is a real challenge for the political leadership to continue to institute just and fair measures which is 'needs based', irrespective of racial or ethnic origins. The real challenge for political leaders, public policy makers and the civil service is holding a balance of the Federal Constitution Article 152 between the 'special position of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak' on the one hand and 'the legitimate interests of other communities'.


4. CULTURAL POLICIES & IMPLICATIONS

4.1 Religious Freedom

The Federal Constitution protects the freedom of religion in Malaysia indicating in Article 3 that "Islam is the religion of the Federation but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony".


The visibility of this liberal policy is evident in Malaysian society, for example through the numerous places of worship. All the main religious festival dates are national holidays and in the context of major religious/cultural festivals (Hari raya, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Deepavali, Indian light overcoming darkness celebration), there is an official national celebration officiated by the Malaysian King.


There are however complaints from non Muslim religious leaders especially on matters pertaining to conversions and demolitions of places of worship. In addition sections of the Muslim community have complained over the moral policing role of Muslim religious enforcement officials.


There is a rise in religious consciousness among all the religious groups and therefore there is a need for new efforts in fostering greater understanding, appreciation and tolerance towards each other.

4.2 Vernacular Languages

The Federal Constitution clearly indicates in Article 152 that "the national language shall be the Malay language". Majority of Malaysians have mastered the national language, and therefore especially among the younger generation of Chinese and Indians their new challenges as in the case of Malays is competency in English.


However the Federal Constitution goes on state in the same article "nothing in this clause shall prejudice the right of the Federal Government or of any State Government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the languages of any other community in the Federation".


Malaysia has government funded and assisted primary vernacular Chinese and Tamil primary schools which have their historical developments in the pre Independent days. These schools are run by fully trained teachers who are employed by the government. About 95% of Chinese children and over 50% of Indian children go to vernacular schools. In the case of Chinese vernacular schools, over 60,000 non Chinese children also have enrolled. In the case of Tamil vernacular schools, the presence of non Tamils is very small, for example, an estimated 200 Orang Asli children are enrolled in Tamil schools.


There are complaints that the continued presence of vernacular schools impact on inter-racial integration among young people. This is because from a young age many students are learning in mono-cultural environments and inter ethnic interaction becomes difficult in the secondary and higher education institutions. This is also the case for many Malay children in Islamic schools or in residential and special institutions which is dominantly mono cultural.


The Indian community leaders complain of inadequate funding from the government for infrastructure and resources in Tamil vernacular schools. A majority of Indian parents sending their children are from the lower income families and therefore they are unable to finance the schools as the Chinese community does.


Questions are being raised on the continued presence of vernacular schools, religious schools and mono cultural institutions including the new developments of international and private schools. The challenge is how does the nation foster stronger ethnic relations in this context where young children are being segregated on their preference for languages or religion?


Holding the right balance to linguistic and religious rights through segregated educational institutions on the one hand and on the other through inclusive educational institutions (which is multi linguistic and religious) for all the diverse communities will continue to be a real challenge to policy makers and community leaders

The government funded radio and TV stations provide new and programmes in all the major languages Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil. At the local levels the government also funds sub ethnic radio stations. In addition the private sector radio and TV stations also air in all the major languages. In a similar way there are no restrictions in the use of vernacular languages in the print media as there are vernacular newspapers and magazines in all the major languages.


It is of utmost importance that reason prevails over emotions in playing to political- racial sentiments. There has been a proposal for the establishment of a Media Council to monitor and regulate the media especially in managing ethnic sensitivities. The real challenge for the media is to hold a balance between playing up the story for increase readership or viewership and noting its implications and impact on ethnic relations.


5. COMMUNITY RELATIONS & HARMONY


With rapid urbanization, the traditional divides have been broken. At the time of Independence a majority of Malays lived in the rural villages, Indians in the plantations and Chinese in town and mining areas. However the demography has changed with over 62% of Malaysian now residing in urban centers and neighborhoods. While there are still enclaves of non-ethnic neighborhoods, however in urban locations this is fast changing with rural-urban migration.


At the grassroots there are community safety committees comprising local residents. They provide some level of community safety to address neighborhood security and crime prevention. In addition they serve community mediation teams addressing local issues and concerns. There is tremendous potential in fostering this network of grassroots leaders and they can serve as effective neighborhood ambassadors for peace and harmony.


At the national level the Government has established a National Unity Advisory Panel comprising representatives from various social and religious organizations. While this panel is purely advisory they provide effective feed back to the government. The panel can also be mobilized to influence public opinion especially among the communities.


Concluding Remarks

The Malaysian style of ethnic relations and nation building provides a healthy model of how a diverse group of people from different ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural heritage have made this Malay land their home. While we note the historical realities of this nation and our past, nonetheless Malaysia as a nation state is a new creation with many compromises and contradictions.

As a nation of many 'people groups' we have come a long way. The path we traveled has not been easy but our leaders and our people have strived to build a land where all people can share the wealth and prosperity. On this path we have faced many challenges, many of which we have overcome but some still remains unresolved.



We will continue to face many more challenges in holding a balance in public policy formulation and provisions that enable all communities irrespective of their ethnic origin, religious background or gender especially the poor and disadvantaged will have a rightful opportunity to participate in economic and social advancement.



However there is hope that our national and community leaders will seek to put the nation first and themselves last in building a better nation along side our neighboring counties in the context of globalization.



Selected References


Federal Constitution. 2003. Petaling Jaya: International Law Books Services.

Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010. 2008 Kuala Lumpur: Government Printers.

Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics. 2000. Putrajaya: Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Leete, Richard. 2007. Malaysia: From Kampong to Twin Towers. Shah Alam: Oxford Fajar.

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Outline of paper presented at the Colloquium on Ethnic Relations in Kazakhstan and Malaysia Compared, co-organised by the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), UKM and the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Malaysia, on 18 December 2008, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.