The Lack Of Malaysian Values Amongst Youth: Challenges And Suggestions

This assignment is intended to give you practice in academic writing.  It requires you to refer to materials / articles and include relevant ideas and quotes in your essay.  You are also required to acknowledge ideas and concepts you have picked up from sources to be included in your writing.

In Malaysia, the lack of practice of Malaysian values and the spirit of being a good Malaysian especially amongst the younger generation have become recent issues.

Do you agree with this statement?

Discuss the challenges and give suggestions on how to implement the values among Malaysian.  

For this assignment you need to:

1. Prepare an outline for your essay (must be submitted with the essay).
2. Write an essay and discuss the following issues related to the above topic and give reasons for your suggestions / opinions.

The Cultural Changes in Multicultural Societies

The cultural and social values of an individual form and important part of shaping their national and cultural identity in the society (Verkuyten, 2018). The use of the social and cultural aspects of the country help in forging the social identity of the individuals. The cultural relation of the individual with their individual identities is an important part of their identifying themselves. The correlation between the individual identities and the national identity of the individual. The youth in the colonial countries have grown to develop in a multicultural society. Youth in the society are bound to come under the purview of the individual perceptions of the social obligations that the society sees itself in. in the long run the people in the society. The youth in the post-colonial society are deeply influenced by the influence of the western colonists. The ideas of the people in the society are affected by a number of factors ranging from social changes to the changes in the behavioural patterns of the youth in the society. The rise in the amount of the cultural influx in the past years have greatly affected the individual ideologies of the people in the society. The increasing amount of people getting influenced by the sociocultural aspects that have been affecting the people (Verkuyten, 2018). To understand the cultural changes that the people have gone through focuses on the ways in which the culture is inculcated among individuals. The cultural issues and dilemma that the youth are facing are pushing them away from the people in the society. The association of the individuals in the different cultures leads to the social and cultural disambiguate among individuals. The social and the cultural identification of the youth with the society is in question in the case and the causes of their disengagement from their culture is to be discussed. The different factors that are to be discussed in this essay focus on individual and social behaviour that the individuals face in the society.

The cultural changes that the youth has undergone have led them to divert from their own culture into a more multicultural society.There are a number of factors that affects the individual and cultural aspects of the society are affected by sociocultural development that the individual perspectives of the people. The cultural dissemination of the youth in the society is one of the major reasons for the youth getting affected by the various changes in the society. The youth in the society will focus on developing ideas which help them in the identification with the people in the society (Hamzah et al., 2015). As the society is developing with time the people tend to focus on a number of aspectsranging from individual perceptions to the social acceptance that they seek in the society. The people in the society are affected by a number of factors including social factors that affect the overall development of the youth. In the developing multicultural society there are a number of factors that lead to youth being ostracized from their culture one of the most important being multiculturalism and the youth focussing on developing their skills and evolving according to the needs of the industrial and global economic needs for their success (Mun,  Fern & Chin, 2017). In the given scenario, the loss of the culture should not be attributed to their lack of ability to learn their culture but to the present needs of the society which needs them to abide by the western cultural norms to succeed in their life. The socio cultural identification factors among the situation that the people in the society are affected by the needs of the society according to the needs of the society. The rush to succeed in the society is one of the major reasons that youth in the society are adversely affected by the situation that affects them in their lives. One of the important aspects affecting the ideology of the peopleis that they are affected by the competition due to the success that is needed to be achieved.

Social Influence on the Youth

The rising importance of the western culture for sustaining in the working environment of western cultural societies which basically need English communication and adapting to western cultural societies. In an attempt to succeed the youth usually deter from their own cultural norms and valued and tend to acculture themselves to the needs of the environment. The society itself has a major role to play in the youth being deterred from their society it is mainly because of the fact that the youth has to live up to the expectations in the society.

The importance of living up to the social expectations has a major role to play in the understanding of the issues that plague the cultural identity of the youth in the society. The youth today are socially active and tend to develop their ideologies based on the fact that they are active on the social media and tend to be affected by the global culture. The majority of the youth in Malaysia and other countries are living in a society which Bhabha explained as the Third Space (Bhabha, 2012). The third space as bhabha explains is -Cultural diversity is an epistemological question—culture as a protest of observational information—while cultural distinction is the procedure of the articulation of culture as "learned," definitive, sufficient to the development of frameworks of cultural ID. On the off chance that cultural diversity is a class of similar morals, feel, or ethnology, cultural contrast is a procedure of meaning through which explanations of culture or on culture separate, segregate, and approve the generation of fields of power, reference, relevance, and limit. Cultural diversity is the acknowledgment of pregiven cultural "substance" and traditions, held in a time allotment of relativism; it offers ascend to anodyne liberal ideas of multiculturalism, cultural trade, or the way of life of mankind. Cultural diversity is additionally the portrayal of an extreme talk of the partition of totalized societies that live pure by the intertextuality of their chronicled areas, safe in the utopianism of a mythic memory of a one of a kind aggregate personality. Cultural diversity may even rise as an arrangement of the explanation and trade of cultural signs in certain radical records of human sciences.

