Malaysian Identity Research Articles

Islam and Malaysian Cultural Identity in Perspective of Legal History

Islam and Malaysian Cultural Identity in Perspective of Legal History

One nation, three cultures: exploring dimensions that relate to leadership in Malaysia

PurposeMalaysia is a multicultural country with a distinct mix of three major races; Chinese Indians, and Malays. This paper sets out to explore the contribution of the three main ethnic groups to leadership in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachSummated scales for the importance of Excellent Leader (EL), Personal Qualities (PQ), Managerial Behaviours (MB), Organisational Demands (OD) and Environmental Influences (EI) were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajahet al.and several other items rated highly in the study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership.FindingsFrom the three ethnic groups, 512 managers participated in the research. The findings suggest that Malaysian managers maintain distinctive leadership behaviour along ethnic lines and a Malaysian leadership identity is still in its infant stage.Practical implicationsMalaysia is a country with three distinct ethnic population groups and is yet to forge a single Malaysian identity. The findings are important for managers on foreign assignment in Malaysia and for others who engage with Malaysia.Originality/valueMost literature discusses Malaysian culture from a national perspective. The paper contextualises leadership of an Asian Tiger economy, which has since independence in 1957 politically developed the nation within three Asian national cultural frameworks.

Islamic Resurgence and the Ethnicization of the Malaysian State: The Case of Lina Joy

Lina Joy, born Azlina Jailani, a Malaysian convert from Islam to Christianity, managed to change her name in her Malaysian identity card (MyKad) but her religion remained listed there as Islam. What does the case of Lina Joy tell us about Malaysian society? In this paper, the case is interpreted against the backdrop of the global resurgence of Islamic movement where the field is set by liberal and neofundamentalist interpretations of Islam as opposed to traditional, pristine Islam confined to traditional communities, societies and cultures. In Malaysia, the distinction between 'modern' and 'traditional' interpretations of Islam is reflected in the different positions taken on the Lina Joy issue. On the one hand, feminist and women's movements, among other 'grass-root' movements, clearly finds justification in the western discourse of human rights, for example, where modern western concepts are used to defend the rights of women as well as Muslims. On the other hand, spokesmen of the Malay majority seem more comfortable with the rhetoric of traditional Islam mixed

The Theatre of Krishen Jit: The Politics of Staging Difference in Multicultural Malaysia

In a career spanning more than 40 years, playwright and director Krishen Jit, who passed away in April 2005, was the doyen of Malaysian theatre. Jit constantly reinvented himself. His shifting cultural position was part of an ongoing analysis of changing national sociopolitical moods and mores. A public intellectual, Jit was passionately engaged in a critique of cultural difference in relation to the staging of Malaysian identity.

A Divided Nation: Malay Political Dominance, Bumiputera Material Advancement and National Identity in Malaysia

National identity in Malaysia is defined by Malay culture and politically associated with ethno-nationalism whose goal is material advancement of bumiputera in general and Malay-bumiputera in particular. The process entailed a restructuring strategy to transform the ethnically defined occupational structure and increase bumiputera ownership of the country's corporate wealth to 30 per cent by 1990. To be sure, Malaysia had by turn of the century entered the services stage and expanded the ranks of the middle class. The continued popularity of UMNO (United Malays National Organization) indicates that Malay ethno-nationalist aspirations and its definition of national identity is still relevant. Malaysia thus remains a nation with a divided polity.

‘You've Come a Long Way, Baby’

In the late 1990s, only two women filmmakers made a mark in the Malay film industry - Shuhaimi Baba and Erma Fatima. Their films capture the attitude, spirit and vision of Mahathirism with regard to gender, sexuality, race relations and Malay(sian) identity. They show women who are comfortable with modernity and urban living, yet who have not lost touch with their adat (customary) roots, family values and community spirit. These cinematic positions metaphorically reflect the ideology of UMNO's ‘moderate’ stance on women and modernity as compared with the position of PAS and other religious ‘fundamentalist’ groups. This paper focuses on Erma Fatima and her career and films.

The "Already Surmounted" yet "Secretly Familiar": Malaysian Identity as Symptom

Hindu reform-inspired movements and artistic organizations produce a multicultural and multiethnic narrative for Malaysia that simultaneously asserts difference while negating both the state-sponsored and stereotypical boundaries of ethnic demarcation. An exacerbated uncertainty of identity among Indians and Malays, as perceived by elite Indians, produces a struggle for symbolic autonomy or transcendence from the ethnosymbolic ordering of the nation-state. This, ironically, manifests itself in a fetishistic hold of ethnic ideology, despite its ostensible negation by elite Hindus in Malaysia. This process is instructive for an understanding of the local contingencies of identity formation, particularly in its fixated-on form.

