Multicultural policy in Malaysia: challenges, successes and the future

Entry

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society with 32.4 million people, 69.4% of whom are ethnically ethnic Bumiputera (Malays and other ethnic groups, especially from Sabah and Sarawak), 23.2% Chinese, 6.7% Indian (these two ethnic groups collectively called non-Bumiputera or non-Malay) and 0.7 percent “Other”. Malaysia’s multicultural policies have in the past provided preferential treatment to Malays under the New Economic Policy, creating an imbalance in Malaysian society. This article considers these policies, examines their consequences, and offers policy suggestions for addressing entrenched discriminatory practices through more equitable reforms.

These policies derive from the colonial policy of “divide and rule”, through which the British organized society based on “essentialist ethnic categories”. The British divided the labor force by ethnicity into Malays in the unwaged peasantry sector and non-Malays in the wage capitalism sector. The groups were also divided geographically, into rural and urban areas. As such, communities were highly segregated, resulting in both unequal economic status and distinct cultures. Although the post-independence government tried to rectify such injustices through the New Economic Policy (NEP), it only inflamed divisions between Malays and non-Malays. As such, the new regime led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is seeking to reverse the legacy of the NEP. To do this effectively, Ibrahim must make changes gradually to avoid backlash, measure progress qualitatively and include more non-Malays in the government.

History of ethnic divisions in Malaysia

During colonial rule, the Portuguese in 1511 and the Dutch in 1641 did not interfere with the local culture or structure of Malaysian society. Their main goal was to monopolize trade. However, in 1726 the British, stimulated by the need to consolidate raw materials for industrial capitalism at home, allowed large-scale unrestricted immigration of Chinese workers to work in the tin mines and later of Indians to grow rubber. The Chinese, who dominated the major trading centers, were allowed to conduct local trade in the villages and participate in a network of small shops and dealers. The British, however, kept the Malays within their traditional lifestyle. The British therefore created two distinct and parallel methods of production: the large-scale production and commercial activities of the British and Chinese versus the traditional methods of peasant farming and fishing practiced by rural Malays. British colonialism thus exposed most Malays to limited economic and educational achievement, contributing to subsequent ethnicity of poverty.

In 1957, the British granted Malaysia independence, but first reached a power-sharing agreement between the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. The Malays would hold political supremacy while the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, would remain economically dominant. The Malays recognized the citizenship rights of non-Malays, but retained the power to set quotas for non-Malays in the civil service, public scholarships, higher education, and trade and business licenses.

Challenges after regaining independence

After independence, Malaysia continued to grapple with structural inequalities between Malays and non-Malays, leading to an outbreak of ethnic violence in 1969. This violence spurred the creation of the New Economic Policy (NEP), a series of affirmative action programs that favored Malays in politics, civil service, business, higher education, language, religion and culture. The ruling Alliance Party, composed of three parties representing Chinese, Malays and Indians, argued that affirmative action was needed to correct structural inequalities and reduce the feeling of “” among Malays as the Chinese retained economic primacy in Malaysian society. The dual objectives of the NEP were to eradicate poverty and eliminate the association of the Malay race with economic disadvantage.

Although the NEP aimed to reduce poverty and restructure society, its implementation was problematic. Through political patronage supported by weak political institutions, Malay elites manipulated NEP policies for their own political and economic benefits, intensifying intra-ethnic inequalities and widening ethnic divisions. The improvement of the social and economic situation of Malays came at the expense of need-based poverty reduction. For example, since the 1970s. Bumiputera contractors were favored by companies because political actors often award contracts, thus hindering fair competition. Despite favoring the Malays, . As a result, the Malay political elite was reluctant to withdraw from the NEP.

Anwar Ibrahim and SCRIPT

The surge in ethnocentric initiatives by Malaysian political leaders over the past decade, coupled with the economic and political instability triggered by Covid-19, led to the formation of the government in 2020. The 2018 PH elections marked the end of six decades of authoritarian rule. The free elections were short-lived, however, as racial rhetoric and political maneuvering by Muslim-Malay nationalists caused the fall of the PH government just two years into its five-year term. Nationalists exploited Malay reluctance to ethnic resettlement, stoked resistance to reform, and called for the protection of Islam.

In November 2022, the King of Malaysia appointed the highly popular Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister with a coalition government composed of ethnically diverse parties. Battling a divided nation, Ibrahim adopted a new political framework in July 2023, Malaysia Madani, to build a sustainable, caring and compassionate, respectful, innovative and prosperous Malaysia based on mutual trust (SCRIPT) between the government and the people. Figure 1 illustrates the SCRIPT structure.

