Cultural Change The Bumiputeras example essay topic

Based on the economic division between Malays and the immigrant Chinese and Indians, the Malay-dominated political party (Bari san Nasional coalition) launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971. The NEP, which was in force for the next 20 years, had two objectives: (1) the eradication of poverty irrespective of race, and (2) the elimination of the identification of race with economy (Mahathir, 1998). The policy is an example of a policy giving preferential treatment to the majority ethnic group. A new category "bumiputera" was created to refer to the beneficiaries of the NEP.

The construction of bumiputera ethnicity served two purposes. First, it gave legitimacy to the group receiving preferential treatment under the policy. In Malay language, bumiputera means "son of the soil". This implies that the group is entitled to favorable treatment because they are the original inhabitants of the land, although it is subject to debate regarding who were the first people on the land of today's Malaysia. Second, using this new term instead of the "Malay" category created a broader political base, as bumiputera refers not only to the Muslim Malays on the Peninsula, but it also incorporates the indigenous peoples of East Malaysia of Sabah.

These indigenous peoples do not share the same language and religion of Malays on the Peninsula (Khan and Loh, 1992; Fenton, 1999). This broad base was useful in fostering the smooth incorporation of Sabah into Malaysia. It also created a clear numerical majority ethnic group in the country. The goal of the NEP was to increase the economic share held by the bumiputeras from 2.4% to 30%. This was done by moving bumiputeras into business quickly through giving them special considerations for government contracts and licenses. This policy was widely abused initially.

Many bumiputeras sought the opportunity to get contracts and licenses, but promptly sold them to their so-called "Ali Baba" joint venture partners or to the non-bumiputeras (Mahathir, 1998). It was quite clear to the politicians that economic change would not occur without cultural change. The Prime Minister, Mahathir Bin Mohamad, explained this very well: A cultural reformation, involving new skills, new approaches and new values, was essential if the bumiputeras were going to be changed into a confident, commercially sophisticated community, capable of competing with the non-bumiputeras business community. Without this cultural change the bumiputeras would fail, and if they failed, the NEP would fail too. Education and training therefore made up the biggest elements in the NEP's initiatives.

(Mahathir, 1998, p. 12) Under the NEP, university education became the terrain of ethnic contest. Before the NEP, few bumiputeras were admitted to the university, and they were grossly underrepresented in lucrative fields such as science and engineering. Under the NEP, a quota system was instituted such that Malay predominance was ensured in the university population of students, faculty and staff. Almost four out of every five university scholarships were awarded to Malay students (Mehmet and Yip, 1986), who only needed to possess the minimum requirements for admission. To further increase bumiputeras' access to higher education, an "Off-campus Universities Programme" was set up after the implementation of the NEP (Ling et al., 1988). This programme brings to Malaysia American professors from 20 American universities of the Mid-West Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIN), to prepare bumiputera students for degrees in Arts, Science, and Engineering.

This programme also supports bumiputera students in degree programmes overseas, in Britain, Australia, and Canada. In addition to the "Off-campus Universities Programme", public funds were directed to establish several institutions, such as MARA junior colleges, which admit exclusively bumiputera students for post-secondary vocational training.