Malaysia: Malaysia Art / Culture Profile

Identification.

Within Malaysian society there is a Malay culture, a Chinese culture, an Indian culture, a Eurasian culture, along with the cultures of the indigenous groups of the peninsula and north Borneo. A unified Malaysian culture is something only emerging in the country. The significant social distinction in the emergent national culture is between Malay and non-Malay, represented by two groups: the Malay elite that dominates the country's politics, and the largely Chinese middle class whose prosperous lifestyle leads Malaysia's shift to a consumer society. The two groups mostly live in the urban areas of the Malay Peninsula's west coast, and their sometimes competing, sometimes parallel influences shape the shared life of Malaysia's citizens. Sarawak and Sabah, the two Malaysian states located in north Borneo, tend to be less a influential part of the national culture, and their vibrant local cultures are shrouded by the bigger, wealthier peninsular society.

Location and Geography.

Malaysia is physically split between west and east, parts united into one country in 1963. Western Malaysia is on the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, and stretches from the Thai border to the island of Singapore. Eastern Malaysia includes the territories of Sabah and Sarawak on the north end of Borneo, separated by the country of Brunei. Peninsular Malaysia is divided into west and east by a central mountain range called the Banjaran Titiwangsa. Most large cities, heavy industry, and immigrant groups are concentrated on the west coast; the east coast is less populated, additional agrarian, and demographically additional Malay. The federal capital is in the old tinmining center of Kuala Lumpur, located among the western immigrant belt, but its move to the new Kuala Lumpur suburb of Putra Jaya will any minute at this time be complete.

Demography. Malaysia's people comprises twenty-three million people, and throughout its history the territory has been sparsely populated relative to its land area. The government aims for increasing the national people to seventy million by the year 2100. Eighty % of the people lives on the peninsula. The majority significant Malaysian demographic statistics are of ethnicity: 60 % are classified as Malay, 25 % as of Chinese descent, 10 % of Indian descent, and 5 % as others. These people figures have an significant place in peninsular history, because Malaysia as a country was created with demography in mind. Malay leaders in the 1930s and 1940s organized their community around the issue of curbing immigration. Next independence, Malaysia was created at the same time as the Borneo territories with their substantial indigenous populations were added to Malaya as a means of exceeding the great number of Chinese and Indians in the country.

Linguistic Affiliation

Malay became Malaysia's sole national language in 1967 and has been institutionalized with a modest degree of success. The Austronesian language has an illustrious history as a lingua franca throughout the region, though English is as well widely spoken because it was the administrative language of the British colonizers. Along with Malay and English other languages are popular: a lot of Chinese Malaysians speak some combination of Cantonese, Hokkien, and/or Mandarin; most Indian Malaysians speak Tamil; and numerous languages flourish part aboriginal groups in the peninsula, particularly in Sarawak and Sabah. The Malaysian government acknowledges this multilingualism through such things as television news broadcasts in Malay, English, Mandarin, and Tamil. Given their country's linguistic heterogeneity, Malaysians are adept at learning languages, and knowing multiple languages is commonplace. Rapid industrialization has sustained the importance of English and solidified it as the language of business.

Symbolism

The selection of official cultural symbols is a source of tension. In such a diverse society, any national emblem risks privileging one group over an extra. For example, the king is the symbol of the national, inclunding a sign of Malay political hegemony. Since ethnic diversity rules out the use of kin or blood metaphors to stand for Malaysia, the society often emphasizes natural symbols, inclunding the sea turtle, the hibiscus flower, and the orangutan. The country's economic products and infrastructure as well provide national logos for Malaysia; the national car (Proton), Malaysia Airlines, and the Petronas Towers (the world's tallest buildings) have all come to symbolize modern Malaysia. The government slogan "Malaysia Boleh!" (Malaysia Can!) is meant to encourage even better accomplishments. A additional humble, informal symbol for society is a salad called rojak, a favorite Malaysian snack, whose eclectic mix of ingredients evokes the people's diversity.

History and Ethnic Relations

Emergence of the Country. The name Malaysia comes from an old term for all Malay archipelago. A geographically truncated Malaysia emerged out of the territories colonized by Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Britain's representatives gained varying degrees of control through agreements with the Malay rulers of the peninsular states, often made by deceit or force. Britain was attracted to the Malay peninsula by its vast reserves of tin, and later found that the rich soil was as well highly productive for growing rubber trees. Immigrants from south China and south India came to British Malaya as labor, while the Malay people worked in small holdings and rice cultivation. What was to become East Malaysia had different colonial administrations: Sarawak was governed by a British family, the Brookes (styled as the "White Rajas"), and Sabah was run by the British North Borneo Company. Together the cosmopolitan hub of British interests was Singapore, the central port and center of publishing, commerce, education, and government.