The strong cultural changes that Malaysia underwent during colonization delete an important thing in the cultural identification of the present youth. It is true that the youth in the society affected by the colonial identities that they have. The third space that Baba speaks of in this context provides an amalgamation of cultural identities and this leads to a new culture inculcated among the youth in Malaysia. It is not that this have forgotten to follow their culture but they live in a society which is totally different culturally itself from what Malaysia was actually. As far is culture itself is concerned it is of fluid concept and culture of a country usually changes with time and the influx of various cultural ethnicity is that come in contact with it. The cultural identity of the people is concurrent to their beliefs and developmental identities that help them grow in the society (Idrus,  Hashim&MohdMydin, 2017). One of the important factors in this can text is to be considered that Malaysia is also attracting a large number of people from various culture ethnicities who shift there and work. These people bring their own culture and the youth gradually takes up the other cultures and the practices which they like making it their own. Culture itself being a fluid concept with correlation to time cannot be related with a certain ethnicity or an area. Each and every culture and their cultural identical values are bound to change with time and as the influx of population takes place. Most importantly it is not the youth that are responsible for going away from the cultures. It has to be pointed out that culture is inculcated in a person by the family they live in and the families today focus on the development and growth of their child and hence try to teach them what is most conducive for their growth in the society (Granhemat& Abdullah, 2017).

Challenges in Implementing Malaysian Values Amongst Youth

The case however stands against the youth as there is a deep resentment in how they have changed and in an attempt to learn the culture they were taught tend to delve Deep in it. It courses the parents and elders of the society to think that they have no respect for their own cultural identity. This is however not the case among the youth. The cultural identities they develop then to be based on the basic tenets of culture that they are taught. An example of following old customs and rituals can be taken into this consideration. A youth is usually taught in western and foreign languages about the western culture and various cultural groups which gives him and open Outlook towards the society. Due to this they forge an identity of their own according to the belief systems that they develop. This however does not go well with the social norms that the society accepts. But culture and cultural identification is not something which can be controlled in the inculcation. It will go and be accepted among the people to an extent that they want it and they can further tend to follow it as their own. It is usually not the fault of the youth that they have learnt a certain culture or have the belief system based on it. One of the major factors that a society goes by is the identification of the shelf with the society and what is known as us and them (Kral&Renganathan, 2018). It cannot be said that they have no value of the culture order do not like the Malaysian culture as they do not identify themselves as other than the Malaysian culture but a part of it. It is not however possible for them to practice all the intricacies of the culture because they might not know it completely due to the loss of communication that has happened over the due time.

The culture remains intact in them and they identify themselves in in it but the youth do not know how to practice the old culture itself. As Bhabha says this is the development of the culture with the amalgamation of one or more cultures with it and maybe the cultural not remain true to itself but it is not far from the identity that it originally had (Bhabha, 2013). It is also to be considered that the environment that the youth lives in and interacts has a major role to play in forging the cultural identity of the youth. The generation that cleans the youth for the dispersion from the cultural identity is itself responsible for the development of ideology that supports accepting other cultures as their own. Therefore the blame cannot be shifted on a singular identity or generation for the cross cultural practice that there adhering to (Chan, 2017). Change is a gradual concept and it has taken place over the years in the society. The previous generation and the generations before it which acclimatized themselves according to the colonist lifestyles are equally responsible for the youth adhering to the environment that they had been given and gradually improving into it.

Suggestions to Overcome the Challenges

The current society is very well connected due to the given communication systems and it has become a well-connected village of cultural identities. Therefore the identities of cultural dispersion have become very fluid and the concept of cross culture has taken place. Due to easy access to other cultural behaviour and the practices it is seen that the interested people from various cultures are learning other cultures and practicing it. However, it is not just the Malaysian society that questions the youth but every society in the world as the youth tries to change with themselves and it is also a generational phenomenon as every generation tries to implicate the other for the changes that they have undergone in the due time. The culture however is not lost as it remains in the form of beliefs practices and the general intricacies of lifestyle that people follow subconsciously. While other practices which do not adhere to the norms of the modern society are gradually lost in time. It is however not the loss of culture because the youth have their choice and all of them do not choose to let go of the cultural identity some following their ethnic culture completely.

