On the National Consciousness of the Malays

Abstract

 For the Malay people in Malaysia, the institution of the sultanate embodies their extremely strong sentiments of racial unity and sense of being Malay. These sentiments are a particularly strong factor in the difficult struggle toward the effecting of a single Malaysian nation.
 Historically, in the very early days, the racial or ethnic cohesiveness which these feelings brought about was useful as a defense against the attacks of alien powers, especially from the north and south. At the present time, it is being used as a defense against the Chinese element in Malaysia who because of their comparative economic prosperity are considered to be a threat by the native Malays.
 After World War II, under the initiative of the British, a start was made toward unification in the form of the Malayan Union, but it was doomed to failure due, in a large part, to the unwillingness of the Malays to give up their institution of the sultanate, and of the sultans to give up their privileged positions under the old system. The Union was therefore dissolved within less than two years.
 Although it seems greatly desirable to achieve a unity among the many races of Malaysia and thus to create a single unified nation, territorially as well as culturally, the prospects for this are not very hopeful in view of the strongly localized racial consciousness of the Malays which works against such unification.