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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 8. April 27 1981

Malaysia: A Question of Class not Race

Malaysia: A Question of Class not Race

Drawing of people holding up a city

Malaysia with a population of over 13 million, is a multiracial country. Hence, race relations are indeed a crucial and critical element of the everyday life of Malaysian society.

In West Malaysia, Malays, most of them peasants, constitute about 47% of the population. They dominate the government administration and the military. On the other hand, the Chinese, who constitute some 35% of the population, have a much larger share of capital holdings, and thus more economic power than the Malays. Indians, the smallest of the 3 major racial groups, enjoy neither political nor economic power.

Despite the above [unclear: phenom] tensions among the country's [unclear: u] groups cannot be explained in [unclear: ter] race relations; these tensions economic roots. The obvious important fact is that foreign [unclear: capi] won more than half of West [unclear: Mala] share capital, effectively [unclear: dominati] modern economy. More-over with and between — racial groupings, are class relations. It is the elite of group, particularly Malay [unclear: bureau] and politicians, who have [unclear: manipu] the racial question to enhance and [unclear: p] their own positions.

Colonial Divide-and-Rule

The lack of racial unity can be back to the colonial period. [unclear: It] actually due to the British [unclear: co] economic policies. Although economic policies were not intended one ethnic group against [unclear: anoth] active conflict, they were [unclear: intend] prevent unity among different groups along class lines against colonial master.

Each racial group was kept [unclear: with] specialised economic function. Malays were kept in the rural agricultural sector, the Chinese in [unclear: md] urban business, and the Indians the rubber plantations. This economic [unclear: ucture] prevented the various groups [unclear: om] interaction except at one crucial [unclear: nt], where the local non-Malay [unclear: ddlemen] came into contact with Malay [unclear: asants] and consumers. This resulted in apparent target for antagonisms [unclear: ising] from unequal economic relations, [unclear: hether] the peasant met the trader as [unclear: oducer] or as consumer, he or she was [unclear: aced] in the position of price taker, [unclear: ploited] by the trader. Hence, it was [unclear: ardly] surprising that economic [unclear: ievances] came to be framed in ethnic [unclear: rms].

[unclear: Dominance] of foreign capital

After the political independence, the [unclear: ling] coalition Alliance, was made up of [unclear: Malay] administrators and aristocrats, [unclear: cal] Chinese dependent capitalists, and [unclear: ndian] businessmen and professionals. [unclear: Their] class interests successfully shaped [unclear: he] political and economic policy. Foreign [unclear: apital] was still dominant and extended [unclear: nto] new spheres, e.g. industry. Within [unclear: his] framework, Chinese business [unclear: nterests] aligned with foreign capital were [unclear: rotected,] and the Malay bureaucratic [unclear: lass] was allowed a free hand to expand [unclear: nd] consolidate itself.

However, over the years, two major points of conflict and frustration generated mounting tensions which finally exploded in the May 13, 1969 race riots. On the one hand, Malay bureaucrats seeking to increase their economic power found themselves constantly frustrated by the dominance of foreign and Chinese interests. Although a Malay capitalist class was created, relying on government subsidies to several dozen well-connected Malays in acquiring wealth and economic influence, Malay capitalist interests interests as a whole continued to be constrained by the class compromise underlying the Alliance arrangement. In 1969, only 1.5% of total share capital in public limited companies was owned by Malays, compared to 22.5% owned by Chinese, and 62.1% owned by foreigners.

On the other hand, the lower classes of all racial groups were dissatisfied due to the economic development. The average income of the bottom 10% of the population (especially the Malays) declined by a third between 1957 and 1980. As political repression and a tradition of race-oriented politics made it difficult to build multiracial and class-based political organisations, the dissatisfaction was channeled into challenges against the established Malay and Chinese Alliance leadership by parties which continued to mobilize along racial lines. These challenges led to significant losses for both the Chinese and Malay parties in the Alliance during the 1969 general election. Malay leaders then manipulated these setbacks to increase Malay insecurity, and thus racial riot broke out as an expression of discontent among various classes within the Malay community.

The Poor get Poorer...

As a result, in 1970 the government adopted a New Economic Policy (NEP) which aimed at creating a viable commercial and industrial Malay business community and at ensuring 30% Malay employment and ownership in all sectors of the economy. To achieve these goals of the NEP, the state has taken on a greatly enlarged role in the capital accumulation. Although Malays are targeted to own 30% of all shares by 1990, ¾ of those shares are to be held by public enterprises. This new government role in the economy has brought some changes in the relative economic positions of ethnic groups.

The government-subsidized acquisition of share capital by Malay capitalists grew at an annual rate of 50%; however the average real income of rural Malay families grew by only 6% annually during the 1970's. Such a disparity not only suggests that redistribution of wealth according to ethnic community does not trigger down to the benefits of the poor Malay, but also indicates that the gap between the rich and the poor will get larger and larger.

Avoiding Potential Racewar

On top of economic policy, other government policies like the educational policies are added to help Malay participation in economy. However, in effect, the majority of the Malays are still very much deprived and poor while a minority of Malays enjoy the privileges and wealth. Moreover, such racist policies have aroused great dissatisfaction among the non-Malay community, who views the biasness as against its interest. Thus, there lies a potential danger of racial conflict in view of the racial tension.

Such racial tension can possibly be relieved if there is an identification and unity among the poor and oppressed of the various ethnic communities. Unity may be established on the basic of the common fight for improved living conditions and other basic human rights.