Cultural pluralism nation‐building and educational policies in peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Abstract “Cultural Pluralism Nation‐Building and Educational Policies in Peninsular Malaysia” seeks to highlight how educational policies have been used to try to bring about a sense of national unity in one of the world's most delicately balanced culturally plural societies. It begins by showing how Malaysia became multicultural as a result of colonial immigration and educational policies. It then seeks to examine how the Malay elites of successive governments since independence in 1957 have sought to use the education system to create a harmonious multiracial society, while at the same time favouring one ethnic group (the Malays) over others. It takes three main strands — the restructuring of the school system, the development of a national language and the redressing of economic imbalances amongst the Malays — to show how these policies have been worked out. It argues that educational policies alone cannot be guaranteed to bring about racial harmony or cultural unity: instead the danger is that the opposite might happen.