‘It is so unfair here…it is so biased’: Negotiating the politics of ethnic identification in ways of being Malaysian schoolgirls

In this paper, the notion of Malaysian identity is conceptualised within a framework of identity and difference, drawing on contemporary theorisations of ethnicity linked to the notion of difference. The notion of Malaysian is problematised as being linked to the interplay between nationalistic official and essentialistic labelling, present and historical social and political events, and experiences of daily living in Malaysia. The author draws on the narratives of 16-year-old Malaysian schoolgirls to illustrate the discourses of ethnicity these girls negotiate in their ways of being and knowing. Being Malaysian and more importantly being Malay, Chinese, Indian or Other is not a simple matter of government-imposed labelling. It is more complicated and negotiated. Ways of being and knowing in Malaysia are multiple, shifting and contradictory as each Malaysian has to negotiate with these labels in their daily lives. The author argues that the politics of ethnic identification in Malaysia are intertwined with the politics of difference, which in turn is linked to power and inequality.

Nation and Contestation in Malaysia: Diaspora and Myths of Belonging in the Narratives of K. S. Maniam

In Malaysia, the influence of the hegemonic or ‘authority-defined’ discourse on nation appears so pervasive that it obscures the fact that ‘national’ and ‘ethnic’ identities are in fact highly contested concepts or categories. There is a need, therefore, to examine alternative constructions of ethnic and national identity where dominant notions are challenged, reconstituted and problematized. In keeping with recent developments in critical and literary theory, this article examines selected works of a leading Malaysian novelist, K. S. Maniam, to argue that it is his commitment to the cultural politics of diaspora that problematizes state constructions of a coherent or homogeneous Malaysian identity.

The medium-of-instruction debate in Malaysia

This paper investigates the medium-of-instruction debate in the press and news agency reports in 2002 in Malaysia in the wake of a policy change which would see the introduction of an English-Malay bilingual or mixed medium education in schools from 2003. The author uses this debate as a springboard for examining the position of English in Malaysia. This is done within the framework of the development of non-Anglo Englishes (Schneider 2003a). Whilst there is much evidence pointing to the indigenisation of the English language and an acceptance of it to represent a Malaysian identity, especially in situations of mixed ethnicity, it is interesting to note that much of the debate appears to stay clear of these issues and instead emphasises the international, as opposed to the Malaysian, status of English. The paper proposes some reasons for this silence and suggests that this might problematise a characterisation of English in Malaysia in the manner of Schneider.

Negotiating Identity in Malaysia: Multi-Cultural Society, Islam, Theatre and Tourism

AbstractIdentity is something quite stable but is also malleable and flexible. Although it is often defended, it is also continuously contested and negotiated. This is even more so for communities in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural countries emerging from colonial experiences. This essay will focus on the negotiation of identity in Malaysia, involving historical and present-day relations between the Malay-Muslim majority and the rest of the citizens of the country. The discussion will be made with specific reference to Islam, multi-cultural society, literature/theatre and tourism. It will show that up to the present, national identity, as more or less an assemblage of a set of markers and values, is still an elusive notion. It is still being negotiated in different domains of life, including literature, theatre and tourism, and probably will continue to be negotiated for sometime to come. The process of negotiation is a painful one. Negotiation among ethnic groups requires a degree of openness and tolerance. It involves the authorities on the one hand, and the people of various ethnic groups on the other in the difficult search for a commonly accepted parameter or basic constituents.

Malay male migrants: Negotiating contested identities in Malaysia

Ethnic identity has dominated the political and social landscape of Malaysia throughout most of the 20th century. Recent changes, including government development policies, feminization of the industrial workforce, and rural to urban migration, have transformed the underlying political economy of the country. In relationship to these changes, official discourse has sought to engender a "New Malay" subjectivity, dissociating the Malay‐peasant complex of the early 20th century and associating Malayness, instead, with urbanism and entrepreneurship. Malay male migrants figure centrally in this articulation of identity and political economy. Focusing on the articulation of multiple fields of identity, I argue that social and cultural forces are shaping and reshaping the lives of Malay men, although their effects are felt differentially by subjects who must negotiate intersecting fields of ethnicity, gender, migrancy, religion, and class, [identity, ethnicity, class, migrants, masculinity, Malaysia]

Playing Portuguese: Constructing Identity in Malaysia's Portuguese Community

This paper is concerned with one of the less familiar outposts of the Portuguese diaspora—Malaysia. Almost five centuries after the great Portuguese seafarer Afonso de Albuquerque sailed into Malac...

