Cont...Ethnic Groups ( Indian)

The Indian community in Malaysia is the smallest of the three main ethnic groups, accounting for about 10 percent of the country's population, and speaks a variety of South Asian languages.Tamils, Malayalees-speaking, and Telugu people make up over 85 percent of the people of Indian origin in the country. The Indians who came to Malaysia brought with them the Hindu and Sikh culture. This included its temples and Gurdwaras, cuisine, and clothing. Hindu tradition remains strong in the Indian community of Malaysia. A community of Indians who have adopted Malay cultural practices also exists in Malacca. Though they remain Hindu, the Chitties speak Bahasa Malaysia and dress and act as Malays.

Cont...Ethnic Groups ( Chinese)

The Chinese have been settling in Malaysia for many centuries, and form the second largest ethnic group.The first Chinese to settle in the Straits Settlements, primarily in and around Malacca, gradually adopted elements of Malaysian culture and intermarried with the Malaysian community and with this, a new ethnic group called emerged, the "Straits Chinese" (Peranakan). These Chinese have adopted Malay traditions while maintaining elements of Chinese culture such as religion. The more common dialects of Chinese spoken in Peninsular Malaysia are Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese, and Foochow.

Cont...Ethnic Groups ( Malays)

The Malays, who account for over half the Malaysian population,play a dominant role politically and are included in a grouping identified as bumiputra. Their native language, Bahasa Malaysia, is the national language of the country. By definition of the Malaysian constitution, all Malays are Muslims. The Orang Asla, the earliest inhabitants of Malaya, formed only 0.5 percent of the total population in Malaysia in 2000, but represented a majority in East Malaysia. In Sarawak, most of the non-Muslim indigenous groups are classified as Dayaks and they constitute about 40 percent of the population in the state. Many of these tribes have converted to Christianity. The 140,000 Orang Asli, or aboriginal peoples, comprise a number of different ethnic communities living in peninsular Malaysia.

Ethnic Groups

Malaysia is a multi–ethnic, multicultural and multilingual society, and the many ethnic groups in Malaysia maintain separate cultural identities. The society of Malaysia has been described as "Asia in miniature".The original culture of the area stemmed from indigenous tribes that lived there, along with the Malays who later moved there. Substantial influence exists from the Chinese and Indian cultures, dating back to when trade began in the area. Other cultures that heavily influenced that of Malaysia include Persian, Arabic, and British. The structure of the government along with the racial balanc e of power caused by the idea of a social contract has resulted in little incentive for the cultural assimilation of ethnic minorities in Malaya and Malaysia.The government has historically made little distinction between "Malay Culture" and "Malaysian Culture.

Heads from old headhunting practices in a Kadazan house in Sabah

Introduction

Malaysian consists of two distinct geographical regions, Peninsular Malaysian and East Malaysian. Malaysian was formed when the Feredation Of Malaya merged with North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore(seceded 1965) in 1963, and cultural differences between Peninsular and East Malaysia still remain. During the formation of Malaya, executive power was vested in the Perikatan (later Barisan Nasional) coalition of three racial-based political parties, namely, United Malays Nasional Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). UMNO has dominated the coalition from its inception until the present. Although Islam is the official state religion, the Constitution Malaysian guarantees freedom of religion.