Ethnic Plurality and Nation Building Process: A Comparative Analysis between Rukun Negara, Bangsa Malaysia and 1Malaysia Concepts as Nation Building Programs in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper aims to make a comparative analysis of Malaysia's nation-building process and critically look at these programs; namely the Rukun Negara, Bangsa Malaysia and 1Malaysia by looking at three main angles; ideology, race and ethnicity as the nation-building components. Initial survey has found out that tolerant government compromise to integrate the multiracial Malaysian has contributed to the problems. Even though the recent trends show there is a tendency of Malaysian to be 'colour blind' due to some kind of democratization and freedom of information access, still however, it did not show any sign that racial politics will disappear for good. Its unique compositions that based on multiracial, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual as well as geographically divided has been identified by many scholars as an obstacle to the construction of Bangsa Malaysia. Several efforts from Rukun Negara (national ideology), Bangsa Malaysia and the latest, 1Malaysia have been and are being made by the government in realizing the prospect but no avail. The question now, how the Malaysian-style of racial accommodation will survive, is the nation-building program have been sufficient enough to dispose racial sentiments among the multiracial Malaysian, and if it is not, what should be happening.

Framing in strategic communications: The construction of ‘National Unity’ through Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in Malaysia

“…However, multiculturalism in Malaysia is a site of contestation and negotiations (Joseph, 2008;Noor & Leong, 2013). As discussed in Section 2.2 of this chapter, multiculturalism emerged primarily to maintain Malaysia's post-colonial 'status quo' and elite political power (Abd Muis et al, 2012;Joseph, 2008;Noor & Leong, 2013). The 'status quo' in this case involved two 'truths' underlying Malaysian national identity and culture:…”

“…That said, after achieving independence from Britain, Malaysia has been ruled by a one party, Malay-dominated, ruling elite that exercises hegemonic and immutable power and thus cannot represent the differences between and within various ethnic and indigenous groups in Malaysia (Khattab, 2006). These circumstances mean that people of the minority groups who might feel dissatisfied with the ruling elite's power might transfer that dissatisfaction to the majority Malay ethnic group (e.g., Abd Muis et al, 2012).…”

“…Given the diversity of Malaysian society, building a nation from within this complex mix remains challenging (Gill, 2014). Although one can envisage that 'national unity' means unifying the nation, even after many years faced with multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism, the Government's policies promote integration and social cohesion at the expense of assimilation (See, Abd Muis et al, 2012;Cheah, 2002;Wan Husin, 2011). In other words, despite other (sometimes also post-colonial) countries adopting full assimilation to develop a single national identity, the Malaysian Government prefers to unify the country by distinguishing between people according to their various ethnicities.…”

“…In other words, despite other (sometimes also post-colonial) countries adopting full assimilation to develop a single national identity, the Malaysian Government prefers to unify the country by distinguishing between people according to their various ethnicities. In other country such as Indonesia for example, the people have to follow the principle of uniformity and amalgamation (Abd Muis et al, 2012), involving the practice of One Language, One Nation, and…”

“…In doing so, the Indonesian Government has successfully created a sense of loyalty to the mother tongue (Bahasa Indonesia) in that, as Indonesia's national language, it has been accepted by all ethnicities as the strongest symbol of national unity (Wan Husin, 2011). Moreover, although the Thai Government promotes national integration for national unity, certain groups continue with their assimilation, especially those from different religious and cultural backgrounds such as those from Southern Thailand (Abd Muis et al, 2012). For example, the practice of absorbing minority people into accepting Buddhism as a 'prerequisite agreement' to be part of the Thai people (Abd Muis et al, 2012).…”