Malaysia
Malaysia is a multi–ethnic country, with Malays making up the majority—close to 52% of the 28 million population. About 30% of the population are Chinese Malaysians (Malaysians of Chinese descent) and Indian Malaysians (Malaysians of Indian descent) comprise about 8% of the population. There are also a very small minority of aborigines whose ancestors or Orang Asli arrived in what is today Malaysia well over 7,000 years before the Malays arrived from what is today Indonesia roughly 3,000 years ago. The book "Contesting Malayness - Malay Identity Across Boundaries" edited by Timothy P. Barnard Contesting Malayness. ISBN 9971692791. reflects the views of anthropologists that there is no such race as the "Malays" to begin with, even if one has since developed in Malaysia. If one follow the original migration of a certain group of southern Chinese of 6,000 years ago, some moved to Taiwan (today's Taiwanese aborigines are their descendents), then to the Philippines and later to Borneo (roughly 4,500 years ago) (today's Dayak and other groups). These ancient people also split with some heading to Sulawesi and others progressing into Java, and Sumatra. The final migration was to the Malayan Peninsula roughly 3,000 years ago. A sub-group from Borneo moved to Champa in Vietnam roughly 4,500 years ago. Interestingly, the Champa group eventually moved to present day Kelantan in Malaysia. There are also traces of the Dong Song and HoaBinh migration from Vietnam and Cambodia. There was also the Southern Thai migration, from what we know as Pattani today. All these groups share DNA and linguistic origins traceable to Taiwan, if not to southern China. Yet the Malay and Chinese (and also Indian) communities in Malaysia today appear at times at odds with each other given the polarisation caused by various policies under the Bumiputera policy.
There is a big problem with racism in Malaysia, it's mostly in the sense of positive discrimination for the Malay majority and the Bumiputera status (cheaper houses, lower interest rates, easier academic access and so on). Economic policies designed to favour Bumiputeras (basically ethnic Malays, but there are some exceptions), including affirmative action in public education, were implemented in the 1970s in order to defuse inter-ethnic tensions following the May 13 Incident in 1969. However, these policies have not been fully effective in eradicating poverty among rural Bumiputeras and have further caused a backlash especially from Chinese and Indian minorities. The policies are enshrined in the Malaysian constitution and questioning them is technically illegal.May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969". ISBN 9834136765.
Both major ethnic groups, Malays and Chinese, have their own spheres of control and power. UMNO, a race-based party and the ruling political party since Malaysia's independence from Britain, depends on the majority Malay population for votes by using laws that give Malays priority over other races in areas such as employment. Such policies has been cited in Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia UMNO also promotes ketuanan Melayu, which is the idea that the ethnic Malays or Bumiputeras should get special privileges in Malaysia. The Malays dominate in politics at both national and state levels, the civil service, military and security forces. The Chinese have traditionally dominated in the economy and live in large numbers in urban areas of Malaysia like Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca, Johor Bahru and Kuching.
The Malay-controlled government ensures that all Bumiputras of Malay origin are given preferential treatment when it comes to the number of student places in Government universities, they are also given 7% discounts for new houses purchased by them, special Malay reserve land in most housing settlements, burial plots in most urban areas for the deceased Bumiputeras while the rest have to be cremated at such locations or pay premium prices, that all key government positions to be held by Malays including most sporting associations, a minimum of a 30% Malay Bumiputera equity to be held in Listed Companies, full funding for mosques and Islamic places of worship, special high earning interest trust funds for Bumiputera Malays, special share allocation for new share applications for Bumiputera Malays, making the Malay language a compulsory examination paper to pass with such high emphasis given to it. However, recently the government have decided to made 45 percent of overseas scholarship to non-Malays.
The lack of meritocracy in the Malaysian education system is frightening, the problem is it creates more disparity between various groups in Malaysia. Even school text books have been criticised as racist. "Interlok" is a novel used in schools, with Chinese groups today condemning its depiction of Chinese characters as greedy, opium-smoking lechers keen to exploit Malays for profit. Indian community earlier complained over the novel’s use of the word "pariah". Chinese community have called to drop the "racist" book from schools. Chinese associations said the book was not only offensive to Indians but Chinese as well, as it depicted the character Kim Lock as a "miserly opium addict and callous adulterer" and his son, Cing Huat, as "cunning, greedy, unscrupulous and someone who would happily sell his daughters". "‘Interlok’ propagates the ideology of ketuanan Melayu. In our considered opinion, this novel is not only unhealthy but an insidious poison," complained the Chinese associations. They added,"‘Interlok’ conveys the central message that Chinese, Indian and other minorities are second-class citizens in addition to perpetuating the divisive notion of a host community (the Malays) versus foreigners (‘bangsa asing’ Cina dan India)." The groups also condemned the "major thread" in the book, which depicts the Chinese "cheating and oppressing" Malays or as "nasty and immoral" communist guerrillas. The statement was signed by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), LLG Cultural Development Centre, Malaysian-China Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Chinese Associations Johor, the Penang Chinese Town Hall and 40 others, including the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) and several Indian organisations. "Interlok" was written by Abdullah Hussain in 1967 and chronicles the daily struggles of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in pre-independence British Malaya.
The whole political culture is racially-charged because so many issues are seen in racial terms. The larger political parties, UMNO, MCA and MIC in the ruling coalition are all based on race. The media often does not help. Racism appears on the rise in Malaysia despite many Malaysians wishing that the situation would be otherwise.
In 2010, a Malaysian court sentenced a Muslim Malay to just a week in jail and only fined 11 others for a brandishing a cow’s head during a protest against the construction of a Hindu temple. Critics said the light sentences would further strain race relations between the majority Malay Muslims, who make up the majority, and minority Hindu Indians, Chinese as well as Christians of various raaces who complain of discrimination. The 12 were from a group who had marched in August 2009 with the bloodied head of a cow, some stomping on it, to protest a plan to build a Hindu temple in their mainly Muslim neighbourhood. Hindus, who consider the cow to be a sacred animal, were offended and angered.
For Ramadan 2011, television station 8TV had some advertisements featuring a Chinese woman at a Ramadan bazaar. The condescending advertisements were pulled for being racist and the station was expected to apologise. Instead they claimed Ramadan advertisements were an "honest mistake" and went on to claim that the viewers misunderstood the clips. The Ramadan advertisements – released as public service announcements (PSA) – appeared to be stereotyping Chinese people, depicting a socially-inept Chinese woman embarrassing others at a Ramadan bazaar. The clips were withdrawn following an online uproar. Quoting Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, the station said in its Facebook note: "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." "The PSAs highlighted the clueless behaviour of a Chinese woman played by an actor in scenes to demonstrate what might embarrass Muslim Malay hawkers and bazaar patrons alike. In one instance, the Chinese woman dressed in a sleeveless singlet, proudly showed her armpits, censored by pixels, to passersby while touching a bunch of bananas. Each PSA was soon followed by a moral lesson, advising viewers on good public behaviour. Some of these messages included: "Do not be greedy and eat in public". 8TV said that the PSAs were only meant to serve as messages of "respect" for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The PSAs appeared to target Chinese non-Muslims rather than both Muslims and non-Muslim alike.
In 2013 shortly after winning the Malaysian General Election, Prime Minister Najib Razak blame the poll results as "Chinese Tsunami" angering the nation. Government controlled media outlet Utusan Malaysia published the headline "Apa lagi Cina mau" which means “What else do the Chinese want?”.
Read more about this topic: Racism In Asia