Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State under Mahathir

2. The Origins and Patterns of Conflict in Malaysia

Chapter 2 20© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore … ethnicity is a product of modern politics. Although people have had identities — deriving from religion, birthplace, language, and so on — for as long as humans have had culture, they have begun to see themselves as members of vast ethnic groups, opposed to other such groups, only during the modern period of colonization and state-building. (John R. Bowen 1996)1 Since independence in 1957, ethnicity has been one of the prime sources of conflict in multi-ethnic Malaysian society and this conflict and its resolution have been a primary concern in the study of politics in Malaysia. This chapter provides a historical and political overview of the roots of ethnic relations in Malaysian society. To understand why “ethnic differences” became “ethnic contrast”, which in turn became “ethnic antagonism”, it is necessary to trace the colonial origins of communal-group contrast in Malaya. In doing so, this chapter examines the conditions under which, and the processes by which, ethnic identities and differences become activated and converted to political conflict. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first summarizes the creation of a pluralist society in Malaysia. The second focuses on the specific question of the non-assimilation of the main ethnic communities in Malaysia and considers factors which have made the assimilation of the Malayan peoples difficult, despite their proximity within the same The Origins and Patterns of Conflict in Malaysia Reproduced from Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State under Mahathir, by In-Won Hwang (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Individual articles are available at 21 The Origins and Patterns of Conflict in Malaysia© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore political unit. The third part is about the deepening of inter-ethnic conflict and why inter-ethnic relations deteriorated. In other words, what kinds of factors have catalysed the deepening of inter-ethnic conflict in Malaysia? The final section deals with the institutionalization of an ethnic-conflict configuration in Malaysia’s modern political system. The Origins of a Multi-Ethnic Malaysian Society Numerous ethnic groups exist in Malaysia. Ethnic relations in Malaysia, however, generally revolve around the relations between the Malays and the non-Malays (including the Indians) in Peninsular Malaysia, or more specifically the complex Malay-Chinese relationship. Since the early Christian era there has been continuous contact between various ethnic and nationality groups on the Malay Peninsula. The interplay of these main ethnic groups, especially the Malays and the Chinese, on the Malay Peninsula goes back to the time of the earliest Chinese settlement in Malaya in the fifth century. Most of the early contact arose from trade relationships. During the Malacca sultanate, a number of small Chinese communities was established in Malacca as the result of this contact. 2 However, it was only after the tremendous influx of Chinese immigrants under British colonial rule, in the period from the 1870s to the outbreak of World War II, that serious friction between the Malays and the Chinese began to develop in Malaya. Consequently, the origins of ethnic conflict in this country were byproducts of British colonialism. Table 2.1 illustrates how, after the beginning of British colonial rule in 1874, the pattern of population distribution changed due to the influx of migrants from China and India. After the beginning of British colonial rule, in other words, the trend was towards a complex type of pluralism, which manifested itself in the multi-ethnic composition of the Malayan population.The Malay proportion declined from 85.9 per cent in 1835 to 49.5 per cent in 1947. On the other hand, the Chinese proportion grew from 7.7 per cent in 1835 to 38.4 per cent in 1947. The Indian population grew more than 100 per cent during this period. Not until the 1930s when the colonial government put restrictions on migration and the demand for labour began to decrease as a result of the depression, did the flow of migration slow down. Chapter 2 22© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore The Malays were not the earliest inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula. However, their migration to this area occurred far enough back in history for them to be...