Reactions to the Question of Race

The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race

The Priming Experiment: Reactions to the Question of Race

The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race

Content Issue & Literature Review...... 4

Objectives...... 6

Methodology...... 7

Findings...... 8

Conclusion...... 20

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Issue & Literature Review

From Edi Rejang to the whole uproar on ICERD, the topic of race has refused prejudice or fear, each race felt that something had to be compromised in to remain silent in Malaysia post- May 9th. Whilst Malaysians on the whole order to establish friendships with the other race. are excited about having a new government, highlighting the nation’s ability to foresee peaceful exchange of power, Malaysia’s political and social This was established even before the May 9th elections of course which spectrum still remains revolved around race and religion. Some may begin saw a highly racially charged rhetoric from both the ruling and opposition. arguing that the tensions are getting worse over these past few years. Racially charged politics has been prevalent in Malaysia since independence from Britain, 61 years ago. This recent election followed the lot as both BN Malaysia’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V, in his inaugural and PH used racial rhetorics to garner mostly Malay support. address to lawmakers during the new parliament session, urged “every citizen to preserve and strengthen” the “peace and unity” that Malaysia has had over A survey by Ananthi Al Ramiah and Miles Hewstone, scholars from Oxford’s the decades. This was the first royal speech after Malaysia’s transfer of power Blavatnik School of Government exposed how Malays living in rural areas and the fact that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong chose to spoke of calming were less likely to come into contact with non-Malays. From their schooling, growing racial tensions is indicative of the latter’s continued relevance and to their teenage years, all the way to higher education, rural Malays were danger to Malaysia’s development. most likely to not interact with other races, even despite living in the same neighbourhood. Fundamentally, the study noted that this was a result of Race, language and religion have all been closely intertwined with policy and opportunity rather than preference. Malaysians, as a result of public policy politics. Malays make up close to 60% of Malaysia’s 30 million population. and personal socialized choice, foresee education and work facilities that are The Non-Malay are the next big ethnic group followed by Indians. lacking in diversity.

In a study by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, a paper by Dr Lee Hwok- This survey also outlined that Malaysia was primarily divided around three Aun, the “Fault Lines and Common Ground in Malaysia’s Ethnic Relations borders, religion, education and bumiputera policies. and Policies” outlines how, despite general interethnic goodwill amongst most Malaysians, every race in Malaysia has indirectly chosen to stick in In education, the study highlights that almost half of all ethnic Non-Malay its own comfort zone when it comes to making friends and partnerships. respondents wanted to leave the country to complete their higher education. Basing its study on five public opinion surveys addressing Malaysian ethnic On religion, Muslims far favored their own beliefs over others. In a rank of 0 relations, Dr Lee Hwok-Aun found that Malays would rather stick amongst to 100, Muslims rated Islam 90 and other religions below 40. Buddhists and Malays, Chinese amongst Chinese and Indians amongst Indians. Whether by Hindus however rated their religion 70 and other religions 50.

4 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race

Religion and education prove to be Malaysia’s biggest barrier to national integration. For policy makers, this is where increased awareness and openness is important. It becomes the basis for Malays, Non-Malay and Indians to want to speak to each other, to learn and to be put off their comfort zone, and be okay with it.

Yet not all politicians are on the same page. Oftentimes, religious and racial differences are highlighted and emphasized by politicians to garner support. It becomes, as political analyst Oi Ei Sun suggests, a “political tool.”

On mainstream politics, the appeal to foreign (especially Non-Malay) intervention, foreign labor, and bumiputera rights have always been key garners of Malay support. The majority has somehow, in Malaysia, managed to feel like the suppressed minority. Lee concurs with his research, finding that Malays largely favoured bumiputera policies and its continuation because the Malays feel they are still at a disadvantage and in need of assistance.

On the whole, Lee found that ethnic Non-Malay Malaysians were very much opposed to race-based policies. Around 85% of Non-Malay respondents argued that they would support no special privileges. The question of vernacular schools however was not raised. Indians were also opposed to special privileges in larger numbers.

