Malaysian Studies For Federal Constitutional Monarch

Three Aspects of Integration

Discuss about the Malaysian Studies for Federal Constitutional Monarch.

Malaysia is Southeast Asian federal constitutional monarch and is made of thirteen states and three federal territories. The nation is unique because of the harmony of the multi-ethnic groups that live in the country. The occurrence of conflict is rare among the ethnic groups in Malaysia hence ensuring the country is a society that is a pluralist (Chee, Lu, & Yeoh, 2014). It is a critical task for the Malaysian government to develop a country that is integrated, there are harmony and democracy and where national identity and values are shared. The articulated aim thus has been a great unease of the government since self-rule to date, and it is replicated in the requirement to advance a nation that is cohesive. National integration substantiates a means of national unity or national consensus. It pragmatically articulates the creation of systems in domestic politics that supersedes or encompasses all the subsystems regionally (Amran, 2011). National unity accentuates the process that unites the various groups that have backgrounds that are different concerning social and culture factors into one physical entity that is recognizable. An example where national unity can be achieved is the effort of uniting into a federation the Sabah, the Sarawak and the Peninsular of Malaysia. This assignment discusses the studies about Malaysia.

Positive integration articulates the adjustment of existing and the subsequent establishment of new policies and institutions that are endowed with powers that are centralized and cohesive. Positive integration attempts to regain some influence for the political in respect of the society and the directive of key issues at the level of the nation. Positive integration is considered to shape the national values because it tries to intervene with the unity of the nation and subsequently involves a broader adoption of the institution at the national level. It is imperative to appreciate that real integration is not as clear as negative integration and the vulnerability of policies that are inefficient due to the accord of creating a verdict is considered to be more critical.

Negative integration describes the elimination of institutions that are discriminatory. Negative integration intervenes against the barriers in the nation to the unrestricted movement of merchandises, persons, and services (Chong, Chan, Ooi, & Sim, 2011). The perspective greatly diminishes the assortment of national policy selections and represent a key forfeiture of political control over the economy that is considered capitalist. The loss of the power for a nation regulation is essential in circumventing alterations by the state such as financial sustenance for a national industry that is unprofitable or processes that are discriminatory against investment from foreigners and labor (Young, & Young, 2014). The demand of negative integration articulates that the local regulations comply with the law.

Analysis of Each Aspect of Integration by Various Agencies of Government

Balanced integration heightens the adoption of both the positive and negative integration. The phenomena encompass adjusting the existing and the subsequent establishment of new policies and institution and at the same time eliminating those institutions that are considered to be discriminatory. The balanced integration shapes the national values because it tries to intervene with the unity of the nation and on the other hand the national policy choices are balanced, and the loss of power for national regulation is balanced to avoid the distortion by the state.

The Malaysian government is very solemn in attaining the nation concord and integration. Many attitudes have been adopted to overwhelm the hindrances and encounters. They encompass the following

The New Economic Policy embraces an approach from a commercial perspective by the Malaysian régime. The policy was presented in 1970 after the unrest of May 13, 1969. The object for the disturbance was because of an economic cause in which there was a large gap in the economic environment between the Malays and Chinese races (Mokhtar, Maiyaki, & Mohd, 2011). The NEP is articulated as an economic development and a platform for nation unity in the public that is multiracial. The introduction for NEP was, therefore, key in demolishing the disparities in economic which is compared with the Bumiputras and the non-Bumiputras, the countryside and urban people, individuals in the west and east coast and the people in the Peninsular and Sabah and Sarawak.

The wealth distribution imbalances have been characteristic of the people mentioned. There was more wealth for the non-Bumiputras, the town people, the people on the west coast and the peninsula people compared to the poverty levels of the other people. The races before the introduction of NEP were acknowledged through their economic functions. An example is articulated with the Chinese race who known for being traders and oriented towards business which controlled their commercial undertakings; the Malays were considered to be a farmer because they subsisted in the rural areas while the Indians were deemed to be laborers at estates because they lived in such estates (Warner, 2014). The introduction of NEP was to accomplish aims that include

• The reduction and eradication of poverty by increasing the opportunities for jobs and income to all the Malaysian citizens without looking at their races.
• The policy was encapsulated by restructuring the community with the aim of reducing and erasing the identification of races through how they function concerning their economic activities.

The social approach is encapsulated by National Culture Policy that was introduced in August of 1971 in the direction of national integration. The NCP emboldens individuals to stake ideas among themselves (Sørensen, Van den, Fullam, Doyle, Pelikan, Slonska, & Brand, 2012). The policy has been in place since liberation and is articulated by the ethos of the ethnic people of the state. Any elements that are collective and affirmative from another ethos that is apt and contribute to the achievement of concord may adopt the policy. An instance is the exercise of conjoint aid referred to as gotong-royong in Malay civilization has been embraced by the policy considering that the plan is deemed to be affirmative. The official language is the Malay semantic and a communication medium of the NCP. The adoption of the policy is anticipated that it creates a national character for the Malaysian multicultural people.

