A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore

Among plural societies, Malaysia and Singapore are two countries in Southeast Asia that face the challenges of ethnic diversity since their independence from British colonial rule. This paper offers a comparative study on Malaysia and Singapore in their governments’ attempts to foster national unity...

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Main Authors:	Hashim, Rosnani, Tan, Charlene
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	citiZED 2009
Subjects:	DS Asia
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/1/A_hyphenated_identity-_fostering_national_unity_through_education_in_Malaysia_and_Singapore.pdf

id	iium-1038
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-10382014-04-16T07:30:17Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/ A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore Hashim, Rosnani Tan, Charlene DS Asia Among plural societies, Malaysia and Singapore are two countries in Southeast Asia that face the challenges of ethnic diversity since their independence from British colonial rule. This paper offers a comparative study on Malaysia and Singapore in their governments’ attempts to foster national unity through education. While both the governments adopt cultural pluralism, they have different approaches in the management of ethnic groups. The Malaysian government chooses to promote ethnic Malay interests through affirmative action policies in education, while the Singapore government professes to treat all the ethnic groups equally and claims that social mobility is determined by meritocracy. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘ethnic-national hyphenated identity’ and discusses the curricular challenges common to Malaysia and Singapore. It argues that efforts are needed to encourage the students to possess a greater sense of ethnic understanding and appreciation, coupled with a greater emphasis on critical inquiry and deliberation of ethnic issues in the curriculum. citiZED 2009 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/1/A_hyphenated_identity-_fostering_national_unity_through_education_in_Malaysia_and_Singapore.pdf Hashim, Rosnani and Tan, Charlene (2009) A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 5 (1). pp. 46-59. http://www.citized.info/pdf/eJournal/5%20(1)%20FINAL%206.7.09.pdf
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	DS Asia
spellingShingle	DS Asia Hashim, Rosnani Tan, Charlene A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
description	Among plural societies, Malaysia and Singapore are two countries in Southeast Asia that face the challenges of ethnic diversity since their independence from British colonial rule. This paper offers a comparative study on Malaysia and Singapore in their governments’ attempts to foster national unity through education. While both the governments adopt cultural pluralism, they have different approaches in the management of ethnic groups. The Malaysian government chooses to promote ethnic Malay interests through affirmative action policies in education, while the Singapore government professes to treat all the ethnic groups equally and claims that social mobility is determined by meritocracy. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘ethnic-national hyphenated identity’ and discusses the curricular challenges common to Malaysia and Singapore. It argues that efforts are needed to encourage the students to possess a greater sense of ethnic understanding and appreciation, coupled with a greater emphasis on critical inquiry and deliberation of ethnic issues in the curriculum.
format	Article
author	Hashim, Rosnani Tan, Charlene
author_facet	Hashim, Rosnani Tan, Charlene
author_sort	Hashim, Rosnani
title	A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
title_short	A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
title_full	A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
title_fullStr	A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
title_full_unstemmed	A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore
title_sort	hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in malaysia and singapore
publisher	citiZED
publishDate	2009
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/1038/1/A_hyphenated_identity-_fostering_national_unity_through_education_in_Malaysia_and_Singapore.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:08:15Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:08:15Z
_version_	1777407304125120512

A hyphenated identity: fostering national unity through education in Malaysia and Singapore

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