On the whole, the surveys and the studies highlight emerging differences amongst the ethnic groups in Malaysia. Malaysia it seems, is continuing to prove distant and hostile amongst its different race groups. But there is tolerance, an unwritten rule not to air out these tensions for all to see. Yet that being said, meaningful levels of dialogue, accommodation and diversity in areas of work, school and housing has still not been attained. Malaysia it seems, has still not tapped into its potential to learn from one another, to see its differences as avenues for growth and learning.

Political parties need to lead the way, easing their foot off of the Malay agenda, in hopes of just focusing on Malay majority constituencies. Education needs to be prioritized, to engage the minority-fear that rights would be taken away.

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Objectives

This priming experiment in no way intends to present its findings as reflective of the entire Malaysian psyche. On the offset, it is important that this study is understood as a study group where priming experiments were conducted. The results reflect the swing of the people we studied, despite their race and religion, it in no way should be interpreted as indicative of other possible respondents beyond this scope.

This priming experiment looks at whether Malaysians respond negatively or positively when confronted with Malaysia’s ethnocentrism and race-based politics.

Do Malaysians feel comfortable about these developments? Are they confident about raising their children in Malaysia with ethnocentrism on the high?

Fundamentally, this priming experiment is intended to further understand why politicians and individuals feel that race-based politics and continued ethnocentrism is continuing to be the rallying call for attention.

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supposed to be noticed by the respondents in passing, creating a priming Methodology effect for the questions they were to answer in the next room.

The other half of course were untouched. There was no Keris on the wall, As defined, Priming is a “nonconscious form of human memory concerned there were no newspapers with headlines about any right wing race protest, with perceptual identification of words and objects. It refers to activating and the curtains were removed. Supposedly, we wanted these respondents particular representations or associations in memory just before carrying out to go into their test without having any reminder of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism an action or task.” For example, someone who sees the word red would be and racial disunity. slightly faster to recognize UMNO. Someone who sees light blue would be slightly faster to recognize PKR. This happens because the idea of red and The respondents then sat down to answer specific questions such as: blue have been socialized to be associated in memory with these parties. • How confident are you about raising your kids in Malaysia? This study group comprised of 100 individuals. In a span of one week, • Would you allow your kids to work in a GLC? where the most number of respondents arrived on a Wednesday. The 100 • If all factors were the same, would you choose Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, individuals, to our knowledge, do not know each other and were not given or Singapore Airlines? specific times to arrive at our centre (only a range of 9-4pm). Whilst being • If all factors were the same, where would you send your kids to school? labelled as a study group, the 100 individuals had no interaction with one Public school, SJK, or International school? another. They each took the test alone with no help from one another. • You have excess funds to build a getaway house, where would you build it? Terengganu, KL or overseas? The respondents were a mixture of Malay, Non-Malay and Indians. 62 of the • If you had a fund, where would you donate? Local University, not donate, respondents were Malay. 30 of the respondents were Non-Malay. 8 of the overseas? respondents were Indian. Because the size of the Indian samples were very small, this study will be excluding the Indian respondents as an individual These questions were not intended to remind the respondents of Malaysia’s race identity. We will be combining the Non-Malay and Indian respondents ethnocentrism. The questions were presented in BM and BI. These questions under “non-Malay.” The respondents were presented as simply an indicator to see the trend in Malaysia’s consumer choice. Below we will dive into the results of this experiment. The key of this experiment is its priming. Half of the respondents were primed and the other half were not. The greatest limitation of this experiment is the size and number of its respondents. 100 subjects is nowhere near enough to represent the entire We did our best to prime the respondents by placing specific objects in Malaysian psyche. Moreover, we have no way of knowing whether the hopes of reminding them of Malaysia’s deep ethnocentric divide and race respondents answered the way they did because of our priming or because based rhetoric. Such objects include a framed Keris on the wall, newspapers they naturally had those answers in mind. As well, most of the respondents at the reception that highlight a “Himpunan Melayu Bangkit,” red curtains, a came from urban and suburban areas of Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, running tv that highlighted news on the ICERD protests, and even certain Pahang and Selangor. All of the respondents took and passed their SPM. politically right wing party posters lying on the tables. These signals however The majority of them went to higher education. The results presented below were never directly pointed out. There was no one in the room with the indicate how the study group responded and hypothesis to the patterns. respondents to point to the keris or the newspapers. Fundamentally, it was 7 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race Findings

Question: Are you confident to raise your kids here in Malaysia?

