Abstract
With the exception of Singapore, where the Chinese constitutes the majority, Malaysia is the only country in Southeast Asia where the immigrant Chinese is a significant community, over 26% of the population. In comparison, the Chinese in Thailand constitute only 10% of the population, and in Indonesia, only 3%. This particular demographic distribution has had a significant impact on ethnic relations in Malaysia, not the least of which is the feeling among indigenous Malays that the Chinese will seize political power. The Malay distrust of Chinese economic power was, and still is, the main source of conflict between the two groups (Tan, 1982: 47). Similarly, given such a large voting bloc, politics in Malaysia has always been essentially communal, and the government has since independence been a coalition of communal parties, with the Malay-based UMNO as the dominant partner.
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Tong, C.K. (2011). Sama Makan tak Sama Makan: The Chinese in Malaysia. In: Identity and Ethnic Relations in Southeast Asia. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8909-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8909-0_4
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