Ethnicity, Ethnic Minority and Self-Determination: An Examination of Conceptual Linkage

The concepts of ethnicity, ethnic minority and self-determination have gained such a vital importance as an integral part of ethnic and minority politics of the contemporary world. The major objective of this paper is to identify the conceptual linkage and relations between “ethnicity”, “ethnic minority” and the minorities’ claims for “self-determination” through an extensive analysis of the existing definitions, interpretations and criticisms to the above concepts. The analysis of these concepts reveals that the concept of ethnicity, ethnic minority and self-determination are interconnected each other and have gained prime importance in the politics of minority groups for ethnic identity construction, self-determination claims and ethno-nationalist discourses. Key Words: Ethnicity, ethnic minority, ethnic group, self-determination, conceptualizatio

Pengaruh aktor campur tangan halus dalam PRU-14

Malaysia telah diperintah oleh Barisan Nasional (BN) secara berterusan selama 61 tahun sejak mencapai kemerdekaan pada tahun 1957. Keupayaan BN mengekalkan kuasa ini adalah disebabkan oleh faktor kawalan pemerintah terhadap pihak oposisi dan keyakinan rakyat terhadap BN dalam mengekalkan kestabilan politik dan kemakmuran ekonominya. Namun dalam PRU-14, BN telah gagal mengekalkan kekuasaannya. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menilai faktor kekalahan BN dalam pilihan raya tersebut. Ramai sarjana yang meneliti PRU ini menyatakan kekalahan BN untuk mengekalkan kuasanya adalah disebabkan oleh isu 1MDB, GST (cukai barangan dan perkhidmatan), rasuah, kenaikan kos sara hidup dan penyalahgunaan kuasa kerajaan BN. Selain daripada pandangan di atas, artikel ini berhujah satu lagi faktor yang turut juga menyumbang kepada kekalahan BN adalah disebabkan oleh pengaruh aktor soft-intervention. Soft-intervention yang dimaksudkan ialah campur tangan aktor kuasa halus dalam mempengaruhi rakyat untuk menjatuhkan BN. Kuasa halus tersebut ialah aktor-aktor seperti ahli akademik, golongan profesional, kartunis, dan masyarakat sivil yang mempengaruhi rakyat melalui penerapan idea demokrasi supaya rakyat sedar tentang keperluan untuk membawa perubahan kepada negara. Data digunakan dalam artikel ini adalah dari sumber sekunder iaitu buku dan akhbar yang kemudiannya dianalisis secara kualitatif. Artikel ini berhujah campur tangan aktor kuasa halus dalam politik Malaysia bermula sejak dari era Reformasi pada tahun 1998 lagi, namun pada masa itu ia gagal untuk mengubah pemerintahan negara kerana tekanan dan tindakan pemerintah yang melemahkan pengaruh aktor soft-intervention tersebut. Walau bagaimanapun, dengan usaha berterusan aktor kuasa halus ini menyedarkan rakyat tentang kelemahan kerajaan BN, maka ia telah menimbulkan kesedaran rakyat untuk mengundi menolak kerajaan BN yang korup dan kleptokrat. Di akhir analisisnya, artikel ini menegaskan peranan aktor soft-intervention adalah cukup signifikan dalam mengubah landskap politik Malaysia dalam PRU-14

Asymmetrical federalism and anti-federal sentiment in Malaysia : the Sabah experience