The consideration of the cultural values also be attributed to the dilemma that youth has in identifying themselves in the present society. The concept of belongingness has changed drastically through time and it does not involve the practices that were believed to be important once. In the present society the youth may think that they can remain true to their cultural identity is without practicing the social and cultural values just due to the sense of identification with the Malaysian identity. It is however not possible to let go of a culture completely and if closely observed a Malaysian person make follow certain cultural habits. For example the using of right hand while eating in Malaysia and a number of Oriental countries is unusual habit because of long term acculturation. The Malaysian culture itself is an amalgamation of Malaysian Indian Chinese and other cultures which have decided in Malaysia over 300 years during the colonization. It can be their food considered the Malaysian culture today itself is an amalgamation of a multicultural Oriental society. This society is gradually changing with the globalisation and influx of other cultural values among the youth as they tend to develop their identities on a global scale (Mun,  Fern& Chin, 2017). Therefore it cannot be considered to be a distressed debt to Malaysian cultural values. The values that are practiced in the society is for the well-being and cultural harmony and the practices gradually become defunct as the harmony begins to reside naturally among the people.

Conclusion

There are a few important considerations in this case which have to be heeded. The use themselves are much closer to the Malaysian values when It is seen from the perspective of an outsider. However they mean not truly be in tandem with the belief system of the elder generation. The expectation also plays an important role along with the generation gap that exists within the society. The Identity of Malaysian values are intact as far as a person can be identified with it and to a high extent it is still present in the Malaysian society. The people are gradually changing but they have not lost their own culture rather have added on to it by acclimatizing themselves with other cultures as well.  The present behaviour switch the society sees as a diversion from the Malaysian cultural values is a part of the youth forging their own belief systems to develop and survive in the society according to the needs of it.

Conclusion

Therefore it can be concluded that the Malaysian culture and values are not lost among the youth but have been subdued by the practices that they have inculcated among themselves in due time. These practices themselves have a strong belief system and then to adhere to the Malaysian cultural values. She is very evident in the case where Malaysian students tend to adhere to certain norms in the society when they live outside their own country identifying themselves with it. The loss of cultural values which is said by the elder generation is the gradual change that one has to do to survive in the multicultural society and the globalised environment. The youth have to develop their own cultural values which are more in Accord with the needs of the present society to survive and succeed rather than sticking to a certain belief system which may adversely affect them in long term future. It has also been pointed out that the present cultural values have been inculcated among the youth by the previous generation itself and they are also responsible for the present cultural development. To emphasize on the point that the culture is inculcated by the elders and parents in the children and they have an equally important role in the loss of cultural identity if any has happened in the due course of time. The children learn by watching their elders and the practice of the Western culture and cultural habits among the elders have first day use to believe in their cultural values. It has also been pointed out that the cultural values are not lost but as Bhabha says has become and admin commission of multiple cultural values and individual beliefs that forge and identity of a person.

References

Bhabha, H. K. (2013). Nation and narration. Routledge.

Chan, R. S. K. (2017). Global habitus: Multilingual identity differences expressed through cultural capital. Educate~, 16(1), 25-34.

Granhemat, M., & Abdullah, A. N. (2017). Gender, ethnicity, ethnic identity, and language choices of Malaysian youths: The case of the family domain. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 8(2), 26-36.

Hamzah, H., Ab Karim, M. S., Othman, M., Hamzah, A., & Muhammad, N. H. (2015). Challenges in sustaining the Malay Traditional Kuih among youth. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 5(5), 472.

Idrus, M. M., Hashim, R. S., &MohdMydin, R. (2017). Rediscovery of the Malay ‘local:’youth and TV fiction in Malaysia. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(2), 210-225.

Kral, I., &Renganathan, S. (2018). Beyond school: Digital cultural practice as a catalyst for language and literacy. In Language Practices of Indigenous Children and Youth (pp. 365-386). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Mun, A. S., Fern, C. P., & Chin, L. C. (2017). Between ethnicization and globalisation: Mediating contesting cultural identities of Malaysian youths. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 11(3).

Verkuyten, M. (2018). The social psychology of ethnic identity. Routledge.