The gap between Malay and Chinese-Created by the British

Background

During British colonial rule, Malays were given certain privileges over their non-Malay counterparts. When Malaysia declared independence in 1957, its constitution contained a provision called Article 153 which provides special rights for the Malay. When Malaya merged with Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah, the constitution retained the article 153 which was first drafted 1957. (Ooi, 2005)

Due to a dispute over the special rights of Malays, Singapore was separated from the federation in 1965. During that period, Most of the Chinese were literally flushed out from Malaysia to Singapore indirectly.

Malays were given special rights by the British at the beginning of Malaysia independence. Why?

Before the independence of Malaysia 1957, British learned a lesson in Hong Kong, they fear communist (Chinese) will invade Malaysia or any other region in the SE Asia. Therefore they granted the Malays special rights, they make sure that the Malays have the most power in Malaysia before British will grant Malaysia independence. Apart from that, during the independence of Singapore in 1965, the British did not turn over internal security to the local government as the British felt that the local authority in Singapore is not doing enough to counter the treats of the communist insurgency (Wikipedia, 2010).

It can thus be suggested that the gap between Malay and Chinese in Malaysia nowadays is simply just a side effect due to the fear of threats from the communist in the early 1950s which implemented by the British

By JW

Bibliography

Ooi, J. (2005, November 11). Malaysian New Economic Policy. Retrieved May 2010, 3, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy#cite_note-1

Wikipedia. (2010, May 4). 1950's in Singapore. Retrieved may 4, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merdeka