Discrimination In Malaysia Case Study

Register to read the introduction… (2000 census) 60.4% of Malaysians are Muslim, 19.2% are Buddhist, 9.1% are Christian, 6.3% are Hindu, 2.6% follow Confucianism/Taoism/ another traditional Chinese faith, and 2.4% practice other faiths. (2000 census) 93% of Malays attend national schools, 90% of Chinese attend Chinese vernacular schools, and 70% of Indians attend Tamil vernacular schools. (Prime Minister’s address to the 2004 Malaysian Education Summit) Bumiputra corporate equity stands at 19.4%. (Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan) 41% of Malaysians either describe national unity as “superficial” or “imposed”, or believe there is no national unity at all in Malaysia. (Merdeka Centre Ethnic Relations Perceptions Poll) 25% believe that Malaysians from different ethnic groups are drifting apart rather than becoming more united, and 15% believe that the situation will only worsen over the next decade. (Merdeka Centre Ethnic Relations Perceptions Poll) There is a clear correlation between age and mixing outside one’s own ethnic group; younger Malaysians are likelier to say they find it difficult to relate with those not from their own racial background, and less likely to say they like mixing with people of a different race. (CPPS Minda Muda study) 22% do not have any friends from ethnic groups other than their own. Of those who do, 60% rarely or never take meals with their friends from other ethnic backgrounds. (Merdeka Centre Ethnic Relations Perceptions Poll) Roughly 2/3rds of young Malaysians’ close friends are primarily from the same ethnic group or religion as them. (CPPS Minda Muda study) Only 57% of Malaysians believe that government policies should focus on promoting interests common to all Malaysians, with 25% believing that government policies should focus on the interests of specific ethnic groups. (Merdeka Centre Ethnic Relations Perceptions Poll) 75% of young Malays can say they have …show more content…
As history has indicated, entrepreneurial capacity cannot be cultivated primarily through selective patronage and easy access to bank loans and government concessions. The need now is for the promotion of policies based on merit. Immediate implementation of a more merit-based public personnel system in the civil service for enhancing equality of opportunity in recruitment and career advancement. The various public service commissions should be made more representative in order to enhance public confidence in their guardianship of the merit system. Annual intake of fresh recruits should comprise 60 percent of Malays and 40 percent of non-Malays. Terminate the policy and practice of having some public tertiary institutions open to only specific ethnic groups. Set out clear and transparent criteria of admissions applicable to all public tertiary institutions. The criteria should include a weighting for socio-economic and geographical/regional background to compensate for socio-economic and geographical/ regional disadvantage. Introduce/expand the provision of scholarships for academic excellence, to be applied to the top 5 per cent of applicants/ enrolees in selected fields assessed as critical to Malaysia’s social, cultural and economic needs and future. Introduce a provision for scholarships to the next 5 per cent of applicants/enrolees in selected fields assessed as critical to the civil service. Introduce/ expand a loan scheme for all others that will be discounted in proportion to academic achievement, that is, achievement of highest honours will result in a conversion of 80 per cent of the loan to a scholarship, and so on. This addresses issues of affordability, while simultaneously factoring in an incentive to performance. End all explicit or implicit quotas in the recruitment and promotion of faculty as it is ridiculous to entrust the higher education