Federalism is a system of fair and orderly power sharing between the state and federal governments. However, in the case of the Federation of Malaysia, this division is unbalanced and asymmetrical, owing to the fact that Sabah and Sarawak have been given more privileges than other states in Malaya as a condition to join the Federation of Malaysia during its formation on 16 September 1963. These terms were proposed by the Intergovernmental Committee and included in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which was signed on July 9, 1963, in London by the United Kingdom, the Federation of Malaya (Malaya), North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore. Despite the fact that MA63 and the 20-point Agreement grant Sabah unique privileges, the state has long struggled with federalism issues, giving rise to anti-federal sentiments. Using the concept of asymmetrical federalism as a tool of analysis, this study examines the issues of asymmetrical federalism responsible for the anti-federal sentiment in Sabah. Interviews were used to collect primary data, while sources including books, journals, newspapers and online news were mined for secondary data in this qualitative study. Oil royalties, unequal development between Sabah and the Peninsula, immigration and security threats, Sabah's regional status within Malaysia and Borneonisation were found to be the five main issues that prompted Sabahans to be dissatisfied with the implementation of asymmetrical federalism. The failure of the Sabah and federal governments to address these issues has contributed to the birth of anti-federal sentiment in Sabah

Anti-federal sentiment in Sabah and its impact on Malaysian politics

The conflict between the federal government and the state of Sabah has occurred since 1963 stemming from the dissatisfaction of the people of Sabah towards the implementation of their autonomy rights as contained in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63). This dissatisfaction led to an anti-federal sentiment among the people of Sabah towards the federal government, which threatened the stability of the Federation of Malaysia. Hence, this study examines the factors leading to the emergence of anti-federal sentiment in Sabah and assesses the impact of such sentiment on Malaysian politics utilising the concept of federalism as an analytical tools. The primary source of this artile comprised interviews, whereas books, journals, official government reports, articles and news portals were used as its secondary sources. Findings revealed that the factors promoting the anti-federal sentiment among Sabahans are thedissatisfaction with the implementation of autonomy rights and MA63, the imbalance in infrastructure development, the socio-economic gap between Sabah and the states in the Peninsula, distribution of oil royalties and the presence of illegal immigrants. This anti-federal sentiment has createda strained relationship between the federal government and Sabah, the demand for self-government, the fading of patriotism, the threat to national harmony and unity, the rise of state nationalism and the decline of the people’s nationalism. Consequently, this sentiment threatens the stability of the federation and therefore requires an immediate solution to maintain national unity and sovereignty

Inter-Disciplinary Education: A Pattern for History and Sociology

Inter-disciplinary studies in the field of social sciences such as history and sociology are unequivocally vital to gaining a more penetrating insight into human behavior. The article commences with a comparison of the concepts of “inter-disciplinary” and “disciplinary”, an explication of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Dialogism, along with an explanation of other learning theories. The article subsequently delineates the method of inter-disciplinary teaching for history and sociology by emphasizing the necessity of inter-disciplinary studies. Key Words: Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Inter-Disciplinary Education, Dialogism and Historical Sociolog

From New Order to Reformasi: Indonesian Subnational Politics in the Post-New Order Era1

Direct local election in Indonesia has been run since the middle of 2005. It is bringing some changes, especially in political reformation. Changed election mechanism to direct election done by the society in the region. This article seen that the changes has brought some positive impacts to the society as growing increasingly broad political participation, the legitimacy of local heads becomes higher and political party roles also become important. This changed which the author said as a form of deeper democratic process to “new democracy” in Indonesia. In addition, some weaknesses also appeared, such as the booming of money politic, weaken of regional institution and the emergence of new local elites. It leads to government as a minority in the scope of the power legislative institution which act as majority

Civil disobedience during reformation era

The removal of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in September 1998 was a shock to the nation. This is because there were a series of street demonstrations in 1998 until 2001 that gave birth to reformasi (reform) movement. People thought that the dismissal was unfair due to personal conflict between the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the emergence of civil disobedience during reform movement and to identify the actors involved in mobilizing civil disobedience. The analysis shows what the main reason behind the outbreak of civil disobedience was the result of government actions that weakened democracy through the restriction of political rights and civil liberties. In this respect, the removal of Anwar Ibrahim was only a triggering factor. Furthermore, the actors who were involved in acts of civil disobedience include students, young people, opposition parties, non government organizations (NGOs) and activists. These groups cooperated to seek justice for Anwar Ibrahim and also raised issues related to corruption, cronyism and abuse of power in the government. Consequently, support for the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition, especially the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) declined dramatically in the 1999 general election