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Identiti Etnik Minoriti di Malaysia: Antara Realiti Sosial Tafsiran Autoriti dan Tafsiran Harian

Akademika

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Title Identiti Etnik Minoriti di Malaysia: Antara Realiti Sosial Tafsiran Autoriti dan Tafsiran Harian
 
Creator Giok Hun, Pue
Kaur, Charanjit
 
Subject Anthropology
 
Description (Ethnic Minority Identity in Malaysia: Between Authority-defined and Everyday-defined Social Reality)Questions of ethnicity and ethnic identity remain ardent in Malaysian community life. Despite having a high ethnic awareness, not many people recognize or fully understand other ethnic groups, particularly minority ethnic groups. This article has two purposes, namely to highlight two cases of minority ethnic identity in Malaysia and to examine the effect of social stereotyping on minority ethnic group’s interactions with the Malaysian public. By using Shamsul’s (1996) two social reality approach, a study was conducted on two ethnic minorities, namely the Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan and the Sikh Punjabi of Kuala Lumpur. The study found that the Kelantan Chinese Peranakan and Sikh Punjabi ethnic identities are very different from mainstream stereotypes associated with Chineseness or Indianness; Kelantan Peranakan Chinese identity, for example, is strongly influenced by elements of local culture, and the Sikh Punjabi identity is rooted in Sikh religious elements. Although living in two areas with different ethnic diversity indexes, it was found that both ethnic minority groups shared the mutual problems of mistaken identity and negative ethnonymic connotations. These problems were most often faced during interaction with the mainstream general public when outside of the respective ethnic minority’s immediate locality. These findings show that Malaysian society has only skin-deep awareness and knowledge about ethnic minority groups living within the country. This can be attributed in part to the overemphasis of ‘authority-defined’ perspective that traced back to colonial knowledge on, and methods of, managing ethnic diversity. Over time, this knowledge has become an accepted, pervasive and dominant social fact in the society.Keywords: Ethnic identity; ethnic minority; Peranakan Chinese; Sikh Punjabi; social realityAbstrakSoal etnisiti dan identiti etnik kekal hangat dalam kancah kehidupan bermasyarakat di Malaysia. Walaupun mempunyai kesedaran etnik yang tinggi, tidak ramai yang mengenali atau mengetahui tentang kumpulan-kumpulan etnik lain, khususnya mengenai kumpulan-kumpulan etnik minoriti. Artikel ini mempunyai dua tujuan iaitu mengetengahkan dua kes identiti etnik minoriti di Malaysia dan mengkaji kesan stereotaip sosial kepada interaksi kumpulan etnik minoriti tersebut dengan masyarakat umum. Menggunakan pendekatan dua realiti sosial (Shamsul 1996), kajian dilakukan ke atas dua kumpulan etnik minoriti iaitu Cina Peranakan di Kelantan dan Punjabi Sikh di Kuala Lumpur. Kajian mendapati identiti etnik Cina Peranakan Kelantan dan Punjabi Sikh jauh berbeza daripada stereotaip yang dikaitkan dengan kecinaan dan keindiaan dalam arus perdana; identiti Cina Peranakan Kelantan misalnya, kuat dipengaruhi oleh elemen budaya tempatan manakala identiti Punjabi Sikh adalah bertunjangkan kepada elemen agama Sikh. Walaupun tinggal dalam dua kawasan yang mempunyai indeks kepelbagaian etnik yang berbeda, kedua-dua kumpulan etnik minoriti ini didapati menghadapi dua masalah sepunya iaitu salah identiti dan konotasi negatif dalam ethnonym. Masalah ini cenderung dihadapi dalam interaksi dengan golongan awam dalam arus perdana di luar lokaliti mereka. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa masyarakat di Malaysia mempunyai kesedaran dan pengetahuan yang cetek mengenai kumpulan etnik minoriti yang ada di negara ini. Ini dapat dikaitkan dengan penekanan kepada pendekatan ‘tafsiran autoriti’ yang disusul daripada ilmu dan cara kolonial dalam mengurus kepelbagaian etnik yang ada. Selepas suatu masa, pengetahuan ini menjadi fakta sosial yang diterima, berleluasa dan dominan dalam masyarakat tersebut.Kata kunci: Identiti etnik; minoriti etnik; Cina Peranakan; Punjabi Sikh; realiti sosial DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/akad-2014-8401n2-05
 
Publisher UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA
 
Contributor —
 
Date 2014-12-10
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
—
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://ejournal.ukm.my/akademika/article/view/7896
 
Source Akademika; Vol 84, No 1&2 (2014): AKADEMIKA 84
0126-8694
0126-5008
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://ejournal.ukm.my/akademika/article/view/7896/3120