Set in Malaysia, this book encompasses language and cultural policy challenges that many other multi-ethnic nations currently have to address. The people of Malaysia constitute a diverse ethnic, linguistic and cultural population and one of the continuing challenges is the development and establishment of the Malaysian people’s ethnic, national and global cultural identities. This challenge is evident in the journey of language and cultural policy from the post-independence period to the 21st century; a period of over 50 years. The book highlights political, socio-cultural, economic and knowledge economy factors as they impact on decisions made by the government with regard to language policy in the various educational systems. It examines decisions made on the selection of the national language, the medium of instruction in educational systems, the varying changes in language policy for the field of science and technology and the maintenance and sustenance of minority languages.

This book provides a rich, detailed analysis of the experiences of young women growing up in post-colonial, rapidly modernizing Malaysia. It considers the impact of ethnicity, socio-economic status, and school experiences and achievement. It discusses the effects of Malaysia’s ethnic affirmative action programmes and of the country’s Islamisation. It sets out and compares the life trajectories of Malay, Indian and Chinese young women, making use of interview and questionnaire data gathered over a long period. It thereby depicts individuals’ transformations as they experience maturing into adulthood against a background of social and economic changes, and varying levels of inter-racial tension.

Hock Tong Cheu received his Masters and Ph.D degrees from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and had lectured in Anthropology and Sociology in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia from 1976 till mid-1995. From mid-1995 till 2000, he taught in the Malay Studies Department and the Southeast Asian Studies Center, National University of Singapore. He was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore in 1984 and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from August 1987 to October 1988. He has made several in-depth studies of the Nine Emperor Gods Spirit-Medium Cults as well as the Chinese Locality Saints, the Nadugong, and the Malay Keramat in Southeast Asia. Dr Cheu, who is effectively trilingual in English, Chinese and Malay, wrote prolifically, and had contributed numerous articles in all three languages to professional and academic journals, magazines and newspapers. He had also presented numerous academic papers for discussion in local and international conferences.

Modern nation states do not constitute closed entities. This is true especially in Southeast Asia, where Chinese migrants have continued to make their new homes over a long period of time, resulting in many different ethnic groups co-existing in new nation states. Focusing on the consequences of migration, and cultural contact between the various ethnic groups, this book describes and analyses the nature of ethnic identity and state of ethnic relations, both historically and in the present day, in multi-ethnic, pluralistic nation states in Southeast Asia. Drawing on extensive primary fieldwork in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, the book examines the mediations, and transformation of ethnic identity and the social incorporation, tensions and conflicts and the construction of new social worlds resulting from cultural contact among different ethnic groups.

This book considers the impact of the Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Parpaduan (RIMUP: Student Integration Plan for Unity), the program developed as a driver towards Malaysian national integration and intended to promote an ideal of ‘unity in diversity’ through enhancing ethnic interaction in primary schools. Based on interview research with government departments, NGOs, and stakeholders at primary schools, this book highlights three main structural challenges to success of the RIMUP: the government’s weak management; the short duration and low frequency of an activity; and low student participation rate. The book also provides concrete suggestions to develop the RIMUP, to improve ethnic relations and to shape the future direction of education policies for the development of national integration, making a significant contribution to Malaysian studies as well as education policy in multi-ethnic countries.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, said in the Far Eastern Economic Review, 28 October 1996: “The threat is from inside ... So we have to be armed, so to speak. Not with guns, but with the necessary laws to make sure the country remains stable.” He implied that ethnic conflict and political instability are inevitable in a multi-ethnic society unless protected by certain laws. Ethnic conflict is like a time bomb. The misuse of human rights for political ends and to exploit ethnic sentiments can spark ethnic conflict. In theory, the modern nation-state must achieve pluralism in its project of nation building. There are few nations in the world which consist of a single ethnic group. Yet, multi-ethnicity also seems to be a serious challenge to any system of government, especially in Southeast Asia, as it adds possibly deep-running cleavages to societies. Some groups are marginalized in the course of nation-building as a result of the nature of the relationship between nation and state. Arjun Appadurai stated that “the nation and the state have become one another’s project”: groups try to capture states and their power while states try to “monopolize about the nationhood.” There is always tension between the centre and the margin. The centre often consists of one ethnic group and marginalised minority groups are denied their right to equality. Sometimes horrible wars with thousands of victims commence as a consequence of such processes of ethnically-framed nation-building. Therefore, a democratic setting should be functionally superior; that is, in a better position to moderate the escalatory tendencies inherent in a multi-ethnic setting, thereby achieving less violence-prone conflict management, and its eventual resolution in Southeast Asia. This book is intended for anyone interested in the subject of ethnic relations and conflicts, especially politicians, policy makers, civil society activists, academia, and students of ethnic/race studies and Southeast Asian politics.

PART ONE. THE CULTURE, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND HISTORY OF THE ISLAMIC COURTS -- Locating Islamic Magistrates and Their Courts in History -- The Work of the Courts -- Litigant Strategies and Patterns of Resistance -- PART TWO. MODERNITY AND GOVERNMENTALITY IN ISLAMIC COURTS AND OTHER DOMAINS -- Reinscribing Authenticity and Identity -- Producing Good Subjects, "Asian Values," and New Types of Criminality.