On the surface, this question seems straight forward. It’s about family planning, whether or not the individual is okay with raising his kids (or future kids as some of our respondents were still single) in Malaysia. For the Malay respondents, 49% said they were “Greatly” confident to raise their kids here in Malaysia. 38.8% said they would “allow” their kids to be raised in Malaysia. 6.1% were “hesitant” and another 6% “refused.”

The 12% who said they were hesitant or refused is normal as these respondents were undisturbed. They may have read something prior to the examination, or their personal experiences may have dictated them to answer that way. But the majority of the Malay respondents noted positive responses for whether they would want to raise their kids in Malaysia.

Below on Figure 1.2, we get to see how the Non-Malay respondents faired when asked the same question. 40% said they were “greatly” confident to raise kids in Malaysia. 33% said they would “Allow,” 20% “hesitant” and close to 7% “refused.” The 20% and 7% negative responses is again understandable. For these Non-Malay respondents, prior exposure to unwelcoming news developments or policies may be engrain their hesitation to raise kids in Malaysia. But Figure 1.3 and Figure 1.4 is where it gets more interesting.

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Below are the results of respondents who were primed to remember Malaysia’s race-based politics and policies, its oftentimes right wing extreme rhetoric and ethnocentric features.

The non-Malay respondents here were primed to remember Malaysia’s racially toned reality. The changes are tremendous. What used to be 42.9% of non-Malay respondents saying they were “greatly” confident to raise their For the Malay primed respondents, we can see that there is an effect. What kids in Malaysia, now fell to 15.1%. 21.5% said they would allow and a majority was previously 49% of Malay respondents saying they were “greatly” confident 47.3% non-Malay respondents now said they were “hesitant” to raise their kids to raise kids in Malaysia is now dropped to 29.1%. After priming, only 35.5% of in Malaysia whilst 16% said they would “refuse” for their kids to be raised here. the Malay respondents (from 38.8) would “allow” their kids to be raised in Malaysia. Staggeringly, Malay respondents who are “hesitant” to raise their Logically, more non-Malay respondents responded negatively when they kids in Malaysia jumped to 19.4% (from 6%), and respondents who “refuse” for were reminded of ethnocentric politics. their kids to be raised in Malaysia also jumped to 16% (from 6%). Overall, the negative responses (refuse + hesitant) jumped by around 23%. Meaning that If we focus on just the percentage of those who “refused” to raise their kids when Malay respondents were reminded of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism, and in Malaysia, for the Malays, the number rose around 10%. For the non-Malay, race based rhetoric, they were 23% more likely to not want their kids to be the number rose by 11%. Regardless of race, it seems clear that the Malaysian raised in Malaysia. Now we look at how the Non-Malay respondents reacted. respondents we examined all responded reasonable negatively to reminders of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism.

9 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race Question: The sign is quite positive. Undisturbed, the Malay respondents are 35.5% likely to “encourage” their children to work at a GLC, 48.5% would “allow,” whilst only 12.9% Would you allow and 3.1% responded negatively. We’ll skip the Non-Malay respondents first and jump to see the difference when Malay respondents were reminded of Malaysia’s political your kids to work at ethnocentrism and race-based politics. a government linked company (GLC)?

Here the implication is deeper than what respondents think the question is looking for. Government linked companies are what they indicate, government linked. Ideally, this is supposed to hold political and Putrajaya connotations. GLCs have very often been in the limelight for political intervention or top-down mismanagement. Of course, there are plenty more GLCs that are successful, professional with little to no government interference. However the underlying question here, hidden from the intuition of the respondent, is whether the respondent is okay with allowing one of their loved ones to be associated with whatever is happening in Putrajaya. Below are the results for the un-interfered Malay:

As we can see, the number of Malay respondents who note that they would “encourage” their kids to work at a GLC drops to 12.9%. There is roughly the same amount of respondents who said they would still “allow” whilst Malays who are hesitant to let their kids work at a GLC jumps to 25.8% (as compared to 12.9%) and those who refused also jumped to 13% (as compared to an initial 3%. Incredibly, despite the ethnocentric and race based rhetoric usually favoring the Malays, encouraging for more special treatment and advantages, the Malay respondents here responded negatively, not allowing their children to work at a company linked with the government. Let’s now look at what happens to the Non-Malay respondents.

