Topic > Socio-political and political marginalization…

To examine how the socio-economic status of Malays corresponds to their political marginalization, we must first establish that they are indeed politically marginalized. Political marginalization can be understood as low political interest and low political trust, “indicating a feeling of distance from the political sphere of society” (Oskarson, 2010, p.7), and is intrinsically linked to the theoretical concept of political efficacy, i.e. an individual's feeling about his or her potential influence on politics, as well as his or her faith and trust in government. (Southwell, 1985, Craig, 1990). There are different opinions on the political marginalization of Malays among politicians and historians. 2.1.1 Politicians The most representative sources presenting the official view of the marginalization of Malays came from the ruling elite. Indeed, the controversial issue of Malay marginality has been widely debated over the years. In the 1970s, the Majlis Pusat, or Central Council of Malay Cultural Organisations, organized a national seminar on “Malay Participation in National Development”, which they considered a “national problem” (Sharom & Wong, 1971, p.1), indicating that the Malays had a lack of interest in national and political matters. We see that the government needed to treat the Malays differently to address this problem, and “constantly reiterated its recognition of the 'special position' of the Malays and its commitment to overcome this imbalance” (Suratman, 2004, p.3) , and this confirms that the Malays were indeed marginal in society. However, the government's perception of the issue of Malay marginality changed dramatically at the turn of the century. Referring to allegations of marginalization of Malays......middle of paper......n Malays in relation to government policies. These include Rahim's (1999) book, which highlights the failure of meritocracy in Singapore due to the government's application of the cultural deficit thesis, which “absolves the state from the responsibilities of implementing structural reforms and actively assisting marginalized community with the aim of narrowing socio-economic and educational disparity between ethnic communities” (p.247). Once again, we see that government policies, which may have been intended to improve the marginalized status of Malays, have worsened their socio-economic marginality. However, these sources have only detailed the socio-economic marginality of Malays without showing how it affects their political marginalization. I will talk about it more in depth in the discussion chapter.