ARI Working Paper Series

How is it that today in the diverse, multi-ethnic polity of Malaysia (where government figures give a population breakdown of 65% Bumiputra, 26% Chinese and 8% Indian), a single ethnic group completely controls – and occupies virtually all positions in – the judiciary, public administrative organs, the police, the armed forces and increasingly the universities? While Malays constitute a majority of the population of this nation, their presence in all these spheres of power far exceeds their ratio within the general population. How did this situation emerge and how has it evolved?

It will be argued below that the injustices currently observed in Malaysia together with the ethnic streaming which exists derive essentially from the 1948 Constitution which was created by the British in alliance with UMNO following the breakdown of the 1946 Malayan Union structure, partly on the basis of British Cold War fears of the Chinese. The Constitutionally-mandated special place for the Malays provided for in the 1948 Constitution and subsequently in the 1957 Constitution has been used as a basis for all manner of exclusionist and discriminatory policies which have become increasingly socially encompassing, producing a situation where non-Malay members of Malaysian society feel themselves excluded and thereby ignored in terms of access to “public” facilities, funds and opportunities. The March 2008 election results were in part a reflection of sentiments over this socially inequitable situation.