Peoples and Cultures

It is almost obligatory to begin a chapter on Malaysia’s peoples and cultures with a statement that Malaysia is a multiethnic and multicultural nation. Such a statement is made occasionally by Malay leaders, frequently by Malaysian Chinese and Indian cultural associations, and almost unfailingly by Malaysia’s cultural tourism promoters. Malaysia’s population now stands at around 20 million, divided along ethnic lines as 61.9 per cent bumiputra (mostly Malays), 29.5 per cent Chinese and 8.6 per cent Indians. Kadazans and Dayaks form the main indigenous groups of Sabah and Sarawak respectively. Several national leaders, including the Deputy Prime Minister at the time of writing, Anwar Ibrahim, have recently referred to Malaysia as an ‘Asia in microcosm’.1