Importance of New Economic Policy, National Culture Policy, Educational Reports, and the Ministry of National Unity and Social Development

Various educational reports have been executed since independence to bond and assimilate the people. The British colonialist lacked a clear policy of education.

Education developed in four virtually segregated streams which were articulated by ethnicity (Harris, 2012). These streams comprised of English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil languages with each having its objectives, syllabus, instruction medium and the qualification of the teacher and standards of training. An example is the use of Chinese language where it was used for the Chinese community as a medium of tutoring and hence the learners were visible to China history. The history of the Malayan and likewise for Tamil was never taught as this was a divide and rule policy that had been adopted by the British who never wanted the people to unite. The following reports are critical for national unity under the education agency of the government;

1. The Razak Report of 1956 was made up of a team formed by the British rule and lead by the Minister of Education at the period. The responsibility encompassed the preparation of the national education system (Mokhtar, Maiyaki, & Mohd, 2011). The report articulated for one system of education; Malayan semantic was made to be the recognized national dialectal and a medium of tutoring in education and Malay dialect and English was made compulsory in all primary and secondary schools
2. Rahman Talib Report of 1961 strengthened the implementation of Razak Report by making changes to the amendments. The Malayan language became the only language as a medium of instruction, and there were two types of schools.

• The Hussein Onn Report of 1971 aimed at restudying the National Education Policy and offer education to all children in schooling age.

1. The Mahathir Report of 1985 was to ensure that the system of education that existed contented the nation goal of producing a society that was cohesive, orderly and skilled.

The Ministry of National Unity and Social Development was created in 1990. One of the key purposes is to embolden the multiracial society harmony and also promote the national integration (Hutchison, & Reinking, 2011). The ministry has many departments with the Department of Social Unity ensuring that the realization of the ministry is in the direction of integration. The objective that heightens the national inclusion of the section include

1. The increase of awareness to the community on the national concord and integration through programs and activities that embolden and reinforce the values articulated.
2. To substantively bring together and synchronize programs on the racial interface through Runuk Tetangga which encompass a structure which is grounded on the neighborliness spirit.

• The children are educated on the races that form a character and eccentric that aid the effort for national concord and assimilation.

Since the birth of Malaysia, the government has been serious about ensuring that there is unity. The leaders from the three primary races have taken an ingenuity to form a treaty among the parties that participate in politics which embody the three races. The National Front, an alliance between three sides, was established in 1951 and is still present today (Miller, 2011). Through the treaty, all the contrary interpretations among the races are synchronized and determined by the agents of the party. The pact has been seen to up to a certain extent brought some success in the management of conflict between the communities in Malaysia.

The main requirements of the constitution articulate that the Malay semantic is the regional language of Malaysia. The language is encapsulated to endorse unity among the citizens, and it is articulated by few proverbs that have been created.

The three aspects of integration that are the positive, negative and balanced integration that has played a pivotal role in understanding the dynamics of the Malaysian national values in development and also instrumental in explaining the dynamics and can contribute to the development of national integration values (Pietsch, & Clark, 2014). Despite diverse variations between the three aspects of integration, the introduction of common recognition as the lead policy has privileged the elimination of barriers to negative integration over the adoption of common standards which are the positive integration. As a study of the efforts taken thus far shows, negative integration has been prejudiced towards positive integration at the expense of both individual and companies rights. Unity is considered to be the process that involves coming together in all aspects of social, physical, political and economic (Lee, 2015). Basically, the term unity can be referred to as a process of outlining a nationalized identity among the differentiated groups in diverse issues like cultures, beliefs, sociology, politics and locations in the political unit because every cultural group in Malaysia has its own language, cultures, and beliefs. Positive integration, negative integration, and the balanced integration can contribute to the development of national integration values through the following ways;

Treaty among the Parties

Positive integration has encouraged diverse people to move from one area to another. The aspect of positive integration has led to the many Malaysian people moving from other parts to other parts. Setting diverse people in certain areas can encourage integration and closer mingling among races (Idris, & Dollard, 2011). Positive integration has unified public servants among all the states in the country. State officers and their respective families can be requested to move and serve in terrorists that basically need their respective services. The officers can also be encouraged to join meetings, seminars, and programs for training in the country as this aspect will bring individuals near to one another (Hassan, & Weiss, 2012). Positive integration has also developed better business opportunities in the country regions since this particular phenomenon basically refers to traders in non-developed regions so as to move to more developed regions so as to expand their particular economic activities.

Positive integration is habitually recognized with optimistic values such as social defense and the improvement of marketplace failures, negative integration with social dumping, deregulation, and the securing of economic interests. In reality, economic and other exceptional interests might find it suitable to support positive integration measures and efforts. 

