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Authors: Wan Norhasniah Wan Husin
Keywords: communalism, civilizational perspectives, pluralistic society, community
Abstract: The debate on the communal issues in Malaysia has been put at the central stage with different approaches. Review of the past literature shows that the most prominent aspects are from the political, economic, social class and historical perspectives. Even though serious communal issues like the May 13 tragedy has been avoided, a few incidents did take place. The most recent was the religious tension that flared up in debating the usage of the term ‘Allah’, which led to arson attacks on a church in Seremban and a mosque in Muar, Johor, in 2010. A similar incident also took place in Shah Alam when the Malay community rejected the decision of the state government to move a 150-year-old temple from Section 19 to Section 23, based on the argument that the area has a majority of Muslim residents. Then in 2001, the Kampung Medan ethnic clash, involving the Malay and Indian communities. In this speech, I would like to explore a different perspective that has not been specifically elaborated before, which is based on a civilizational perspective. It refers to an approach that debates on the internal values of one’s mentality and personality at the level of individual, family and society that bears the responsibility in guiding the demeanor and actions of oneself. The emergence of the internal values differs between communities, for it all depends on the cultural framework adopted by the community. Generally, the concepts of value are referred to as the belief that influences individuals or a social institution like families or schools to act based on the main values adopted by a community. Since Malaysia is an example of a highly pluralistic society in which populated by more than 80 ethnic groups, however in this talk I will only touch on the relationship between the two biggest ethnic communities, Malays and Chinese. Malays constitute more than 60% of the population followed by the Chinese with approximately 25%; however, they are economically powerful, and 7% consist of the Indian. Both the Chinese and Indian are the descendants of immigrants who came to Malaysia during the middle of the 19th century to fill up the labor gap required to spur colonial economic activities. My speech is based on textual analysis that tries to prove that the ultimate root cause of communalism issues in Malaysia is due to civilizational values.