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What was previously 32.2% of non-Malay respondents who would “encourage” their kids to work at a GLC now drops to 10.1%. From 52.3%, the number of non-Malay respondents who would “allow” their kids to work at a GLC drops to 26.5%. Now, 37% of non-Malay respondents are hesitant to let their kids work at a GLC. A devastating 26.5% recorded that they would “refuse” their kids to work at a GLC.

When comparing the Malay and the non-Malays, the Malays are 22.7% more likely to respond negatively to their kids working at a GLC when reminded of Malaysia’s ethnocentric politics. For the non-Malay, they are 46.7% more likely to respond negatively when reminded of ethnocentric policies. Regardless of the Malay and Non-Malay, both races respond heavily negatively when reminded of race-based politics and policies in Malaysia.

But there is also another perspective. When comparing the Malays and the Non- Malay, more Malays would be not encourage their kids to work at a GLC than Non- Malay. Whilst for the Non-Malay, the number of respondents who said they would encourage their kids dropped 13.3% whilst for the Malays, the number who would Here is the initial results. These non-Malay respondents were undisturbed, they encourage drops 22.6%. Amazingly, whilst there is still a bigger percentage of Non- answered this question with only the thoughts in their head before entering the Malay respondents who would be hesitant to let their kids work at a GLC when testing room. 32.2% said they would “encourage” their kids to work at a GLC. 52.3% reminded of ethnocentric politics, the Malays are the most affected as 22.6% would said they would allow their kids to work at the GLC. 10.6% were “hesitant” and 5% be less likely to encourage their kids to work at a GLC. “refused.” The ethnocentrism in Malaysia is almost always talk of keeping and maintaining Now this is what happens when we remind non-Malay respondents of the race- Malay affirmative action. Yet it is the Malays themselves who become discouraged based politics in Malaysia. by continued discussions of race in politics.

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Question: If all factors were the same (destination, quality of service and price), would you choose Malaysia As we see above, 35.5% of the Malay respondents would choose Malaysian Airlines. A majority 45.2% would select Air Asia whilst 19.3% would ride Singapore Airlines. Now here is the result when Malay respondents were primed with thoughts and Airlines, Air Asia, or reminders of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism. Singapore Airlines?

Here the question seems like it is intended to look at flight preferences, whether the respondent prefers Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, or Singapore Airlines. But between the lines, this question is intended to look at how nationalistic the respondent maintains to be with and without reminders of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism. Choosing Malaysia airlines would imply high levels of nationalism as well as compatibility with government direction as it is most known as the government controlled and national carrier. Choosing Air Asia would imply that the respondent is still quite nationalistic yet would prefer a more privately owned airline (not associated with the government). Choosing Singapore Airlines is a signal that the respondent simply is not interested in Malaysian carriers and that they may have prior experiences with Singapore Airlines that they would prefer (despite the question signaling that services and quality would be the same throughout the three airlines). Below is a look at how the Malay respondents fared:

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Fascinatingly, more Malays would drop Malaysia Airlines when they are reminded For the Non-Malay respondents, when they were primed to think about Malaysia’s of ethnocentric and race-based rhetoric in Malaysia. What was previously 35.5% ethnocentrism and race based politics, the choice for Malaysia Airlines drops to 26.3%. for Malaysia airlines now drops to 22.6%. Air Asia, when respondents are reminded For Air Asia, the number (just like with the Malay respondents), increases to 52.7%. of racial sentiments, sees an increase to 58.1%; likely due to the fact that Malay Clearly, respondents, although, having not being told the implications of choosing respondents are still nationalistic, yet are discouraged and so would rather choose a Malaysia Airlines or Air Asia, respond by choosing an airlines that is less connected national airline but less linked to the government. to the government when reminded of Malaysia’s right wing extremist rhetoric. Whilst it is still too early to conclude, the result does not look promising for companies Here are the results for the Non-Malay respondents: that are heavily influenced and linked to the government, when the government or politics in general lingers around race based rhetoric.

