Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ethnicity, Malay Nationalism, and the Question of Bangsa Malaysia

  • Chapter
Book cover Ethnonational Identities

Abstract

Modern Malaysia is a classic instance of a postcolonial society, that is a society whose immediate past was shaped by a colonial presence and whose multiethnic present is constituted by the creation of, and governance of a state bequeathed by the settlements achieved at the end of the colonial period. Throughout the modern period, the Malay Archipelago was competed over by Portuguese, but especially British and Dutch colonial incursions. The broad consequence has been the foundation of two large postcolonial states in the area, Malaysia and Indonesia. These states correspond neither to geographical shapes — the great island of Borneo is ‘partitioned’ between the two — nor to cultural shapes; Islam and other religions, and Malay, Chinese and other ethnicities being spread across both political boundaries. The task of post-independence Malaysia has been to solidify a new state. This has required founding and implementing constitutional and political forms which promise stability, and giving form to a ‘new’ nation which attempts to blend an overarching unity with recognition of its ethnically plural elements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abraham, C. (1983) Racial and ethnic manipulation in colonial Malaya, Ethnic and Racial Studies 6: 18–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali, S. (1991) Development, social stratification and ethnic relations: the Malaysian case, in S. W. R. de A. Samarasinghe (ed.) Economic Dimensions and Ethnic Conflict (London: Printer Publication), pp. 96–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, J. (1967) The Malayan Union (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Andaya, B. and Andaya, L. (1982) A History of Malaysia (London: Macmillan Press — now Palgrave).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Arasaratnam, S. (1970) Indians in Malaysia and Singapore (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barth, F. (1969) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company).

    Google Scholar 

  • Blythe, W. (1947) Historical sketch of Chinese labour in Malaya, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 20, 64–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheah, B. K. (1979) The Masked Comrades: A Study of the Communist United Front in Malaya 1945–1948 (Singapore: Times Books International).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheah, B. K. (1981) Sino-Malay conflict in Malaya, 1945–1946: Communist vendetta and Islamic resistance, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 12 (1): 108–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chee, S. (1991) Economic nationalism and ethnic relations in Peninsular Malaysia, Ethnic Studies Report IX (1): 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clammer, J. R. (1986) Ethnic processes in urban Melaka, in R. Lee (ed.) Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Malaysia (Illinois: Center for Southeast Asian Studies), pp. 47–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crouch, H. (1996) Government and Society in Malaysia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Despres, L. (1977) Ethnicity and resource competition in Guyanese society, Ethnicity and Resource Competition in Plural Societies (Mouton: The Hague), pp. 87–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enloe, C. (1970) Multi-Ethnic Politics: The Case of Malaysia (Berkeley, CA: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies).

    Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen, T. (1993) Ethnicity and Nationalism (London: Pluto Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenton, S. (1999) Ethnicity: Racism, Class and Culture (London: Macmillan Press — now Palgrave).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, M. (1960) The growth of a plural society, Pacific Affairs 33, 158–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furnivall, J. (1948) Colonial Policy and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goh, B. (1991) Restructuring society in Malaysia: its impacts on employment and investment, in S. W. R. de A. Samarasinghe and R. Coughlan (eds), Economic Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict (London: Printer).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goh, C. (1971) The May Thirteenth Incident (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomez, E. and Jomo, K. (1999) Malaysia’s Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gullick, J. (1969) Indigenous Political System of Western Malaya (London: Athlone Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper, T. (1999) The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hashim, W. (1983) Race Relations in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann).

    Google Scholar 

  • Heng, P. (1988) Chinese Politics in Malaysia: A History of Malaysian Chinese Association (Singapore: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, C. (1975) Ethnic and Social Stratification in Peninsular Malaysia (Washington: American Sociological Association).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, C. (1987) The meaning and measurement of ethnicity in Malaysia: an analysis of census classifications, Journal of Asian Studies 46, 555–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz, D. (1989) Incentives and behaviour in the ethnic politics of Sri Lanka and Malaysia, Third World Quarterly 10 (4): 18–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ibrahim, K. (1987) Monitoring government companies: Central Information Collection Unit findings, Ilmu Masyarakat 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, R. (1994) Rethinking ethnicity: identity, categorization and power, Ethnic and Racial Studies 17, 197–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jesudason, J. (1990) Ethnicity and the Economy: the State, Chinese Business, and Multinationals in Malaysia (Singapore: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jomo, K. (1988) A Question of Class: Capital, the State, and Uneven Development in Malaya (New York: Monthly Review Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Khasnor, J. (1984) The Emergence of the Modern Malay Administrative Elite (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. (1980) Ethnic relations in interactionist perspective: a case of ethnic conflict in West Malaysia, Symbolic Interaction 3, 89–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. (1986) Social networks and ethnic interaction in urban Malaysia: an exploratory survey, Sojourn 1, 109–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. (1988) Patterns of religious tension in Malaysia, Asian Survey 28, 400–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. (1990) The state, religious nationalism, and ethnic rationalization in Malaysia, Ethnic and Racial Studies 13, 482–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malaya (1957) Report of Federation of Malaya Constitutional Commission (Kuala Lumpur: Government Printer).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaysia (1969) The May 13th Tragedy: A Report (Kuala Lumpur: The National Operational Council).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaysia (1971) Second Malaysia Plan (Kuala Lumpur: Government Printers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaysia (1996) Seventh Malaysia Plan (Kuala Lumpur: Government Printers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariappan, K. (1996) Micro and macro ethnicity: ethnic preferences and structures in Malaysia, Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Bristol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansor, M. (1992) The determinants of Malay ethnic alignment, Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Bristol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Means, G. (1976) Malaysian Politics (London: Hodder and Stoughton).