Playing Portuguese: Constructing Identity in Malaysia’s Portuguese Community

This paper is concerned with one of the less familiar outposts of the Portuguese diaspora—Malaysia. Almost five centuries after the great Portuguese seafarer Afonso de Albuquerque sailed into Malacca, there is still a small village on the outskirts of the city known as the “Portuguese Settlement” (Kampung Portugis or Kampung Serani2 in Malay). Its residents are described variously as Malaysian Portuguese, Portuguese Eurasians, Luso-Malays, Orang Serani (in Malay; “ Serani people”), or simply (in their own language) as jenti Kristang, the Kristang (“Christian,” i.e., Catholic) people. I will concentrate primarily on the community’s performing tradition because it is through performance that the community has made its mark within the nation. Apart from their language, which they call papia Kristang (a form of Portuguese Creole that functions as an internal marker of community membership), and their religious faith (shared quietly with other Catholic Malaysians, mostly of Chinese or Indian origin), it is through music, dance, and the costumes worn for performance that members of the community represent themselves to the outside world as Portuguese descendants.

Social representations of history in Malaysia and Singapore: On the relationship between national and ethnic identity

Social representations of history were investigated using surveys among university populations of ethnic Malays, Chinese, and Indians in Singapore and Malaysia. Representations of history and historical leaders tended to be hegemonic or consensual, showing low levels of conflict across ethnicity and nationality, even regarding the separation of these two nations. Tendencies towards in‐group favoritism and ontogeny were slight, but statistically significant on some measures. National and ethnic identity were positively correlated, with ethnic identity stronger than national identity in Malaysia, and strongest among Malays in Malaysia. National identity was strongest among Chinese in Malaysia, followed by Chinese in Singapore. Results of regression analyses on national identity suggest that ethnicity is more sensitive in Malaysia than in Singapore. Results are interpreted through the frameworks provided by social representations theory and social identity theory. It is argued that hegemonic representations of history are associated with positive correlations between national and ethnic identity.

Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora

List of Tables and Figures List of Maps Preface Notes on the Contributors Introduction: Community and Identity Among South Asians in Diaspora C.Bates 'They Cannot Represent Themselves': Threats to Difference and So-Called Community Politics in Fiji from 1936-47 J.D.Kelly Nested Identities: Ethnicity, Community and the Nature of Group Conflict in Mauritius A.Nave The Development of Communalism among East African Asians M.Twaddle Imagining? Ethnic Identity and Indians in South Africa R.K.Thiara Migration, Migrant Communities and Otherness in Twentieth Century Sinhala Nationalism in Sri Lanka (up to Independence) N.Wickramasinghe Sojourners and Settlers: South Indians and Communal Identity in Malaysia A.Kaur Communitarian Identities and the Private Sphere: A Gender Dialogue amongst Indo-Trinidadians (1845-1917) S.Chatterjee Hyderabadis in Pakistan: Changing Nations K.Leonard Mohajirs in Pakistan: A Case of Nativisation of Migrants M.Waseem Bridging the Gulf: Migration, Modernity and Identity among Muslims in Mumbai T.B.Hansen Relationships between Muslims and Hindus in the United States: Mlecchas vs Kafirs? A.T.Mohammad Index

Airlines as instruments for nation building and national identity: case study of Malaysia and Singapore

For many countries, the national carrier has played a significant role in nation building and national identity. Historically, airlines have been regarded as important national symbols and they have been used by governments as ‘chosen instruments’ for projecting their countries internationally. This paper examines the varying ways in which airlines have served to promote nation building and national identity in Malaysia and Singapore. A review of the historical geography of civil aviation development in these two countries shows that this role has evolved over the past few decades in response not only to changes taking place in the marketplace but also in the varying ways in which the governments have viewed their carriers as instruments of their social and economic development.

Chinese Identities in Malaysia

AbstractThis paper discusses the types of Chinese identities in Malaysia, which have been influenced by localization — the process of becoming local, involving cultural adjustment to a local geographical and social environment as well as identifying with the locality. The important role of socialization in ethnic identification is discussed, illustrated by the experience of the Malay-speaking Chinese called Baba. The Chinese in Malaysia are both ethnic Chinese (Huaren) and Malaysians. As Huaren, they are both territorially bounded as Chinese Malaysians and unbounded as transnational Chinese. Ethnic Chinese identities are both bounded and unbounded. The bounded identity as Malaysians of Chinese origin reflects the diverse localization experience of the Chinese.

Introduction: Ethnic Identity in Malaysia and Singapore

Introduction: Ethnic Identity in Malaysia and Singapore

Between Kingdom and Nation: The Metamorphosis of Malay Identity in Malaysia

AbstractConceptions of Malay identity have undergone various transformations in the face of political and economic changes over time. In the pre-colonial period it was centred on personal loyalty and kinship ties within a sultanate. During the colonial years the establishment of territorial jurisdiction and an incipient state by the British extended the basis of the Malay identification. At the same time a pan-Malay consciousness was competitively articulated for the first time between the non-Malay Muslim and Malay Muslim intelligentsia. Decolonization and impending nationhood engendered an exclusive formulation of Malay identity in response to the Chinese presence. As a consequence of the modernization of Malay society and the emergence of a significant Malay middle class, new definitions are being sought to accommodate changing circumstances.