Engaging divided society in the nation-building process : the case of government communication in Malaysia
16 Jul 2020-
TL;DR: Thematic analysis on all eleven national action plan (NAP) documents known as Malaysia Plan (1965-2016) was conducted to enable the pattern of similarities and differences in nation-building and government communication strategies to be identified over time as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This thesis explores how government engages with a divided society in the context of nation-building. The widely used yet loosely understood concept of ‘engagement’ in the context of government communication is the focus of this thesis. By using Malaysia as the case study, this research investigates how citizens are communicatively constructed in the context of Malaysia’s post-independence nation-building process. This study is significant because research on citizen engagement in Malaysia’s nation-building is limited and studies focusing on the concept of engagement in deeply divided societies are also scarce.Thematic analysis on all eleven national action plan (NAP) documents known as Malaysia Plan (1965-2016) was conducted to enable the pattern of similarities and differences in nation-building and government communication strategies to be identified over time. Semi-structured elite interviews with the elite actors in Malaysia’s federal government were conducted to understand the government’s articulation and operationalisation of engagement in the context of nation-building process.The key findings from the NAPs reveal that the nation-building in Malaysia takes in a form of national identity project. Adopting an elite instrumentalist approach, national unity becomes the focal communicative strategy in the construction of the national identity. The elite interviews on the other hand demonstrate that government actors tend to describe engagement using the notion of dialogic communication. While acknowledging the advancement in communication technologies, government actors emphasise that the face-to-face engagement initiatives with the citizens are of central importance in the nation-building process.This thesis contributes to the studies of government strategic communication in the context of a deeply divided society that has been characterised as "plural society" that is in a state of “stable tension” (Shamsul, 2009). It helps to develop a richer understanding and knowledge of Malaysia’s nation-building process and approach as a modern postcolonial nation.
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TL;DR: This paper found that women and men are characterised more by similarity than divergence in their general dispositions towards ideas of the nation, and pointed out the importance of remaining sensitive to the subtle and nuanced ways in which gender informs national imaginings at individual level.
Abstract: In recent years, feminist studies have substantially redressed the absence of women
from nationalism theory and analysis. This new work has highlighted the symbolic
marginalisation of women in dominant ideologies about national imagined communities,
and made salient the importance of women’s roles in nationalist projects. Yet
there remains little complementary knowledge of the degree of reflexivity, critique
or compliance that is taking place with respect to national ideas in contexts of banal
nationalism. To what extent are women distinguished from men in their attitudes to
established and emergent conceptions of the nation in widely circulating symbol
sets? Using data from a national sample survey of 2071 Australians, the research
investigates lines of difference between women and men, in aggregate and
within social subgroups, in orientation to contesting visions of the nation. Findings
show that, in the main, women and men are characterised more by similarity than
by divergence in their general dispositions towards ideas of the nation. However,
while the results draw attention to the absence of strong disparities between
women and men, they also point to the importance of remaining sensitive to the
more subtle and nuanced ways in which gender informs national imaginings at
the individual level.