Positive integration being one of the aspects of integration can contribute to the development of national integration values through standardization of the country education system. Even though the education system in Malaysia has reached to maturity, there are still some matters that basically need some attention because it is basically believed that the education system is considered to be an important component in determining the direction of ethnic reactions in Malaysia. National types of schools need to be reexamined so as to determine the aspect benefits all ethnicities particularly in the sense of unity.

Negative integration has facilitated Malaysia to remove diverse barriers that may hinder the overall production of its firms. Removal of tariffs such as higher taxes towards diverse companies in the state will encourage the aspect of production because the firms will be able to make a significant amount of profits (Hashim, & Rahman, 2011). This type of integration will be more comprehensive to economic integration since the country needs to ensure that economic development is carried out comprehensively and that no difference occurs in the economic development. Negative integration may also lead to national development because the removal of diverse quotas on the company’s production will enhance the state values in terms of development. The aspect has also reduced poverty levels basically by providing more employment opportunities to all the state races, communities and also restructured communities so as to eradicate the aspect of racial stereotyping based on the economic functions.

Negative integration being one of the aspects of integration can contribute to the development of national integration values through the development of diverse strategies for eradicating policies. The main focus of the aspect of integration was to focus in both rural and urban areas (Koh, 2015). Therefore the negative integration has enhanced the government implementation of various public services and facilities such as educations, water health and supply of electricity. Negative integration can contribute to the development of national integration values through reducing the imbalances in the land utilization structures so that the participations of diverse races in main sectors would basically reflect on the labor force in accordance with racial composition.

Under the balanced integration, being another aspect of national integration can contribute to the development of national integration values by ensuring balanced development for the main economic sector so as improve complementary capacities between diverse states to optimize growth. This aspect will create an optimum balance among the targets of economic development with fair value distribution in the national development principles that basically improves the country development. Balanced integration will also enhance, reduce and eventually eradicate social and economic imbalances through encouraging fair sharing and mutual benefits that were obtained from more growth experienced in Malaysia (De Wilde, & Zürn, 2012). The aspect of progressive society development in which the Malaysian people can enjoy a high level of well-being possesses spiritual values and social values as well as feeling appreciation and the love of the country because balanced integration is a clear aspect that brings about diverse solutions so as to enhance the overall production.

Developing human resources, and creating a disciplined and productive workforce as well as improved necessary skills to face challenges of industrial development via a culture of excellence without jeopardizing the main aim of restructuring diverse communities. Basically, human resources form the bigger factor in every country because they often provide support to the firms’ productions and a better proposal that contributes to the national integration.

Another suggestion is that the country ensures that in pursuit of economic development is the eradication of poverty (Warner, 2014). These suggestions assist in providing a suitable attention in that if usually provided to the protection of the environment and the ecology in the long term. In order to ensure that the state development is continuously maintained, the national development principles have taken into deliberation the overall progress attained as well as its weaknesses and strengths.

In implementing diverse strategies on poverty eradication, the national integration policy will take into deliberation diverse changes to the role of the public sector through the opening of land and subsidy awards to small farmers so as to create job opportunities and assist advance their incomes (Tang, & Chua, 2012). Promoting the use of national language is another policy that will promote unity among the people of Malaysia. The main goal of this particular policy is to ensure that the proposed development system satisfy the state goal of production of a united, trained and disciplined society. Enhancing the aspect of national language will result in broader capabilities of the country development

Another suggestion of policies that could be proposed in contributing to national integration is the use of national culture policy and participation of all races in developing Malaysia. National culture policy is considered to be a social means towards the aspect of national integration because through the national culture policy diverse people are encouraged to share values among then (Felker, Jomo, & Rasiah, 2013). The national development policy is usually based on the aspect of the ethnicity of the Malaysian indigenous people because it is basically considered that any positive and universal elements from other cultures that is appropriate and contributes towards unity. In the basic implementation of national culture policy, two-pronged strategies will continue to encourage the garnering of national resources and the utilizing the intelligence of multiracial societies so as to build a durable economy and increase the state’s capability to withstand the globe economic uncertainties and instabilities.

Restructuring of societies is another policy because abolishment of racial stereotypes in accordance with economic functions and also a restructuring of ownership will continue to be vital programs in the overall implementation of diverse strategies so as to improve and to contribute to the national integration in both the modern centers and traditional sectors. This particular activity or policy will equip Malaysia with suitable skills to not only manage and operate successful trading but also to maintain the entire wealth in addition.

Conclusion

In conclusions, from the entire discussion, it is generally concluded that Malaysia is considered to be a multi-cultural or multi-ethnic and pluralist society because from the Independence to present, this state has experienced diverse obstacles, problems, and challenges, in the aspect of national integration (Favell, 2016). Many states have taken several measures to make sure unity and stability among diverse ethnic group and races. The Malaysian state government has often put diverse measures which are very vital for unity or national integration. The national integration will make sure that the states success and the wealth will enhance the aspect of national integration.

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