ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of soft assimilation policies on the development of national integration by analysing the extent to which the unification of education streams, especially after the implementation of the 1961 Education Act based on the soft assimilation approach, has contributed to the promotion of ethnic interaction. Surveys on the spread of Malay proficiency within the Chinese community were conducted. In this chapter, the impact of soft assimilation policies on the maintenance of social stability is also examined by analysing the Chinese community’s responses to these policies. The Chinese community can be divided into three groups based on its accommodation of Malay culture. Therefore, soft assimilation policies with some compromises succeeded in preventing the establishment of a solid Chinese unity coalition, which could potentially have led to an ethnic conflict. Moreover, this chapter explains the limitations of soft assimilation policies by examining different ways in which the government and the non-Malay community understands the soft assimilation approach. Some Chinese did not embrace the soft assimilation approach as the direction of nation-building, while the government criticised them strongly as Chinese chauvinists. In short, policies based on the soft assimilation approach could not present a middle ground.