Figure 1: SCRIPT policy framework

SCRIPT intends to eliminate NEP’s social restructuring based on ethnicity and race and instead focus on needs-based programs. For example, SCRIPT aims to make the bidding process among contractors more transparent and avoid unfair preferences for Malay contractors. SCRIPT appears intended to address ethnic tensions fueled by NEP’s political manipulation, but its implementation remains a challenge. For example, under this policy framework it is unclear whether and howBumiputera Policies such as admission quotas for public universities, public sector employment and public procurement will be adjusted. Even in the newest one Madani economy, the essence of NEP is still strong. Therefore, achieving equitable representation and ensuring SCRIPT’s success remains a challenge for Ibrahim.

SCRIPT implementation

Since the beginning of his term, Ibrahim’s efforts have been complicated by: While the influence of NEP’s entrenched policies cannot be eliminated immediately, SCRIPT can strengthen inter-ethnic relations if implemented as follows:

First, SCRIPT must carefully adopt equitable representation, participation and human capital development without using quotas for different ethnic groups. In both the public and private sectors, SCRIPT should implement practices that increase needs-based representation. In higher education, for example, rather than setting caps on student enrollment based on ethnicity as the NEP did, higher education institutions could specifically include needs-based selection opportunities for the economically disadvantaged. Although this is slowly happening, Ibrahim understands that he cannot immediately abolish the quota system. Abruptly abolishing the quota system and replacing it with a needs-based system would be political suicide as Malays were the largest single ethnic group in the country (57.9%).

Second, SCRIPT should address the issue of unequal representation of ethnic groups in the civil service, which has long been dominated by the Malay professional and administrative classes. Currently, the public sector is mainly controlled by Malays and the private sector is controlled by non-Malays. The public sector usually offers better work than the private sector in terms of working hours, holidays, termination and redundancy benefits. However, SCRIPT did not solve this problem. SCRIPT policy dialogues should begin by clarifying the fundamental principles and practical scope of promoting diversity in the civil service – recognizing that all ethnic groups should be represented. SCRIPT can also highlight and praise past efforts as well as current practices to increase diversity.

Currency, many non-Malays prefer private sector employment over the public sector due to better pay. The civil service should emphasize that it offers greater autonomy and a more supportive working environment to attract non-Malay talent. Ibrahim’s government, as the first in a multi-ethnic coalition, could steer political discourses and seek new bases to support diversity. It will take time, but SCRIPT can start by addressing representation and diversity principles early on.

Finally, the new administration should not use solely quantitative measures to evaluate the results of affirmative action reform. Previously, the success of NEP policies was measured quantitatively. For example, the NEP set 30 percent Bumiputera the main goal is equity ownership (from 2.4 percent measured in 1970). However, such quantitative measures did not allow for the assessment of more subjective capabilities such as participation, competitiveness and independence Bumiputera. Although SCRIPT rules have not yet addressed this limitation. Capacity development through quality education, vocational training, experiential learning, mentoring and coaching would likely reduce polarization between ethnic groups. Therefore, SCRIPT policy should focus on achieving good quality results.

Application

The NEP was created to empower the economically disadvantaged Malay ethnic group, but has since been abused by Malay leaders. By introducing Madani concept from which the SCRIPT policy is derived, Ibrahim and his coalition government seek to radically overhaul the structure of Malaysian society by repealing the NEP policy. This will be an uphill battle as this remains a politically contested issue.

Although not discussed in detail within the government, the SCRIPT principles have been adopted by grassroots organizations. A recent survey shows that all ethnic groups consider Anwar Ibrahim as the most suitable person to be prime minister. SCRIPT and Anwar Ibrahim appear to be gaining ground and dissenting voices are fading.

Ibrahim’s success will likely depend on whether political elites respect the interests of Malaysians. In its current form, SCRIPT reflects the political will of some elites, such as Anwar Ibrahim, to move on from the destructive legacy of their predecessors. However, time will tell whether this approach will gain broad political support and deliver lasting benefits.

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Noraini M. Noor is a professor at the Department of Psychology at Ibn Haldun University in Turkey and previously worked at the International Islamic University in Malaysia. A social and health psychologist by education. Her areas of research include women’s work and family roles, work-family conflict, work stress, race relations, religion, and peacebuilding. He is currently exploring the Islamic tradition’s perspective on human nature and how it differs from what is commonly understood in modern psychology.

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