[DOWNLOAD] "Ethnicity and Ethnic Perception of Indians (Report)" by Journal of Social Sciences * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ethnicity and Ethnic Perception of Indians (Report)
- Author : Journal of Social Sciences
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 188 KB
Description
INTRODUCTION Ethnic studies deal with interdisciplinary study of radicalized peoples in the world in relation to ethnicity. The post-Second World War period witnessed the emergence of numerous ethnic tensions and conflicts throughout the world, some even exacerbating to protracted violence conflicts over several decades. In the Malaysian context, ethnicity or plural society were shaped intentionally by the British to ensure the efficacy of their 'divide and rule' policy which was put in place much earlier than 1957, when Malaya became a nation-state (Lim et al., 2009). This trend continued when 'cultural pluralism' was adopted as the social model for the newly independent Malaya. This model was chosen based on the realization that the socioeconomic and geographical divide among the three major races, namely the indigenous Muslim-Malays, ethnic Chinese and Indians, was just too wide for any kind of meaningful integration model to be successfully applied. This situation further exacerbated with the ethnic riots on 13th May 1969 (Lim et al., 2009). Subsequently, in its aftermath, blaming economic disparity as the root cause of the riots, the ethnic Malay-led government introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). The policy promoted the Malays-first affirmative action plan that benefited the Malays in many ways but categorically left out others, especially the economically backward Indians. Decades of neglect has resulted in many Indians feeling that their welfare and rights have been infringed by the dominant majority. Despite being founder partners of the country and having being involved in commodity and service driven economy for many decades, the Indians never really succeeded in elevating their economic status. Based on this backdrop, substantial scholarly work on the subject of ethnicity in Malaysia has been based on the perspectives of race-based integration, majority-minority discourses and economic development. Nevertheless, departing from tradition, this study has attempted to examine how ethnic Indians recognize their own ethnic identity based on self perception of their ethnic status and social upliftment and self assessment of the values of globalization that affect their thinking and opinions. This threefold objective attempts to decipher the broader picture of Indian ethnicity, as seen by them in an increasingly globalised world and within an asymmetrical multiethnic framework.