Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia
This article seeks to unravel the complex, and often opaque state of ethnic relations in Peninsular Malaysia, a plural society, by focusing on the promotion and protection of minority rights. This country, as few others, is characterized by a very marked ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/1/44474-143374-1-PB.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848814214117851136 |
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| author | Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, Azrina Husin, |
| author_facet | Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, Azrina Husin, |
| author_sort | Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article seeks to unravel the complex, and often opaque state of ethnic relations in Peninsular
Malaysia, a plural society, by focusing on the promotion and protection of minority rights. This
country, as few others, is characterized by a very marked ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity,
which even a casual observer cannot fail to notice. Ever since independence, the co-existence of
these different communities turned out to be very complex and riddled with strong tensions.
However, incidents of interethnic violence as well as deadly ethnic riots, were very rare across the
national territory. The exception to this claim is the May 13th, 1969 ethnic riots that in turn have
become the nation’s negative myth - a disruptive conflict that must never occur again. By using a
case study approach of historical events, the findings of this article suggest that in order to avoid
inter-ethnic violence, a politics of power sharing and affirmative action characterized by
permanent negotiations and compromises are the order of the day. Co-existence, however, is still
grounded in the social logic of unity in separation. This article seeks to illustrate the workings of
the above-mentioned political setting where ethno-cultural and religious diversity are managed so
as to ensure minority rights are secured and protected. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:30:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:17050 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:30:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:170502021-07-13T02:05:22Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/ Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, Azrina Husin, This article seeks to unravel the complex, and often opaque state of ethnic relations in Peninsular Malaysia, a plural society, by focusing on the promotion and protection of minority rights. This country, as few others, is characterized by a very marked ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, which even a casual observer cannot fail to notice. Ever since independence, the co-existence of these different communities turned out to be very complex and riddled with strong tensions. However, incidents of interethnic violence as well as deadly ethnic riots, were very rare across the national territory. The exception to this claim is the May 13th, 1969 ethnic riots that in turn have become the nation’s negative myth - a disruptive conflict that must never occur again. By using a case study approach of historical events, the findings of this article suggest that in order to avoid inter-ethnic violence, a politics of power sharing and affirmative action characterized by permanent negotiations and compromises are the order of the day. Co-existence, however, is still grounded in the social logic of unity in separation. This article seeks to illustrate the workings of the above-mentioned political setting where ethno-cultural and religious diversity are managed so as to ensure minority rights are secured and protected. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/1/44474-143374-1-PB.pdf Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, and Azrina Husin, (2020) Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 16 (4). pp. 326-335. ISSN 2180-2491 https://ejournals.ukm.my/gmjss/issue/view/1357 |
| spellingShingle | Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, Azrina Husin, Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title | Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title_full | Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title_fullStr | Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title_short | Balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from Malaysia |
| title_sort | balancing majority and minority rights: lessons from malaysia |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17050/1/44474-143374-1-PB.pdf |