The Nationalist Project and Contradictions in Federal-State Relations

Abstract

Nationalism and the nationalist project in the newly independent states of Southeast Asia is informed by the objective of creating a nation-state. In view of the polities' extreme diversity in terms of people and culture, the homogenizing effect of the project is expected to present significant challenges to the respective governments. The task is especially daunting in states where nationalism led to the formation of a federalist state. This is because the nation-state is viewed or imagined as a unitary state. Thus, the economic and political themes of the nationalist project will give rise to problems in federal-state relations. Discussions on the modernization process in Malaysia have tended to be overwhelmingly concerned with the implications of the nationalist project on the multicultural polity resulting in an inadequate understanding of the scenario. To augment our understanding of modernization in Malaysia, attention too must be given on its implications on federal-state relations. This paper examines why.