13 citations
TL;DR: After signing a treaty of friendship in Djakarta on April 1, 1961, Communist China and Indonesia repeatedly called for "a Second AfroAsian Conference in the shortest time" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: After signing a treaty of friendship in Djakarta on April 1, 1961, Communist China and Indonesia repeatedly called for "a Second AfroAsian Conference in the shortest time." Special emissaries persistently visited the capitals of Asia and Africa and eventually succeeded in bringing the representatives of twenty-two nations to Djakarta in April 1964, for a Preparatory Meeting. There it was decided to hold a "Second Bandung" on March 10, 1965. The selection of the host government was left to the recently created Organization of African Unity. The provisional agenda agreed upon in Djakarta provided, among other topics, for discussions concerning "renunciation of the threat or use of force in international relations" and "strengthening the United Nations." The eagerness of Communist China and Indonesia to discuss such matters should have impressed Asian and African diplomats as quite ironical. As a result of the Sino-Soviet dispute, Asia and Africa had been deluged with a flood of polemical tracts expounding Chinese Communist views on the domestic and international functions of "revolutionary violence" and on the "inevitability of war." For their part, the Indonesians, by applying constant military and political pressure on Malaysia since September 1963, were practicing what the Chinese were preaching. As for the future of the United Nations, the promoters of the "Second Bandung" Conference had expressed their views candidly in a joint SinoIndonesian statement issued in Peking on January 28, 1965. Following President Sukarno's decision to withdraw from the United Nations, despite numerous Asian and African appeals to reconsider this nihilistic gesture, the joint statement proclaimed that "the United Nations cannot reflect the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist desire of the people of the world, nor can it organizationally reflect the reality in which the new emerging and revolutionary forces have far outstripped the decadent forces." Notice had thus been served that participants in an African-Asian conference might be confronted with an uncomfortable choice between the United Nations, in which the smaller countries play an important role, and an unpredictable new organization of "New Emerging Forces." As a token of his determination, President Sukarno had laid, on April 19, 1965, the cornerstone of a complex of buildings, to be erected in Djakarta
13 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the role qualitative social research might play in local government community engagement practice and how the views, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of a community might be gathered through qualitative social analysis.
Abstract: Local government departments charged with the responsibility of engaging with their communities require a codified evidence base for designing and delivering engagement initiatives. This is vital if the engagement initiative is to take effective account of the often multifarious and divergent needs that present within the community. This was the case for the Community Development and Facilities Branch of the Toowoomba Regional Council in Queensland, which in partnership with social researchers based in an Australian regional university set about developing a sequenced professional development programme that up‐skilled council staff in field‐based qualitative research approaches. This article addresses findings from this collaboration, as well as detailing more broadly the role qualitative social research might play in local government community engagement practice. Core concerns are how the views, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of a community might be gathered through qualitative social research and t...
13 citations
01 Sep 2020
TL;DR: In this article, the importance of history and history subject as a tool for strengthening the nation-building process and attaining the objectives of the national education policy is examined, and the authors argue that such an enduring problem is attributable to at least three major factors, namely a narrow syllabus band, a flawed teaching and learning method, as well as an over-emphasis on examination.
Abstract: This article aims to examine the importance of history and history subject as a tool for strengthening the nation-building process and attaining the objectives of the national education policy. After 52 years of independence, the question of nation-building still continues unabeted. Certain groups and individuals continue to question many issues that were deemed sensitive in this multi-ethnic society, including the special rights, the Malay supremacy, as well as the roles and contributions of particular ethnic groups to the country. At the same time, there are also disputes over the history syllabus in schools. All these problems occurred as a result of the country’s failure in cultivating nationalism and patriotism among the people. The question is: why has this continued to happen? The education sector as an agent of change has seemed to be incapable of promoting nation-building. This article argues that such an enduring problem is attributable to at least three major factors, namely a narrow syllabus band, a flawed teaching and learning method, as well as an over-emphasis on examination.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an understanding of the current discussions regarding religious nationalism in a global framework in order to solicit two themes in the case of Hindu Nationalism and revivalism: the conflict of interest that arises between globalization as a "means" and as an "end" and the implications of network societies and the politics of marginalization.
Abstract: This article attempts to present an understanding of the current discussions regarding religious nationalism in a global framework in order to solicit two themes in the case of Hindu Nationalism and revivalism. One, the conflict of interest that arises between globalization as a “means” and as an “end”; two, the implications of network societies and the politics of marginalization. Globalization is looked at from two ends of a spectrum—as an end product versus as a process in itself. This distinction between theorizing globalization as an end or as a means to an end has been made by scholars such as Robertson and White (2007). However, its implications for religious nationalism have not been explored exhaustively. Furthermore, the analysis of Hindu nationalism and revivalism as a peripheral dynamic in the Western nations needs to be problematized in this regard.
12 citations