This is a concept paper deliberately intended to generate discussion with a view to arrive at some consensus aimed at working towards more realistic policies and programmes for national unity. It will be presented in three parts as follows:

The present state of the art,

The apparatus for policy and decision-making and

The conceptualisation and implementation of programmes at the national level.

1) The present state of the art

If there is one thing that is generally accepted about national unity in Malaysia it is that it is fraught with confusion. To some extent this is unavoidable for the fundamental reason that, the status in terms of identity and sense of belonging among the people is itself divided, and therefore not particularly conducive to national unity. This is because we have a situation where the political status of the entire population is divided on the basis of Malay/bumiputera and non-Malay/non-bumiputera.

I believe it is true to say that in no other country in the world does one large segment of the people define its status with the negative connotation of being 'non'. This is of course a very complex situation that I happen to be looking at in a book I am writing, but suffice it to say that this scenario has evolved primarily because of our past colonial history. A serious attempt was made in the 'People's Constitutional Proposals' ( 1947) by both Malay and non- Malay groups to recognise and accept a proposed status of 'Melayu' as applicable to both groups that would have placed the respective groups on equal status, but this was dismissed by the colonial government along with the entire proposals put forward at that time. It is therefore strongly urged that this question be taken up again because until and unless people have a sense of genuine belonging through having a stake in the society they live in, we will continue to be plagued by attempts to 'forge national unity'.

But this having been said however, for reasons that I need hardly mention, it is generally accepted that Malaysians have a sense of being part of the wider community because of common social institutions, and indeed a sense of participation and sharing in what may be broadly termed as a Malaysian/Asian 'culture'. It is to this dimension that policies and programmes of national unity should be geared if for no other reason than it gives us a beginning towards the longer term objective of constructing a common nationality for all groups. In other words it should be a bottom-top strategy to attain national unity.

Diverse voices

It is in this connection that the notion of 'diverse voices' has relevance. We have in this country people belonging to a wide range of ethnic and sub-ethnic groups among the different racial groups so that the situation which presents itself is essentially one of diversity of living cultures. To this must also be added the diversity of economic activities some of which are intertwined with the ethnicity and race of specific groups concerned.

What is important is that in the context of national unity in Malaysia these diverse voices that are waiting to be heard. It needs to be clarified that they must be heard within the diversity in which they present themselves and the question of forging unity by attempting to merge groups together is not a matter to be considered at all. That is to say, we seek unity through diversity: integration rather than assimilation. But the question is why these voices are still waiting to be heard? The answer is because no one is listening to their voices of despair in finding themselves politically alienated, economically excluded, and socially divided, labeled and treated as belonging to different racial groups.

Therefore the voices demand political empowerment, capacity and capability building to enable them to work and seek opportunities within a level playing field. In this way they would feel they have a stake in society, and through improved socio-economic conditions seek as better quality of life for themselves and for their families and to move on. To the extent that this improved situation applies equally to the different voices and they see themselves together in a 'win-win' situation, irrespective of ethnic/race affiliation; to this extent will the ethnic and racial differences between them cease to be the cutting off point for relationships based on economic inequalities and perceptions of discrimination among and between the groups involved.

To achieve the position of functioning in a level playing field people will need new skills. It has been well recognised through established socio-economic research not only here, but in many parts of the world as well, that one, if not the most important variable contributing towards political instability and racial conflict, particularly in multiracial countries, is that of poverty and inequality of opportunity in the society. In calling for new skills therefore the voices are demanding access to acquiring skills that would enable them to jointly develop capacity and capability to seek new opportunities for self betterment. The level of skills currently possessed by the lower levels of the workforce is almost negligible. Everywhere among rural workers and especially rubber tappers the level is dismal to say the least. As a result they find themselves literally trapped in low income dead end jobs with absolutely no prospects of career advancement.

The same situation also applies to urban workers, many of whom were themselves rural migrants, in a situation where they escaped from rural poverty only to find themselves in urban poverty.

It may be surprising to note that the skills sought at this level are very basic indeed. We seem to think that these people only seek vocational training of a technical nature but in fact many want to acquire skills where they can be self-employed. Skills such as elementary computing of course are mentioned but interestingly, book keeping, audit, and how to manage a small scale business is more often in greater demand. What appears to be needed most therefore is training in basic flexible skills that enable them to move up the skills based ladder from the bottom.

There are of course demands for skills to meet the demands of industry particularly for employment in the multinational corporations under globalisation. Here attention needs to be given to family based businesses that have traditionally been somewhat 'conservative' in their business practices. These industries continue to provide employment for Chinese educated youth, who find difficulty in seeking government jobs and it is important that avenues for business expansion should be further developed by focusing on local industries rather than depending on multinationals. The SMI's have gone a long way to meet such expectations but it is submitted that there is yet to be a comprehensive study identifying their real problems that are a constraint to their expansion.

