The politics of national identity in west Malaysia

Abstract

This paper will conceptualise national identity as competing representations of the identity of a political community called "nation". These representations serve as the overall "structures of signification" within which ongoing socio-political contests are played out, and are at the same time the ongoing results of negotiations and contentions among different social actors. More importantly, day-to-day bureaucratic dealings and decisions operate based on such understanding. This paper will examine the evolution of the politics of national identity in West Malaysia based on four periods: (a) 1945-57; (b) 1957-69; ( c) 1970- 90; and (d} 1991- today. In order to do so. I will examine the interactions of the roles and understandings of three groups of key actors in the process, namely, the politicians, specific social actors and the State institutional agents. It is important to bear in mind that in this process of contestations, the public discourse of key political leaders shifted over time, depending on their positioning in terms of power relations and the nature of their political followings. This paper argues that despite the official facade of multi-culturalist discourse and selective accommodation of non-Malay interests, the principle of Malay hegemony entrenched in the State institutional practices during the previous decades remained prevalent. In order to foster a sense of "shared destiny" among the Malaysians, public discourses need to be translated progressively into comprehensive State institutional practices.