The New Economic Policy And The Evolution Of Interethnic Relationship In Malaysia(1957-1990)

Ethnic issue is critical to the development of a country, as racial harmony is a major determinant of a nation’s world power status. As a multi-ethnic country, ethnic relations in Malaysia have its particularity. Malaysia is a country with diverse ethnic groups. No ethnic group is predominating in terms of population due to its proportion. Besides, there are a substantial divergence and a seriously unbalanced development with respect to politics, economy and culture among Malaysian ethnic groups. Despite the establish-ment and stabilization of state power, the contradictions between the various ethnic groups has not been properly handled, furthermore, Ethnic groups’competition in terms of economic interests and political&cultural rights has become increasingly vigorous, as a consequence, unbalanced development among racial groups is quickly highlighted, which leads to infamous "5·13" ethnic violence incident in Malaysia history. After the incident being settled, Malaysian government thought the largest contributor to the conflict was the economic gap among ethnic groups; as a result, it embarked on New Economic Policy (NEP) in1970s and spared no effort to implement policy reform.Based on the core thread called NEP, this paper investigates the development and evolution process of ethnic groups’relationship in Malaysia. By combining the government policies and the evolution of the ethnic groups closely, the essay thoroughly reveals causes of the form and evolution of the ethnic groups in Malaysia. Chapter1pays attention to the circumstance and cause of racial groups’relations before the introduction of NEP.Chapter2mainly describes the restructure objectives&relevant measures of NEP and relative policy adjustments in the late1980s; moreover, an evaluation on NEP is carried out. Chapter3explains the effect and influence on the evolution of Malay groups; Chapter4gives a brief description of my reflection on the development of Malaysia racial communities. Meanwhile, an analysis on the building-up of the Malaysia nation and some corresponding solutions attached to it.Racial groups’conflicts is a thorny issue faced by Malaysia and even the whole world, they will resort to violence and even war without hesitation in order to compete for resource and safeguard their own interests. Nowadays, how to seek cooperation opportunities and achieve a win-win situation among ethnic communities has become crucially important. This research on ethnic policy and the evolution of ethnic relations in Malaysia may shed light on the nations who are plagued by ethnic conflict problems.