The climactic event in forming Malaysia was the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia from 1942-1945. Japanese policy helped to invigorate a growing anti-colonial movement, which flourished following the British return next the war. At the same time as the British attempted to organize their government of Malaya into one unit to be called the Malayan Union, strong Malay protests to what seemed to usurp their historical claim to the territory forced the British to modify the plan. The other crucial event was the largely Chinese communist rebellion in 1948 that remained strong to the mid-1950s. To address Malay criticisms and to promote counter-insurgency, the British undertook a vast range of country-building efforts. Local conservatives and radicals alike developed their own attempts to foster unity part the disparate Malayan people. These grew into the Federation of Malaya, which gained independence in 1957. In 1963, with the addition of Singapore and the north Borneo territories, this federation became Malaysia. Difficulties of integrating the predominately Chinese people of Singapore into Malaysia remained, and under Malaysian directive Singapore became an independent republic in 1965.

National Identity

Throughout Malaysia's brief history, the shape of its national identity has been a crucial question: should the national culture be essentially Malay, a hybrid, or separate ethnic entities? The question reflects the tension between the indigenous claims of the Malay people and the cultural and citizenship rights of the immigrant groups. A tentative solution came at the same time as the Malay, Chinese, and Indian elites who negotiated independence struck what has been called "the bargain." Their informal transaction exchanged Malay political dominance for immigrant citizenship and unfettered economic pursuit. Some provisions of independence were additional formal, and the constitution granted several Malay "appropriate rights" concerning land, language, the place of the Malay Rulers, and Islam, based on their indigenous status. Inclunding the Borneo territories and Singapore in Malaysia revealed the fragility of "the bargain."

A lot of Malays remained poor; some Chinese politicians wanted better political power. These fractures in Malaysian society prompted Singapore's expulsion and produced the watershed of contemporary Malaysian life, the May 1969 urban unrest in Kuala Lumpur. Violence left hundreds dead; parliament was suspended for two years. As a result of this experience the government placed tight curbs on political debate of national cultural issues and began a comprehensive program of affirmative action for the Malay people. This history hangs over all subsequent attempts to encourage official integration of Malaysian society. In the 1990s a government plan to blend the people into a single group called "Bangsa Malaysia" has generated excitement and criticism from different constituencies of the people. Continuing debates demonstrate that Malaysian national identity remains unsettled.

Ethnic Relations

Malaysia's ethnic diversity is both a blessing and a source of stress. The melange makes Malaysia one of the majority cosmopolitan places on earth, as it helps sustain international relationships with the a lot of societies represented in Malaysia: the Indonesian archipelago, the Islamic world, India, China, and Europe. Malaysians easily exchange ideas and techniques with the rest of the world, and have an influence in world affairs. The same diversity presents seemingly intractable problems of social cohesion, and the threat of ethnic violence adds considerable tension to Malaysian politics.

Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space

Urban and rural divisions are reinforced by ethnic diversity with agricultural areas populated primarily by indigenous Malays and immigrants mostly in cities. Chinese dominance of commerce means that most towns, particularly on the west coast of the peninsula, have a central road lined by Chinese shops. Other ethnic features influence geography: a substantial part of the Indian people was brought in to work on the rubber plantations, and a lot of are still on the rural estates; some Chinese, as a part of counter-insurgency, were rounded up into what were called "new villages." A key part of the 1970s affirmative action policy has been to increase the number of Malays living in the urban areas, particularly Kuala Lumpur.

Governmental use of Malay and Islamic architectural aesthetics in new buildings as well adds to the Malay urban presence. Given the tensions of ethnicity, the social use of space carries strong political dimensions. Public gatherings of five or additional people require a police permit, and a ban on political rallies successfully limits the appearance of crowds in Malaysia. It is therefore understandable that Malaysians mark a sharp difference between space inside the home and outside the home, with domestic space carefully managed to receive outsiders: even a lot of modest dwellings have a set of chairs for guests in a front room of the home.

Social Stratification

Classes and Castes. Class position in Malaysia depends on a combination of political connections, specialized skills, ability in English, and family money. The Malaysian elite, trained in overseas universities, is highly cosmopolitan and continues to grow in dominance as Malaysia's middle class expands. Even with the substantial stratification of society by ethnicity, similar class experiences in business and lifestyle are bridging old barriers.

Symbols of Social Stratification

In Malaysia's market economy, consumption provides the primary symbols of stratification. Newly wealthy Malaysians learn how to consume by following the lead of the Malay royalty and the prosperous business families of Chinese descent. A mobile phone, gold jewelry, and fashionable clothing all indicate one's high rank in the Malaysian social order. Given the striking mobility of Malaysian society, one's vehicle marks class position even additional than home ownership. Most Malaysians can distinguish the difference between makes of cars, and access to at least a motor scooter is a requirement for participation in contemporary Malaysian social life. Kuala Lumpur has additional motor vehicles than people. Skin color, often indicative of less or additional time working in the hot tropical sun, further marks class position. Distinct class differences as well appear in speech. Knowledge of English is vital to elevated class status, and a person's fluency in that language indexes their social background.

Songket

Songket or silk brocade is a hand-woven traditional Malay fabric with gold and silver threads and worn mainly during official functions and ceremonies. Woven on a Malay frame loom, elaborate patterns are created by introducing additional gold or silver weft threads with the use of a flat needle.

