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Abstract
The ethnic Chinese in Malaysia are a significant minority who call for a critical assessment as far as their cultural identity and political positioning are concerned. Appropriating the concept of ‘multicultural citizenship’, this article attempts to dissect various demands and aspirations of the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia’s multiracial hierarchy. It suggests that using the lens of multicultural citizenship can help shed light on Malaysian Chinese as well as the entire nation, where ethnicity and citizenship are gridlocked in historical formation and political hierarchy. In recent times, Malaysian Chinese have articulated their political desires and demands in order to get rid of the disgrace of racial constraints, and also to envisage a more inclusive multicultural citizenship for Malaysia as a nation-state. This article also compares and contrasts three Chinese public figures who have taken disparate stands and approaches with regard to language, culture, race, nation, and party politics.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Using migrant and post-migrant phases to examine the history of Malaysian Chinese was first suggested by Yow in his article, “Jiazu, zhongzu, guozu,” 147–50.
2. Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy,” 32–3.
3. On the remigration of the Chinese diaspora, see Wang, “Patterns of Chinese Migration,” 3–21.
4. This corresponds to the Chinese idioms of ‘luoye guigen’ (fallen leaves to return to the roots) and ‘luodi shengge’ (leaves to grow roots where they fall). ‘Luodi shengge’ was the theme for the 1992 conference on the Chinese diaspora held at the University of California Berkeley and the presented papers were selected and published in Wang and Wang, The Chinese Diaspora.
5. Therefore, many Malaysian Chinese ended up working in Singapore and taking up Singapore citizenship. See Lam and Yeoh, “Negotiating ‘Home’ and ‘National Identity’,” 141–64; and Sin, “The Skeptical Citizen, The Mobile Citizen, and the Converted National.”
6. Hirschman, “The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya,” 352–3; Abraham, “Race Relations in West Malaysia,” 18–32; and Cham, “Colonialism and Communalism in Malaysia,” 178–99.
7. Gomez, The State of Malaysia.
8. Yen, The Overseas Chinese and the 1911 Revolution; and Leong, “Sources, Agencies and Manifestations.”
9. Guibernau, The Identity of Nations, 61.
10. Hirschman, “The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya,” 352–3.
11. Ching-hwang, “Overseas Chinese Nationalism,” 397–425; and Leong, “Sources, Agencies and Manifestations.”
12. Shimazu, “Diplomacy as Theatre,” 225–52.
13. Hara, Malayan Chinese and China.
14. Hefner, “Introduction: Multiculturalism and Citizenship,” 1–58. On differentiated citizenship, 28–34.
15. This is the so-called ‘Bargain of “57”’. The Malay special rights include the Laws of Malay Reserve Land, Islam as the national religion, and Sultans as symbolic rulers. Milne and Mauzy, Politics and Government in Malaysia. On the Constitution, see Fernando, The Making of the Malayan Constitution. On the formation of Malaysia as a nation state, see Cheah, Malaysia: The Making of a Nation.
16. The May 13 Tragedy: A Report; Rahman, May 13, Before and After; and Slimming, Malaysia: Death of a Democracy.
17. Gomez, The State of Malaysia; Ratnam, Communalism and the Political Process; Means, Malaysian Politics; Means, Malaysian Politics: The Second Generation; Also, it is worthy here for a revisit to the classical study in Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict.
18. Khoo, Paradoxes of Mahathirism.
19. Shafir, “Introduction: The Evolving Tradition of Citizenship,” 1–28.
20. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship.
21. Portes, Guarnizo, and Landolt, “The Study of Transnationalism,” 217–37; and Ong, Flexible Citizenship.
22. Goldberg, Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader.
23. Modood, “Multiculturalism and Citizenship,” 50–4.
24. Young, Justice and Politics of Difference.
25. Taylor, “Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition.”
26. Kymlicka, “The Rights of Minority Cultures,” 140.
27. Modood, “Multiculturalism and Citizenship,” 50–1.
28. Ibid., 52.
29. For succinct reports on the 2013 General Election, see Weiss, Electoral Dynamics in Malaysia; Chin, “Editorial: Chinese Tsunami or Urban Revolt?,” 444–501; Chin, “So Close and Yet so Far,” 533–40. Pui Yee, “Continuing Revolt of the Urban Chinese Voters,” 549–56. On the 1999 General Election, see Chin, “A New Balance.”
30. On Barisian Nasional until the 1980s, see Mauzy, Barisan Nasional.
31. Welsh, “Malaysia’s Elections,” 145.
32. Heng, Chinese Politics in Malaysia; Loh, The Politics of Chinese Unity in Malaysia.
33. Qiu, Chaoyue jiaotiao yu wushi.
34. On the roles and activities of non-government organizations in Malaysia politics, see Weiss and Hassan, Social Movements in Malaysia.
35. On ethnic Chinese political participations and activities, see Gungwu, “Chinese Politics in Malaya,” 1–30; Lee and Heng, “The Chinese in the Malaysian Political System,” 194–254; Lee, “Politics of the Chinese in Malaysia,” 489–523; He, “Duli hou xi Ma huaren zhengzhi yanbian,” 69–125. On the most recent issues Malaysian Chinese are concerned with, see Sim and Soong, Give and Take.
36. For assessment on the significance of the Internet in Malaysia’s politics, see Leong, New Media and the Nation in Malaysia.
37. He, Ta li ta wai, 151.
38. Ibid., 153.
39. Qiu, Di san tiao lu, 10 & 26.
40. Wong, “Mother Tongue Education and Inequality,” 5.
41. Tan, The Politics of Chinese Education; and Zheng, Malaixiya huawen jiaoyu fazhanshi.
42. Wong, “Can Chinese-Medium Schools,” 11–12.
43. Qiu, Chaoyue jiaotiao yu wushi, 109.
44. Ibid., 110.
45. Qiu, Pipan jihui zhuyi de pipan.
46. He, Malaixiya huaren, 168.
47. He, Jin wo lai si, 116.
48. Ibid., 16. The emphasis on academic research to foster Chinese culture and the skepticism of the MCA are also another collection of his essays, He, Ta li ta wai.
49. Qiu, Pipan jihui zhuyi de pipan, 50.
50. Ibid., 52–3.
51. Ibid., 278.
52. Ibid., 254.
53. On Islamist influences and their manifestation in Malaysia’s politics, see Hussein, “Muslim Politics and the Discourse on Democracy,” 74–107; and Hoist, “Implementations of Ethnicization,” 104–14.
54. The committee was better known as Suqiu (literally, making demands). Suqiu was accused by the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad of being a threat to national security comparable to communist insurgents and religious fanatics.
55. Wong, “The Undermining of Bahasa Malaysia,” 11–12.
56. Wong, “The Illegitimate Trio of Multiculturalism,” 13.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Cheun Hoe Yow
Cheun Hoe Yow is assistant professor in the Division of Chinese and deputy director of the Centre for Chinese Language and Culture at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He was a Fulbright scholar, visiting the Centre for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego, 2013. His recent books are Yimin guiji he lisan lunshu: Xin Ma huaren zuqun de chongceng mailuo (Migration Trajectories and Diasporic Discourses: Multiples Contexts of Ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia)(Shanghai Sanlian Shudia, 2014); Guangdong and Chinese Diaspora: The Changing Landscape of Qiaoxiang (London & New York: Routledge, 2013). His articles appear in journals such as Modern Asian Studies, Cross-Cultural Studies, Changjiang Xueshu, and Waiguo Wenxue Yanjiu.
Author’s postal address: Division of Chinese, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 14 Nanyang Drive, HSS-03-15, Singapore 637721.