Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Australia (Essay Sample)

Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Australia
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Abstract
Multiculturalism is the presence of more than one culture and cultural practices practiced by different people of diverse cultures. It can be viewed from both normative and descriptive point of view. This paper aims at describing the multicultural policies that countries use to control cultural diversities that result from large-scale migration. All these are then linked to their effect on national cohesion in a country. Our case study in this paper will focus on the case study of two countries, which are Australia and Malaysia. The research method is from secondary sources.
Introduction
Ethnic diversity, which is a synonym of Multiculturalism, viewed as a descriptive term in a nonprofessional’s language, can be used to mean cultural diversification (Saravanamuttu 2010). This is usually applied in an organizational structure or level. For example a school, business environment like a company, cities and a nation. This paper looks at especially Australia and Malaysia and how multiculturalism is manifested in the two countries (Mitchell 1996).
The normative view of cultural diversification is what brings in the policies to applied by the two countries, Australia and Malaysia to promote and encourage multiculturalism in a society. The ideologies are not the same in every country. Each country has its own policies that it uses to foster and regulate multiculturalism and its effects to national cohesion. These are usually influenced by the cultural practices in the country in question.
One of the causes of multiculturalism that this paper widely focuses on in the two countries is large-scale migration that is usually experienced by most countries (Saravanamuttu 2010). This is one of the major causes that promote diversity of cultures in a country or a region.
Findings
In this section of the paper, the two countries will be discussed independently then a comparison made of the two countries. Malaysia and Australia will be discussed. Malaysia will be the first one to be discussed.
Malaysia is a country that is occupied by different ethnic groups. Data collected shows that Malays who are the citizens in the land comprise the majority of the population in the area. They occupy the lion’s share in percentage where 52 percent is granted to them while the remaining 48 percent is shared among many other ethnic groups in the region. 24.6 percent are Malaysians of Chinese descent. Seven percent goes to the Malaysians of Indian descent. The remaining percentage is shared by the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajau" \o "Bajau"Bajau, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidayuh" \o "Bidayuh"Bidayuh, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusun" \o "Dusun"Dusun, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iban_people" \o "Iban people"Iban, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadazan" \o "Kadazan"Kadazan, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanau" \o "Melanau"Melanau, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Ulu" \o "Orang Ulu"Orang Ulu, HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarawakian_Malay" \o "Sarawakian Malay"Sarawakian Malays (Asma 2003). The non-original occupants in Malaysia are the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chettiar" \o "Chettiar"Chettiars, the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan" \o "Peranakan"Peranakan, and the Portuguese (Asma 2003).
One of the methodologies that have been applied to complement multiculturalism in Malaysia is politics. Politics tends to cultivate executing of the relationship between the diverse ethnic groups in the country (Mcgahan 2008). In Malaysia’s case, the relationship between the three major tribes in the country is Malays, Chinese, and Indians that have been regulated and settled in the country (Saw 2007) The data collected timing was after independence period. The effects of settling the Chinese and the Indians alongside the Malays who are the inhabitants of the soil have granted the two other settlers in Malaysia full citizenship. The policies that are being used to foster multiculturalism in Malaysia did not set aside the Malays (Saw 2007).
A close look at Australia reveals that Australian multicultural policy started in Sydney on 16 February 2011 (Summo-o'connell 2007). It is one of the policies that shows how the government is committed and has accepted the multiculturalism state of Australia. The policy acknowledges that it is the cultural heritage, tradition, and the language that makes Australia identify itself among other nations (Boughton 1999).
Research shows that Immigration in Australia was viewed differently by the Australian federation in the 20th century excluded the non-European immigration, which was completely different form Malaysia. Other secondary sources show that the white Australian policy as it was called at that period of the World War II was slowly and progressively thrown out the window (Summo-o'connell 2007; Burnley 1997).
The Malays who were the indigenous according to the data collected from the research revealed that they were given special positions that came with came hand in hand with political and economic privileges under the watch of non- Malays speakers. For the people of Australia, this was not the case. Data collected showed that the government plays a big role in ensuring that the services they provide to the cultural diverse people of Australia matches up with the needs of their cultural diversity. It is a framework, not legal, but something that Australia has grown with in embracing fairness and provision of equitable services to all the settlers in the land of Australia from all backgrounds. This adheres to the law that does not allow discrimination in Australia. This move is what puts Australia on the map when it comes to world globalization.
This dismantling of the white policy had some effects to the way that the Australian people examined and treated each other. Form the mid-1960 until 1973, after the white Australian policy was removed, other policies that came up during this time showed that, in a way, the Australian people and their administration had started to embrace assimilation as their way to foster peaceful coexistence and promote national cohesion (Leuner 2008). This was not the case in Malaysia; they can be termed as the “selfish” people in this paper. The administration of Australia recognized the multiple cultures who most of them were immigrants in Australia and their first language was not English experienced a lot of hardship, and they needed someone to come in and help them directly.
Industrialization of the western countries according to studies is one of the main reasons of large-scale migration that in turn gives rise to multiculturalism in the nations. The same approach can be used to explain the diversity of culture in Malaysia and Australia. Research also shows that the postcolonial Malaysia was not into recognizing the different cultures that existed before and after the colonization of Malaysia. The Malays speakers did not value the different cultures in the society that they lived in Malaysia. For Australia, the second principle, in the policies for multiculturalism, is that immigration especially large-scale immigration comes along with effects in the economy wing of the country in the study. For Australia, the government shows its hospitality to trade, economic and investment benefits that arise from a successful multicultural nation.
Data collected showed that the Malaysian people adopted so many things form the colonial British rule (Asma Abdullah 2003). As the modern Malaysia came into place soon after colonization, some of the things that they inherited from the colonization as far as multiculturalism and diversification of ethnicity is concerned.
Their main aim was to create a workable nation with a high number of “outsider” tribes that were not indigenous in Malaysia. A policy that they used was to build a national political order upon it. The presence of different tribes in Malaysia, the likes of Indians and Chinese in the land was not seen as a problem to the Malaysian government (Asma Abdullah 2003). However, they used this to their advantage as it did not create any tension in the country and be a threat to national cohesion in the nation. In addition, it was preordained foundational bedrock of a new and independent nation-state. A nation that respected the fact that there were more than one ethnic group that settled in Malaysia over the large scale migration that took place before Malaysia became an independent state (Landis 2012).
On the other hand, from the last principle in the Australian policies is that the government of Australia brandishes itself the image of a just and fair organization, which is true in any case. It ensures that its service provision is for all the Australian citizens. Irrespective of the mode, one acquired his/her citizenship. Equal opportunities are also provided to all the residents of Australia that are respective to their needs. The society that this last principle tries to portray is one that is just, inclusive and socially cohesive (Hefner 2001; Reitz 2009).
A policy used by the Malaysian people to make sure that national cohesion was something that were to be achieved and make Malaysia a peaceful nation was segregation of cultures and tribes in a plural society (Saw 2007). This meant that the two or more elements that live side by side without intermingling and respecting each other together and no sharing of identity at one given point while for Australians, by 1973, the word multiculturalism was not new to the migrants in Australia. Already the non-original Australian settlers had already started forming groups. These groups were to ensure that their cultural heritage and...