Below is what happens to the preferences when Non-Malay respondents are primed:

13 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race Question: If all factors were the same (quality of education, distance to home, price), where would you send your kids to school? Public school, SJK, or International school?

Here we look at school preferences of the respondents. Confidence and faith in Malaysia’s education system is the important factor here. Although the question identifies that there would be no difference in quality and logistics of the schools, a respondents choice would still give a signal to how they perceive our national education versus that of international syllabuses. If a respondent chooses to send their kids or a loved one to public school, then that would signal strong approval to where Malaysia aims to take its youths. Choosing an international school would imply In Figures 4.1 and 4.3 above we see the difference to how Malay subjects responded. that the respondent would rather not have their loved one associated to whatever 4.1 is the normal results, undisturbed. Figure 4.3 shows the results when the Malay direction Malaysia aims to bring its students. Here are the results. respondents were primed to recollect ethnocentrism and racial rhetoric in Malaysia. As is parallel to the results of the other questions, Malay respondents signaled negative responses when they were primed. More would go to international schools than send their loved ones to public schools where the curriculum would be set by the government. Less would be encouraged to send their kids to public schools when they were reminded of politicians talking race-based politics. 14 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race

Here is the results of the Non-Malay respondents:

Just as the Malay respondents, the response is quite negative for the Non-Malay. Undisturbed, 31.6% of Non-Malay respondents would send their kids to public schools. After they were primed, only 10.1% would send their kids to public schools, not confident in the type of syllabus that is handed out by leaders who echo ethnocentric rhetoric.

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Here are the results of Malay respondent undisturbed and primed to remember Question: Malaysia’s ethnocentrism: You have excess funds to build a getaway house, where would you build it? Terengganu coast, KL or overseas?

Here the question is a little more hypothetical. The assumption is that the respondent has excess liquidity to build a getaway house, implied as a home for summer or vacation or a second home. The selection is strategic. If the respondent chooses Terengganu, our assumption is that the respondent finds it ideal to live near the clear waters of Terengganu beaches. The location is not terribly far from work and home in KL yet it is still a good getaway. The other side of the coin however is that this state is still a conservative, PAS controlled state. KL represents the safer choice, it is familiar and local. Selecting to build a home overseas implies that the respondent may possibly not withhold a longing to want to retire and continue residing in Malaysia. A lot of things are held constant of course in this question, so the interpretation of its results we will simply leave for the reader.

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As below, the results for the Non-Malay respondents:

The numbers for Terengganu drops for both the Malay and Non-Malay respondents. More respondents would rather choose to build a home in KL when they are reminded of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism. Perhaps the rhetoric and racial politics is a reminder of PAS’s influence in the Eastern Peninsula state. But it cannot be defined conclusively. What is clear is that priming for reminders of ethnocentrism results in negative effects for the Malaysians subjects to want to invest beyond KL and inside Malaysia.

17 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race Question: If you had a fund, where would you donate? Local University, not donate, overseas? We can see here that for the Malay respondents, giving back to local universities is Our final question again looks at investment and investor choice. Yet below the a good idea. For respondents that were left undisturbed, 77.6% recorded their want surface, this question really looks at the respondent’s confidence in Malaysia’s higher of investing in a local university. The number drops to 71% for primed respondents. education system. If the respondent chooses to invest in a local university, then However it is important to note that respondents who were primed to remember that would imply the respondents confidence in where the national universities are Malaysia’s ethnocentrism politics recorded double the number who said they would heading; an approval of the type of environment these localities are providing for its rather invest overseas. Close to 3% more Malay respondents recorded not wanting Malaysian students. Here are some of the results: to invest in local universities when they were reminded of Malaysia’s race based politics. Now let us look at Non-Malay respondents. Yet it is important to note here that the shift and difference is not significant enough to mark an ultimate conclusion.

