THE MALAYSIAN POLITY
Introduction
Apart from the local ethnic, the Malays and aborigines (orang asli), Malaysia is a fairly small country with a population of Chinese and Indians whose ancestors, during end of 1700s, came to this country as immigrants from China and South and North India.[ ] As such, Malaysia identifies itself as being a multi-cultural, multi-religious, and multi-linguistic society.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Malay had established settlements along the coasts and riverine estuaries of the Malay peninsular. These were to become important trading posts and later the genesis of small kingdoms (INTAN, 1991). Beginning in the 2nd century BC the Malay peninsula experienced over 1000 years of Indian or Indianized influence, and in the thirteenth century AD Arab and Indian Muslims brought Islamic and Arabic influence to the peninsula. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in 1511 when they conquer the trading port of Melaka from a Malay ruler. The Dutch, who had a foothold across the Straits of Melaka on the island of Java, laid siege to Melaka and succeeded in capturing it in 1641. The British later came to take control over Melaka. Their first beachhead was Penang that was leased to the British East India Company by the Sultan of Kedah in 1786. By 1867 Penang had joined with Melaka and Singapore to form the Straits Settlements, thus a new British Crown Colony was formed.
Some Malay states accepted British ‘advisers’ under the guise of British Residents and in 1895 these became the Federal Malay States consisting of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang. The remaining states, described as the Unfederated Malay States, included Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis, which had been extricated from the Siamese sphere of influence in 1909. Together with Johor, these were later brought into the British sphere. British political control over the whole peninsula radically transformed Malaya socially and economically and brought about stability that lasted until the Japanese invasion in the Second World War.
Today (2006), Malaysia has a population of more than 26.64 million. The outstanding characteristic of Malaysia’s population today is its highly variegated ethnic mix that makes it one of the prime examples of a multi-racial society in the whole world. Consisting of the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other indigenous groups, with its multiethnic composition of the population, Malaysia’s culture and religious practices are very diverse. Bahasa Malaysia is the national language while English is widely spoken and considered the second language. The constitution lays down that Islam is the religion of the Federation. Even though different cultures and religions exist, except for the multiracial conflict in 1969, they have put up with each other and developed a very tolerant society (Gullick & Gale, 1986; Mohamad, 1995).
- An excerpt from "Political Leadership of Malaysia’s Prime Ministers" (Nasrudin, 2007). Please refer to the handouts provided.
