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Sixty years ago, what was seen as Malayan nationalism had, at its core, Malay nationalism. Wrapped around it were the aspirations of Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups who had settled in the country. By Wang Gungwu, The Straits Times
Last week, Raja Nazrin Shah, the Raja Muda of Perak, spoke of the dangers of modern tribalism and how diversity is essential for a strong and progressive nation. This was the latest in a series of speeches he has given around Malaysia to alert everyone to some of the serious problems the country faces. That he has done so as a member of Malay royalty is refreshing. That he has done so in the wake of the March 2008 elections serves to remind us that Malaysia has a constitutional monarchy and one that does care what happens to all its peoples. Sixty years ago, what was seen as Malayan nationalism had, at its core, Malay nationalism. Wrapped around it were the aspirations of Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups who had settled in the country. Sovereignty rested with the Malay sultans while actual power and control were still in the hands of the British. The future hinged on agreements, made at various levels, to prevent communal and class conflicts from destroying the future independent new nation. The desired balance was a delicate one and many leaders worked hard to maintain the equilibrium by which it was hoped a unique nation could be created. The merger of Singapore with Malaya in 1963 and its separation
in 1965 tested that vision, and the riots that followed the May 1969 general election produced another test that was even more serious. Compromises had to be made in order for the country to survive that emergency and relations among the communities were redefined so as to establish, hopefully, a new equilibrium. By 1980, that balance rested on four legs. The first was a modern bureaucracy, which in turn acted in the name of the second leg, the constitutional monarchy that ruled over the plural society. The third leg was Islam, which tied the sultanate to the Malays who saw themselves as indigenous to the country. The various immigrant peoples who had settled in Malaysia constituted the fourth leg. Together, the different groupings could hardly be described as a coherent entity, but they were officially committed to the ideal of a multicultural nation in which democracy and justice would one day give an
integrated community the nationhood that it was promised. That balance has proved to be very difficult to maintain during the past 30 years. Over time, the hoped-for equilibrium became in danger of being set aside. Parti Islam SeMalaysia had successfully used the democratic process to challenge the bureaucratic structures that the British had left behind. That bureaucracy, in turn, was steered to service a nationalist agenda that institutionalised communal differences. The Muslim leg occasioned a shift in political power from the modern administrative leadership, even from the historic rights of the sultans, to a potentially divisive religious base. That shift eventually became obvious and intolerable and, this year, the fourth leg, representing mainly the lesser communities of Chinese and Indians, began to voice their disquiet. Nevertheless, no one was quite prepared for the March 8 elections this year when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) lost heavily in states like Penang, Perak and Selangor. There, many Chinese, Indians and others followed a new generation of Malay leaders who were committed to the country's foundational ideals or were totally disillusioned with its current set of leaders.
As a result, the ruling coalition that had dominated the country for decades was forced to undergo unprecedented changes in its leadership, most notably in the transfer of power from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak. All at once, there has arisen a new force that can now be used to establish a different equilibrium, one where two multi-communal alliances - the opposition Pakatan Rakyat and the ruling BN - could produce a two-party system in the not too distant future. Islamic reformists have joined with non-Muslim groups to seek a new balance. This marks an extraordinary opportunity for the reconfiguration of political power in Malaysia. In this context, what Raja Nazrin Shah has done in his lectures is to remind us that there is still another leg that could help stabilise the uneasy conditions in the country today. The constitutional monarchy represents a resource that the country should not neglect - that of symbolic capital. For decades, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had weakened that leg, as he did the pluralist and multicultural leg, so that it began to appear that only two legs - the BN-dominated bureaucracy and a kind of Islamic universalism - were politically relevant to the country's future. As a result of the democratic shifts that occurred this March, more voices from the two other legs could now be heard. Online news portals, e-mail, blogs and millions of cellphones had already done much to bring new Malaysian voices to the surface and they had a decisive impact on the March election results. Immediately afterwards, two sultans, those of Terengganu and Perlis, spoke up on the choice of menteri besars for their respective states. It was a salutary reminder to the ruling coalition not to ignore the Malaysian Constitution. But perhaps even more significantly, the rulers of four states now deal directly with parties outside the BN framework, something they had little chance to do before. Opposition parties now lead the state governments of Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan, and to most people, fresh perspectives are now possible. Raja Nazrin Shah may still be the only one of his background to speak publicly about the country's multicultural foundations. But he has set the tone by asking all citizens to reflect on the nation's future in terms broader than that of a particular ethnic group, to respect its traditions and, most of all, to revive the ideals that had been lost in the tribal competitions of recent decades. His call to resume a more constructive nation-building process that is far from completed is now being heard. That augurs well for Malaysia. # The writer is chairman of the East Asia Institute
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