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Surprisingly, there were no Non-Malay respondents who listed down that they would rather invest in overseas universities. This is the biggest surprise for this question. Respondents noted that they would rather keep their investment or invest on local universities, not letting the money flow overseas. The Non-Malay respondents that were primed however recorded around 7% less likeliness to invest in local universities. Again, the shift is not big enough to identify a solid conclusion. 19 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race Conclusion

The topic of race has continued to breach headlines post May 9th. Whether from 6.1%) whilst 16.1% of the Malay subjects noted they would “refuse” (an it is about ICERD or alcoholic samples in supermarkets, the topic of race increase from 6.1%). relations in Malaysia is always around the corner. The Centre for Governance and Political Studies set out to find out just how much Malaysians are affected For the same question, we can see that the non-Malay respondents when all we talk about is race and the racial divide. How do Malaysians on (understandably) recorded similar reactions. When left alone, 42.9% of non- the whole respond when confronted with Malaysia’s ethnocentrism? How do Malay respondents noted they were “greatly” confident to raise their kids Malays and non-Malays respond differently when confronted with Malaysia’s in Malaysia. 36.7% said they would “allow,” 15.3% were “hesitant” and 5.1% racial rhetoric? “refused.” The numbers differed dramatically after the non-Malay respondents were primed to remember Malaysia’s racial divide. Only 15% reported they Half of our respondents were primed, meaning that when they arrived were “greatly” confident to raise their kids in Malaysia (a fall from 40%), 21.5% at the testing centre, specific objects, images and colors were aligned to said they would “allow” (a fall from 33%), whilst the number of non-Malay remind these respondents of Malaysia’s repeated debates on race. These respondents who said they were “hesitant” jumped to 47.3% (from 15.3%). The objects include a newspaper headline on the table of the waiting room that number who “refused” also jumped to 16% from 5.1%. reported on a majority Malay rally. The tv in the waiting room repeated an old story on Malaysia’s red shirts rally. Specific objects such as a Keris (one Both Malay and non-Malay respondents recorded negative reactions when that contemporarily invokes Malay strength) were left hanging on the wall reminded about Malaysia’s racial divide in terms of family planning. Both of the testing centre. Even the curtain was changed to red. The other half of became less confident about raising their kids in a Malaysia that prioritized respondents however were left untouched. The room was bare, the tv was racial barriers. Perhaps the best insight from this is that Malays, even though off and there was nothing in the testing centre to remind the respondent of reminded of their “special positions” indirectly becomes less enthusiastic to Malaysia’s strong ethnocentrism. want to raise a family in Malaysia. It seems that even as politicians speak of Malays’ special positions and privileges, it is the Malays themselves that With half of our respondents primed and the other half left alone, we wanted intrinsically respond negatively. to see how the results to our questions differed. When we asked the subject “How confident are you about raising your kids in Malaysia?” the difference Numerous other questions were asked on the respondents. These include: was astounding. When the respondents were left alone, 50% of the Malay would you allow your kids to work in a GLC?” Here we wanted to see how subjects noted they were “greatly” confident to raise their kids in Malaysia. respondents felt about associations with the government when reminded of 38% said they would “allow” their kids to be raised in Malaysia whilst 6% were Malaysia’s ethnocentrism. We also asked: : “If all factors were the same, would “hesitant” and 6% “refused.” The Malay subjects that were primed to remember you choose Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, or Singapore Airlines?” Here we wanted Malaysia’s race-based divide saw a dramatic fall in positive responses. Here, insights on consumer choice, whether or not ethnocentrism and reminders only 29.1% of the Malay respondents said they were “greatly” confident to of racial divide would affect services associated with the government. We raise their kids in Malaysia (a drop from 50%), 35.5% said they would “allow” (a also asked: “If all factors were the same, where would you send your kids to drop from 38%) and a whopping 19.4% said they were “hesitant” (an increase school? Public school, SJK, or International school?” 20 The Priming Experiment: Reaction to the Question of Race

In closing, we asked our respondents: “You have excess funds to build a getaway house, where would you build it? Terengganu, KL or overseas?” We also asked “If you had a fund, where would you donate? Local University, not donate, overseas?” The report explains the significance of each of these questions. Throughout the study however, it is clear that reminders of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism benefits no one. Malaysians in this study group were discouraged to have anything to do with Malaysia if and when they were reminded of the nation’s racial divide.

With 100 respondents, this study does intend to reflect the entire Malaysian psyche. Rather it is a representation of how these 100 respondents, as a study group, react to Malaysia’s ethnocentrism. It is an initial step to further understanding the social and psychological fabric of our nation.

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