KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The July 12 riots at Low Yat Plaza are the product of a political system that divides the nation along adversarial ethnic lines, according to a French sociologist.

Dubbed “Politok” — a portmanteau of politics and amok — sociologist Sophie Lemiere wrote that the system is one that engenders the prejudicial view of “us versus them”, which she said is a staple of majoritarian ethno-nationalist organisations and ethno-centric political parties.

Malaysian politics continues to be dominated by race-based parties that each profess to champion their own communities’ interests, with even supposedly multi-racial alternatives tending to consists largely of one race or another.

Citing examples from early 20th century Europe, such as the vilification of the Jews in the 1930s and Italians of the 50’s, Lemiere said “they” in every instance are always the minority that is used as a convenient scapegoat to channel the frustrations of the ethno-centric majority.

“In Malaysia, the culture of ‘prejudice’, and all its attached concepts — justice, revenge, resistance, power — is used as justification for political, sociological and economical behaviour from which emerge populist state policies to ‘uplift’ the so-called ‘prejudiced group’,” Lemiere wrote in an opinion piece published on the New Mandala website last week.

Lemiere’s observations reflect the ubiquitous tone and messages regularly employed on Malaysia’s ethnic communities, in which regular warnings of purported agendas and enemies, both named and otherwise, as well as their supposed attacks have cultivated a siege mentality.

Further fuelling the resentment along ethnic lines is the continued message of inequality between the largely-Malay Bumiputera majority with the other races that are often portrayed as wealthy and comfortable.

This is compounded by repeated claims of the non-Bumiputera communities’ obligation to the natives stemming from the time they were granted citizenship when what was then Malaya gained independence from the British.

“The myth of resistance and prejudice has nurtured many young Malaysian Malays. It begins with the teaching of a distorted version of Malaysian history systematically erasing a large part of the country’s multi-ethnic heritage and instilling political propaganda,” Lemiere wrote.

“Moreover, the discrepancies existing between what young Malays are made to believe as ‘a genuine and sovereign people’ of the land and what they can actually achieve — limited by a poor educational system — in a highly competitive job market is significant pressure and frustration.”

Such frustrations drive youths who believe in the “myth” that they are disenfranchised to seek out quasi-legal groups that were among those that reportedly featured during the bloody riots outside Low Yat Plaza.

Such groups gave the youth a sense of empowerment and purpose in exacting the “justice” that is — as they are told — being denied to their community, Lemiere explained.

According to Ibrahim Suffian of independent pollsters Merdeka Centre, the country’s diverse communities have weak social bonds that he described as only “transactional”.

This, compounded by the silos in which the country’s races reside, prevent the mutual distrust from being erased or mitigated.

“From previous polling we’ve done, we note that stereotypes and prejudices are still strong underneath the layer of civility,” Ibrahim was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times, a Singaporean newspaper, on the weekend.

Lingering resentment over the Low Yat Plaza riots also remains in the Malay language media, despite the authorities’ insistence that the matter was triggered by false rumours that were spread following the arrest of a Malay youth for the alleged theft of a smartphone.

Editorials and columns in today’s Mingguan Malaysia maintained that the riots were not the result of the alleged theft, but rather the resentment over the alleged favouritism enjoyed by the traders in Low Yat Plaza and Chinatown.

The mob violence on July 12 was said to have stemmed from rumours that a Malay youth was cheated the day before by an ethnic Chinese trader who allegedly sold him a counterfeit smartphone.

According to the police, however, the youth had stolen the phone and was apprehended for doing so, later prompting his friends to return to the tech mall in the city where they reportedly damaged RM70,000 worth of goods.

But rumours that the Chinese trader had cheated the Malay youth still prompted a mob to gather outside Low Yat Plaza the following day to demand “justice”.

Police have arrested 24 people in connection, including several for sedition; one person has also been charged under the security law for allegedly inciting racial tensions.