ABSTRACT
Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country situated in Southeast Asia. It gained independence from British colonial rule in 19572 and was subsequently joined by Singapore (which later separated from the Federation in 1965) and the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, to form a new Federation in 1963. Today, Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and consists of thirteen states and carries a population of about 27.73 million comprising 53.3 per cent Malays, 26.0 per cent Chinese, 11.8 per cent other indigenous races, 7.7 per cent Indians and 1.2 per cent others.3 Its government closely follows the British Westminster model and essentially adopts a parliamentary system of government which is bicameral in character – the two chambers of Parliament are the Senate (Dewan Negara) and the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat). Political power in the government has been dominated – without interruption – by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition4 led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) – a Malay political party. There is no constitutional definition of ‘bumiputera’. The word literally
means ‘son of the soil’ and is usually co-relational to the usage of words such as ‘native’, ‘aboriginal’, ‘indigene’ and – most conveniently – ‘Malay’ (King 1995: 290, 435).5 Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution states that a Malay is ‘a person who professes the Muslim religion, habitually speaks the Malay language [and] conforms to Malays custom’. Thus the definition does not technically demand that an individual be of Malay ethnicity before he is considered to be Malay (ibid.: 292). The special position of the bumiputera in Malaysia is constitutionally enshrined in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and the respective state constitutions.6 This special position has been reflected in Malaysia’s government policies in the form of the New Economic Policy (NEP) – first established in 1970 – which provides preferential treatment to bumipiutera in areas such as scholarships, exhibitions, public services, and other educational or training privileges or facilities, and trade and business licences or permits. To date, there has been a total of nine Malaysia Plans promulgated by the federal government to tackle national objectives and issues such as the economy, growth and nation-building.
The latest plan, the Ninth Malaysia Plan, envisages and lays down the future direction of Malaysia’s progress for the period of 2006-10.7