The Shadow Play

Wayang kulit or shadow play is an old cultural entertainment using shadows cast by intricately carved puppets in relaying mythical parables of good versus evil. The shadow play has been popular in a lot of oriental and Middle Eastern nations for additional than a thousand years. In Malaysia, it is prominent in the national of Kelantan.

Batik

Batik printing has its roots in the East Coast where batik makers practice the age-old traditions of batik painting by hand. Batik is created by four methods, namely block- printing, drawn free style, silkscreened, or tie-dyed. Batik fabrics are usually cotton and silk. Batik can be found as cloths, cushion covers, tablecloths, place mats or simply as works of art. Batik sarongs are usually a novelty with tourists.

Top Spinning

Gasing or top spinning is a favourite traditional games in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia particularly Kelantan and Terengganu. To play gasing, you need strength, coordination, and skill. The gasing, if expertly hurled, can spin for as long as 2 hours.

Bunga Malai

Flowers form an integral part of the cultural heritage of Malaysian Indians for religious occasions, weddings, moving home, or welcoming an significant guest. Flowers, holy basil, and the leaves of the margosa or mango tree are strung together to form a malai or garland. They are done in different styles to suit each particular occasion.

Wau

Majestic bird of the air, the kite or wau is an icon famous throughout the country of Kelantan and Terengganu. This incomparable designed Malayan kite is called “Wau” because the shape of its wing is similar to an Arabic letter (pronounced “wow”).

Woodcarvings

Delicate curlicues, paisley designed, floral motifs and strong bright colours can be found on the prows of the local boats, the doors, walls and windows of traditional Malay houses. Woodcarvings require a high degree of skill, patience and determination. In the cities, woodcarvings are still practiced on blocks of wood to be hung for wall decoration, on wall dividers, or on furniture.

Keris

The keris, with its elaborately carved handle and wavy blade is a incomparable icon in Malay cultural history. The degree of elaborate designs dictated the status in old Malay hierarchy. It has evolved from a royal weapon of choice to a status symbol in Malay history.

The dragon dance was started by the Chinese who had shown great belief and respect towards the dragon. It is an significant item of the Chinese culture and tradition. It symbolises good luck and prosperity in the year approaching for all human beings on earth. Dragon dance is a teamwork comprising over 68 persons and each section of the dragon must have at least 4 persons to take charge. The successful movements of the dance depend highly on the co-operation of each performer in the team and strict discipline. The dragon dance is a grand performance which usually attracts lots of spectators.

Lion Dance

The lion dance is a vigorous form of dance that is usually performed during Chinese New Year. The origins of the lion dance are linked closely to the origins of the Chinese New Year celebrations. It is said that in ancient times, a mythological creature known as Nian terrorised China and devoured its people on New Year’s Eve. Thus, in an attempt to frighten the beast, the villagers decided to mimic the lion by using lions made of cloth. The lion dance calls for perfect co-ordination, elegance and nerves of steel. The dance has as well become a form of sports where dancers from all over the world compete to determine the best.

Sape

The majority typical of Sarawak musical instruments, the sape (pronounced “sa-peh”) is a traditional lute of the Orang Ulu community or “upriver people” of central Borneo. It is traditionally used by the Kenyahs, Kayans and Kelabit tribes. The sape was once played solely during healing ceremonies within the rumah panjang (longhouses), but gradually becomes a social instrument that is used as a form of entertainment.

Malaysia\" style=\"color:#0495FF; font-size:15px; font-weight:bold;\" target=\"_blank\"> Malaysian culture or Malaya culture is a mixture of Malay, Chinese, China and European.

1971 National Culture Policy

Culture of Malaysia. It defines 3 principles as guidelines for 'national culture':

1. The national culture must be based on the indigenous Malay culture.
2. Suitable elements from the other cultures may be accepted as part of the national culture.
3. Islam is an significant component in the molding of the national culture.

Orang Asli and indigenous peoples

The indigenous tribes are the oldest inhabitants of Malaysia of Sabah and Sarawak. In Sabah, the major official ethnic group is Kadazan, thought a lot of unofficially recognised subgroups exist. The same can be said of other ethnic groups, with as a lot of as a hundred racial groups forming the national's people. However because a lot of subgroups possess only minor differences, they are not always differentiated. In Sarawak, the dominant tribal groups are the Dayak, who typically live in longhouses if in the rural areas and are either Iban or Bidayuh

Malay

Malay are dfra's major ethnic group, accounting for over half the people and the national language. By definition of the Malaysian culture and intermarried with the Malaysia for a lot of centuries, as seen in the emergence of the peranakan culture, but the exodus peaked during the nineteenth century through trading and tin-mining. At the same time as they initial arrived, the Chinese often worked the majority grueling jobs like tin mining and railway construction. Later, some of them owned businesses that become large conglomerates in today's India, fleeing a poor economy or by an organised emigration administrated by the British authorities. Arriving in Indians form the third major ethnic group of Malaysia