THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES UPON THE CHINESE IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

The world-wide proliferation of ethnic tensions and the violence and instability they have led to makes it necessary for us to search for explanations. Ethnic tensions arise both between groups and within groups. This Academic Exercise attempts to contribute to a better understanding of intra-group intra-Chinese tensions by locking at the case of divisions in Peninsular- Malaysia. The study shows that such intra-group cleavages are explicable in terms of the state and state policies. In Malaysia, Malay political dominance and the state's implementation of pro-Malay policies have greatly promoted political, economic and cultural differences within the Chinese community. This general framework of analysis in our case study of the Chinese in Malaysia may also be applicable to other ethnically plural societies, especially those in the Third World where states and state policies are paramount in shaping ethnic consciousness and both inter- and intra-ethnic relations.