Nation building through education in Malaysia

Since gaining independence in 1957, and especially since 1969, the Malaysian government has actively promoted the interests of the ethnic Malays, who suffered economic and social neglect under British colonial rule. As a part of the government’s project to deal with Malaysia’s ethnic ‘problem’, public education is used as a tool for nation building. But is this helping to resolve ethnic tensions?

Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia’s most multi-ethnic and multi-religious countries, was formed in 1963 with the amalgamation of Malaya (now West Malaysia), Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak) and, briefly, Singapore. In West Malaysia, the politically dominant indigenous Malays formed a slight majority, followed by the Chinese and the smaller Indian minority, while the Borneo states included a diverse population of indigenous ethnic groups (including some Malays) and smaller groups of Chinese and Indian people.

From independence until 1969, Malaysia was ruled by the coalition Alliance made up of three ethnic parties – the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). After ethnic rioting in 1969, which lead to the suspension of parliament, the Alliance (later renamed the National Front or BN) re-emerged two years later, having taken on board most of its opposition parties and has since won at least a two-thirds majority in all elections.

After the ethnic riots in 1969, the government turned to solving Malaysia’s ethnic ‘problem’ with affirmative action. It granted ‘special rights’ to the Malays and the East Malaysian indigenous peoples, known collectively as the 'bumiputera', to improve their poor socio-economic position. National integration and unity became the key objectives of education. 

A study by Queen Elizabeth House at the University of Oxford analyses the dynamics of the politics of education in Malaysia since independence. It focuses on the practice of education by analysing the Ministry of Education’s curricula for public schools.  It finds that:

• Non-Malay activists in education broadly accept the government’s strategic objectives but strive to ensure that non-Malays do not suffer from a lack of opportunities in education.
• Their acceptance of these policies, including ‘special rights’ granted to the 'bumiputera', may in part be due to laws which make questioning these rights illegal. Some Chinese educationalists have been detained without trial.
• While the expansion of private tertiary education in the 1990s has largely dealt with non-Malay concerns at this level, primary and secondary schooling is still a politically sensitive issue and threatens to destroy the inter-ethnic harmony it aims to promote.
• The government promotes a concept of nationhood that does not rise above ethnic loyalties but is instead based on ethnic divisions, defining people in terms of their ethnicity.
• Core subjects in the school curricula, such as Moral Education and Local Studies (history) promote the positive values of cultural and religious tolerance; however, they also contain political indoctrination, emphasising loyalty and obedience to the current administration.
• Malaysia’s citizens are taught to participate uncritically through effectively worshipping development symbols and holding political leaders in high regard without question.

The concept of citizenship that is promoted in the education curricula presents Malaysian ‘unity’ as under constant threat. In order to protect this ‘unity’, unconditional loyalty to the current administration, the BN, is required. It presents the only alternative as civil discord and, ultimately, an ethnic war.

Source(s):
‘Making Ethnic Citizens: the Politics and Practice of Education in Malaysia’, International Journal of Educational Development 27, pages 318-330, by Graham K. Brown, 2007

Funded by: The Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), a DfID-funded Development Research Centre

id21 Research Highlight: 21 May 2007

Further Information:
Graham K. Brown
Department of International Development
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1856 281812
Fax: +44 1856 281801
Contact the contributor: graham.brown@qeh.ox.ac.uk

University of Oxford, UK

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