    Google Scholar 

  • Means, G. (1986) Ethnic preference policies in Malaysia, in N. Nevitte and C. H. Kennedy (eds) Ethnic Preference and Public Policy in Developing States (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Means, G. (1991) Malaysian Politics: the Second Generation (Singapore: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohamad, M. (1970) The Malay Dilemma (Singapore: Federal Publication Ltd).

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, I. (1949) Aspects of the racial problem in Malaya, Pacific Affairs 22 (3): 239–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagata, J. (1974) What is a Malay? Situational selection of ethnic identity in a plural society, American Ethnologist 1, 331–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagata, J. (1976) The status of ethnicity and ethnicity of status: Ethnic and class identity in Malaysia and Latin America, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 17, 242–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagata, J. (1981) In defense of ethnic boundaries: the changing myths and charters of Malay identity, in C. Keyes (ed.) Ethnic Change (Seattle: University of Washington Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nash, M. (1989) The Cauldron of Ethnicity in the Modern World (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nawawi, M. (1990) Ethnic politics in Malaysia: emerging trends, Plural Societies 20, 56–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, J. (1960) Colonial Labour Policy and Administration. A History of Labour in the Rubber Plantation Industry, 1910–1941 (New York: Association for Asian Studies).

    Google Scholar 

  • Purcell, V. (1978) The Chinese in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajoo, R. (1975) Pattern of Hindu belief and practices among the people of Tamil origin in West Malaysia, Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Malaya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramasamy, R. (1993) Racial inequality and social reconstruction in Malaysia, Journal of Asian and African Studies 23, 217–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramsay, A. (1956) The Indonesians in Malaya, Journal of The Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rani, H. (1989) Penyusunan semula masyarakat, persaingan, keadilan dan perpaduan (Restructuring society, competitions, fairness and unity), Unpublished seminar papers, Social Sciences Association of Malaysia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, K. (1965) Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roff, W. (1994) The Origin of Malay Nationalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandhu, K. (1969) Indians in Malaya (London: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidhu, M. (1976) Chinese dominance of West Malaysian Towns, 1921–1970, Geography 61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidhu, M. and Ahmad, A. (1978) Peninsular Malays — some aspects of their population geography, Ethnic Studies 2, 18–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. (1979) Nationalism in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Mart in Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. (1981) Ethnic Revival in the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. (1965) The Plural Society in the British West Indies (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Soenarno, R. (1960) Malay nationalism, 1896–1941, Journal of Southeast Asian History 1, 9–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tadin, I. (1960) Dato Onn and Malay nationalism, 1941–1951, Journal of Southeast Asian History 1, 56–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ting, C. (1980) Komunity China di Semenanjung Malaysia: kepelbagaian, pertubuhan dan strstifikasi (Chinese community in Peninsular Malaysia: diversity, association and stratification), Jemal Antropologi and Sosiologi 8, 87–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vlieland, C. (1934) The population of Malay Peninsular, Geographical Review 24, 61–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, G. (1970) Chinese politics in Malaya, China Quarterly 43, 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahid, Z. (1970a) The emergency and its consequences, in Z. Wahid (ed.) Glimpses of Malaysian History (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa Pustaka).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahid, Z. (1970b) The Malayan Union: its abolition, in Z. Wahid (ed.) Glimpses of Malaysian History (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa Pustaka).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Kntayya Mariappan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, UK

    Steve Fenton (Professor of Sociology) (Professor of Sociology)

  2. University of Waikato, New Zealand

    Stephen May (Foundation Professor and Chair of Language and Literacy Education) (Foundation Professor and Chair of Language and Literacy Education)

Copyright information

© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mariappan, K. (2002). Ethnicity, Malay Nationalism, and the Question of Bangsa Malaysia. In: Fenton, S., May, S. (eds) Ethnonational Identities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403914125_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation