Ethnic Relations at School in Malaysia

Challenges and Prospects of the Student Integration Plan for Unity

Noriyuki Segawa

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9789811398568
• eBook ISBN: 9789811398575
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildungstheorie & -praxis

This book considers the impact of the Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Parpaduan (RIMUP: Student Integration Plan for Unity), the program developed as a driver towards Malaysian national integration and intended to promote an ideal of 'unity in diversity' through enhancing ethnic interaction in primary schools. Based on interview research with government departments, NGOs, and stakeholders at primary schools, this book highlights three main structural challenges to success of the RIMUP: the government's weak management; the short duration and low frequency of an activity; and low student participation rate. The book also provides concrete suggestions to develop the RIMUP, to improve ethnic relations and to shape the future direction of education policies for the development of national integration, making a significant contribution to Malaysian studies as well as education policy in multi-ethnic countries.

© The Author(s) 2019

Noriyuki SegawaEthnic Relations at School in Malaysiahttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9857-5_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Noriyuki Segawa¹

(1)

Kindai University, Osaka, Japan

Noriyuki Segawa

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

In this study, the challenges and prospects of the Student Integration Plan for Unity (RIMUP) for the development of national integration will be examined. Interview research with government departments such as the Ministry of Education and the Department of National Unity and Integration, education non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and headmasters and teachers at primary schools participating in RIMUP activities found that the RIMUP faces three structural challenges: the government’s weak management, the short duration and low frequency of activities and a low student participation rate. This study will explore the impact of these structural challenges on the development of national integration by analysing interview data, conducting a survey about ethnic relations among students participating in RIMUP activities and scrutinising and applying several previous survey results about ethnic relations in Malaysia.

Keywords

MalaysiaRIMUPPrimary schoolEthnic interactionNational integration

End Abstract

As a multi-ethnic country, Malaysia has the core goal of creating a cohesive national identity and developing national integration, and the Malaysian government has implemented various policies to achieve this goal over the past six decades. Education has been recognised as a particularly important arena for these efforts. In Malaysia, public primary education consists of Malay, Chinese and Tamil schools, and many researchers have argued that this structure causes inter-school ethnic polarisation and thus hinders the creation of national identity and the development of national integration (Asrul 2002; Shamsul 2009; Zainal and Salleh 2010; Lai 2014).

Since independence, the Alliance¹ (1955–1974) and the Barisan Nasional (BN)² (1974–2018) governments focused on unifying Malaysia’s primary education systems. However, policies with this objective failed to develop integration, implying that policies directly related to the survival of ethnic identity were ineffective in developing integration. In the early 2000s, to promote national integration, Malaysia introduced a new approach that focused on enhancing ethnic interaction. According to the contact theory (Allport 1954; Pettigrew 1998; Pettigrew and Tropp 2006; Stephan and Stephan 2001; Weaver 2007), ethnic interaction is effective in reducing prejudice and improving ethnic relations, and it seems that ethnic interaction consequently contributes to the development of national integration. In 2013, the government officially announced its intent to strengthen and focus on the Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Parpaduan (RIMUP: Student Integration Plan for Unity). This programme, under which students from Malay and non-Malay primary schools participate in joint activities, is intended to promote an ideal of ‘unity in diversity’ by enhancing ethnic interaction. The BN and the new government of the Pakatan Harapan (PH)³ have anticipated that the RIMUP will become the main driver in developing national integration.

In this study, the challenges and prospects of the RIMUP for the development of national integration are examined. Interview research with government departments such as the Ministry of Education and the Department of National Unity and Integration (Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Integrasi Nasional: JPNIN), education non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and headmasters and teachers in primary schools participating in a RIMUP activity found that the RIMUP has faced three structural challenges: the government’s weak management, the short duration and low frequency of activities and a low student participation rate. This study will explore the impact of these structural challenges on the development of national integration by analysing interview data, conducting a survey about ethnic relations among students participating in a RIMUP activity and scrutinising and applying several previous survey results about ethnic relations in Malaysia. Interviews with headmasters and/or teachers in 27 primary schools⁴ in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor State were conducted in September 2016 and March and August 2017, and 48 schools’ data on a RIMUP activity were obtained. In addition, I implemented surveys on ethnic relations between Malay and non-Malay students in four RIMUP programmes implemented in Selangor State in 2018.

The next chapter will illustrate the complicated education structure in Malaysia, which makes the creation of national identity and the development of national integration difficult, and explain policies to redesign a diverse education structure. In Chap. 3, contact theory will be explained. Additionally, the Malaysian government’s perspectives on contact theory will be described. Chapter 4 will describe the trajectory and travails of the RIMUP and explain the impact of the RIMUP on the improvement of ethnic relations. From Chaps. 5–7, the possibilities and limitations of the RIMUP for the development of national integration will be examined through exploring the impact of three structural challenges. In Chap. 5, the government’s quality management of the RIMUP will be examined by considering whether and how each condition of Allport’s contact theory has been incorporated into the RIMUP. Allport’s four conditions are equal status between groups within the contact situation, the pursuit of common goals, inter-group cooperation and the support of authority, law or custom, and it has been generally understood that contact with these conditions is more effective in reducing prejudice than contact without these conditions. In Chap. 6, the issue of how the RIMUP’s short duration and low frequency influences the development of national integration will be examined by scrutinising the government’s survey results of inter-group contact activities and analysing the survey results on ethnic relations among student participating in a RIMUP activity. In Chap. 7, the issue of how the RIMUP’s low student participation rate influences the development of national integration will be considered by exploring the direct and extended (indirect) contact effects of the programme. The last chapter will conclude the study.

I strongly believe that this study will provide specific suggestions to develop the RIMUP and to shape the future direction of education policies for the development of national integration. Furthermore, it makes a significant contribution not only to the field of Malaysian studies but also to education policy in multi-ethnic countries. In addition, this study will contribute to the development of contact theory since most studies have examined inter-group contact in developed countries.

References

1. Allport, Gordon W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
2. Asrul, Zamani. 2002. The Malay Ideals. Kuala Lumpur: Golden Books Centre SDN. BHD.
3. Crouch, Harold. 1996. Government and Society in Malaysia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
4. Lai, Adrian. 2014. Foster Unity but Keep Schools, New Straits Times, 14 October 2014.
5. Pettigrew, Thomas F. 1998. Intergroup Contact Theory, Annual Review of Psychology 49, 65–85.Crossref
6. Pettigrew, Thomas F. and Tropp, Linda R. 2006. A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90(5), 751–783.Crossref
7. Shamsul, A. B. 2009. Managing a “Stable Tension”: Ethnic Relations in Malaysia Re-examined. In Readings on Development: Malaysia 2057, eds. Radhi Nungsari Ahmad an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Education Structure in Malaysia
• 3. Inter-Group Contact Theory and the Government’s Perspectives
• 4. Overview of RIMUP
• 5. Government’s Weak Quality Management: Incorporation of Allport’s Optimal Conditions
• 6. Short Duration and Low Frequency: Fluctuations in Prejudice Levels
• 7. Low Student Participation Rate: Dependence on Extended Contact
• 8. Conclusion
• Back Matter