The Meaning and Measurement of Ethnicity in Malaysia: An Analysis of Census Classifications

Abstract

In Peninsular Malaysia, the conventional ethnic divisions are “Malay,” “Chinese,” “Indian,” and “Other.” At first glance, this classification seems to represent the popular conception of “race” (the everyday term) as well as the “official” definition. According to the Malaysian constitution, a Malay is a person who was born locally, habitually speaks Malay, follows Malay custom, and professes Islam (Mohammed Suffian bin Hashim 1976:291). The Chinese and Indian communities are supposed to consist of the descendants of immigrants from China and the Indian subcontinent. “Other” is a catchall category for the small number of Eurasians, Thais, Europeans, and other persons who do not fit into the three major categories.

Counting Ethnicity in Malaysia: The Complexity of Measuring Diversity

“…: Hirschman ( 1987), Chander ( 1972), Fell ( 1960, Hare ( 1902 ), Jones ( 1953Jones ( , 1961Jones ( , 1962, Noakes ( 1948 ), Merewether ( 1892 ) …”

“…These groupings indicate that there were people from different continents (Europeans and Americans), religions ('Parsees' and 'Hindoos') and from neighbouring regions ('Javanese' and 'Manilamen'). However, these categories were, as Hirschman ( 1987 ) observes, made up based on 'experience and common knowledge' and not necessarily on size of group in the society. Indeed, as Table 8.4 shows, the large number of categories for 'Europeans and Americans' was in direct contrast to their small proportion in the population of the time.…”

“…The turn of the nineteenth Source: First two columns, Hirschman ( 1987 ); last two columns, Jones ( 1961 ); Jones ( 1962 ) century in British Malaya saw the successful policy of bringing in migrant labour to work on rubber estates (workers from India) and tin mines (workers from China), when these primary products grew in economic importance. The increase in the relative size of these two groups could be seen as early as 1891 (Table 8.4 ).…”

Constituting Religion

“…Each "race" 3 was treated as a homogeneous block, and census categories were merged over time, producing new legal and social identities (Hirschman 1986(Hirschman , 1987. As in other times and places, the legal construction of racial boundaries served economic and political objectives (Mamdani 2012;Mawani 2009;Merry 2000).…”

Legible Pluralism: The Politics of Ethnic and Religious Identification in Malaysia

“…Later, such migrant groups from within the region had been reduced to sub-categories of, first, in 1901, 'Malays and other Natives'; then, in 1911, to 'Malays and Allied Races', and finally, in 1921, becoming subsumed with the 'Malay Population' (Hirschman 1987). By the time of independence, it is argued, this racialisation of Malaya was deeply ingrained such that for many, if not most, Malaysians 'race' is taken for granted both as a concrete social category and the defining feature of political organization (Mandal 2004).…”