Managing Ethnic Diversities: Malaysian Experience

Abstract

Malaysia, at present, is a politically stable, peaceful and working democracy in which all races and religious groups equally participate. Malaysia has succeeded in managing national integrity very well despite its multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious contradictions. The New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced by Malaysia after its May 13, 1969 race riots worked well to achieve inter-ethnic economic parity, and to eradicate poverty, and has succeeded in avoiding inter-ethnic discrimination. Equal sharing of economy among all the communities, right to education to all, equal power sharing in political sector, and proper security system to ensure orderly functioning are some of the ways by which the multicultural societies vulnerable to ethnic and religious stresses can survive in this globalized world.