The government under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is well poised to move into new avenues for industrial expansion in rubber and oil palm and especially in bio-technology. These developments will certainly create new challenging futures for which all Malaysians should have the training facilities so as to have the capacity and the capability to take advantage of these challenging futures.

It will be seen therefore that from this perspective the 'state of the art' as presently understood by the Department of National Unity does not seem to be relevant. With respect, it is not suggested that the department should itself undergo a paradigm shift and provide skills based training as a means of enhancing national unity. Rather what is being envisaged is that the department needs to consider how it could provide supportive services, indeed even if this means working with other departments and ministries, to enhance the potential of people in working towards national unity. The community centres being set up by Government in urban areas as well as the Jawatan Kuasa Kemajuan Kampong in rural areas could be areas where these new skills could be introduced.

Where does it fit?

2) The apparatus for policy and decision making

The question here centres on where and how policies regarding national unity are conceived so as to ascertain the extent to which, what has been discussed under (1) are reflected. It seems that the government itself does not have a clear perspective as to where national unity 'fits' within the overall bureaucracy. As a result the portfolio that was originally a department within the Prime Ministers Department was re-designated as a full fledged ministry only to be 'downgraded' again to a department after the last general elections.

In a sense this 'shifting' is understandable, because conceptually speaking national unity falls within what has been called 'area studies' in the universities. This means in effect that the national unity dimension should be treated more as an input or a conduit to the functions of other related Ministries or departments rather than provide services as an entity by itself. Indeed, this seems a relevant perspective considering that almost every policy enunciated by the government has to take into account the racial element and therefore this may as well be institutionalised at the policy formulation level before implementation. In other words, government policies particularly cabinet proposals in the context of development should be 'vetted' to ascertain conformity within the objectives of national unity.

Of course by having a department throughout the country including East Malaysia, national unity has the tremendous advantage of being able to identify needs and work through project proposals to meet these needs particularly in the context of social change and globalization. Moreover, with departments extending to district level, the national unity department could serve as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister at grassroots level and be the catalysts of social change especially in community development projects.

But for this to be possible at all, there is the need for a comprehensive on-going research programme geared towards theoretical orientation and problem solving. Unfortunately, this is something the national unity department has failed to establish and neither has there been any serious attempt made to train officers in social research methodology.

As a result it is fair to say that the department has not been able offer any new programmes but to try to improve the Rukun Tetangga and Tadika programmes. But, with respect, these services tend to overlap with projects undertaken by certain other Ministries as well so that it is not uncommon to find the people confused about what national unity really means.

'Potential' Kg Medans

3) The conceptualistion of policies and implementation of programmes at the national Level

At this level the minister should be supported by professionals and experts, who have the requisite qualifications and relevant practical experiences, both at macro and micro dimensions of race relations in the context of national unity. Regrettably, it seems that the National Unity Advisory Board has as yet been unable to give the minister the needed advice and guidance particularly in the area of theoretically guided research for problem solving.

Because the board itself is not able to guide or supervise research this has resulted in having to 'farm out' research to the local universities. Unfortunately this has resulted in some serious misgivings. Two rather 'extensive' projects, one involving awareness or the cognition of race and the other to assess the level of tolerance towards race both ended in utter failure because the universities themselves did not have the necessary expertise in methodology.

Apart from the wastage of immense research funds this 'disaster' clearly reflects the dangers of undertaking research without clear objectives and methodology on the part of both the Board and the bureaucracy in the department.

Indeed there have been some recent attempts to commit funds for research to develop a so-called 'index' of race relations whereby areas prone to racial tensions and potential conflict can be identified early before any 'trouble' starts. This is regrettably a very questionable exercise and by the standards of serious social science research cannot be seriously commented upon. Moreover the inherent dangers of identifying 'problem' areas that might result in possible closer police surveillance cannot be underestimated.

Finally, it is with regret that I have to record the inaction of the department in a serious matter that was in fact brought to the attention of Parliament by the former minister of national unity. Dr Siti Zahara stated on March 25, 2002 that the ministry had identified 143 'potential' Kampong Medans, (where there were racial incidents), whose problems urgently needed to be identified and looked into.

It is a matter of deep concern that the then ministry and now the department has done nothing in this direction and my humble efforts to undertake a pilot project with the support of an established socio-economic research consultancy has yet to receive the approval of the Department of National Unity.

Dr Collin Abraham (D. Phil, Oxford)

Pro tem President, Malaysian Association of Social Impact Assessors.

Nov 25, 2005.