Malaysian Law And Culture In The Context Of Pluralistic Society

Based on the significance of the research on Malaysian law and culture in the context of pluralistic society and the deficiency on the research at home and abroad from the perspective of pluralistic society,this paper chooses Malaysian law and culture under the pluralistic society for research.In this regard,we are concerned about the reality of Malaysian law under the influence of complex socio-cultural force,with a view to clarifying the interaction between Malaysian law and pluralistic socio-culture.Next,this article reviews the evolution of Malaysian law historically,including the law of ancient Malay Sultanate of Malacca,modern British colonial law.Thus,it reveals the emergence and change of Malaysian pluralistic legal culture before independence.The contemporary Malaysian law is examined by the changing socio-cultural conditions,to find how they effect the contemporary Malaysian law and how the contemporary Malaysian law responds to the pluralistic.socio-culture with different legal departments having their own characteristics.Next,this article makes judgments on the new challenges(islamization,globalization,etc.)which Malaysian law are facing and which impact on the development ofMalaysian law.Finally,this paper summarizes the implication of the law and the rulex.of law in Malaysia.This article makes full use of jurisprudence,sociology,political law,history and other theoretical knowledge,with comparative,historical,empirical methods and so on,to do comprehensive research on Malaysian law and culture in the context of pluralistic society.Through the study,the author finds the regularity of Malaysian legal development,as well as the relationship between law and pluralistic socio-culture.Specifically,the conclusions are as following:First,the ancient Malayan legal culture shew the characteristic of formalism.There was no national coercive force to ensure the implementation of the law.Ancient Malayan legal culture was the legal culture of the elite,not the public legal culture;and was the privileged law,not the law in general sense.Law made little difference with morality,religion and other means of social control.Obedience to the monarch,to comply with customs and to practise the Islamic doctrine were ordinary people's legal awareness at that time.The Malayan multi-legal culture was still in the respective,self-governance stage,and did not really start mixing and blending.Second,the process of Malayan legal modernization was started in the British colonial period.The colonists remoulded the Malayan local law successfully and established the basic systems in Malay Peninsula.Meantime,the introductive legal concepts by westerners collided with the local legal tradition fiercely.Then the remained legal concepts,although sometimes seem plausible,are in the needs of Malaya.At the same time,Malay nationalism is also nurturing and sprouting.Modern pluralistic society created multi-culture forming pluralistic laws,including the Malay Islamic law and customary law,the Chinese customary law,the Indian customary law,and the customary law of the indigenous people.Third,the independence of Malaya really started the mixing and integration of pluralistic socio-culture.It is from the early "break the enclosure",to "conflict resolution"in the new economic policy period and then to "collaborative win-win"in the national developing policy period.Malaysian multi-culture has gradually converged in recent decades.The numbers and styles of laws have been further developed.Malaysia values its own independent state and its performance on the world stage increasingly.The law also shows more introspection.The practicality and the local nature is the priority for the law.Fourth,to respond to Malaysian most important social public standard,that is,the harmony and development of pluralistic societies,Malaysian important areas of law have taken different approaches.In the cutional system:the monarch reigns but not govern,and the cabinet is actually in power;differentiated federalism "scrambled in appearance but united in spirit",the central authority effectively curbs the potential seperate dangers;as a election-oriented authoritative country,the confrontation between the ruling parties 'coalition and the opposite parties' coalition will continue,the reform of the electoral system is a general trend;the judicial system takes into account the ethnic groups,and integrates multiculturally,the common court system,the Islamic court system,the indigenous court system and the procuratorate system take each duty.Criminal law embodies the integration of common law and local socio-culture.In the field of civil law,the British legal principle,which conforms to the specific situation of Malaysia,is becoming the new personal law of non-Malays.Thus the Islamic civil law is applied to the Malays,and the common civil law is for non-Malays.In administrative law,the police has the power to take a person into custody before the trial,and Torrance registration system is the land system there.Fifth,efforts to maintain the national characteristics of Malaysian rule of law and to strive to integrate into the global mainstream culture of the rule of law are the two determinants of the development of Malaysian rule of law.Although Malaysian law is Islamizing,Malaysia is still a secular state.In the multi-religious countries,the legalization of Islamic doctrines is significant and should be cautious.The different components of Islamic doctrines are legalized not in the same way.At present,although there are terroristic factors in Malaysia,if the anti-terrorism measures from three aspects,that is,the legal control,informal control,medical control,are adopted,Malaysian terrorism can also be governed.Cultural globalization does not lead to the Westernization of Malaysian law,namely,the homogeneity of law.Instead,it can be used to carry forward and improve the local law.Sixth,different legal culture can be inclusive and integrate.The state should accept and respect the diversity of socio-culture,and promote the universal ethical values.On the basis of legal transplantation,reinforce the localization and nationalization of the law.Malaysian multi-ethnic groups,oriental culture,colonial influence and other historical and current situations,have similarities with China.We study Malaysian law and culture in the context of pluralistic society,analyzing its successful experiences,with a view to make some contribution to the improvement of our rule of law.