Melayuisme And Ketuanan Melayu Case Study

1. Introduction

Malaysia is a diverse country with a population made up of 50.4% indigenous Malay, 11% other indigenous groups, 23.7% Chinese, 7.1% Indian and 7.8% other ethnicities (Miller, 2011). Historical processes including British colonialism and the corresponding decline of indigenous Malay economic status eventually instigated the formation of a nationalistic indigenous Malay country. The marginalization of other ethnic groups, such as Chinese Malaysians and Indian Malaysians led to their increased governmental resistance throughout the 2000s. Namewee, a Chinese Malaysian hip hop and rap musician and actor, is at the forefront of this movement. Namewee’s political and inflammatory lyrics makes him the first hip hop artist to directly

Melayuisme is the concept that upholding the Malay race must be prioritized above all else, and Ketuanan Melayu refers to the special rights allocated to indigenous Malay citizens. In 1969, the indigenous Malays were still fairly absent from the Malaysian economy, where Chinese Malaysians held large amounts of capital.(Yew, 2012) In 1971, the prime minister of the UMNO, Tun Abdul Razak, created the National Cultural Policy. This policy defines Malaysian culture as singularly indigenous Malay culture, and asserts that ‘Malaysian Culture’ must pertain to Islam. (Yew,

(Yew, 2012) In the 2000s, the Suqiu movement presented the first widely publicized Chinese movement against UMNO values. They requested equal treatment under the eyes of the government, the recall of Ketuanan Melayu. The movement was stopped when the UMNO youth organization threatened to burn down a Chinese assembly hall in Malaysia. (Yew, 2012) The ending of the Suqiu movement was followed by an increase in social media activity during the 2000s which allowed minorities in Malaysia to more easily voice their dissatisfaction with the policies of the UNMO party. (Koh, 2014) The Malaysian government’s tourist ministry also began using slogans such as ‘1Malaysia’ and ‘Malaysia True Asia’ to capitalize on the diversity of the country (Goh,