KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Reminding both Malays and non-Malays about racial politics would unconsciously motivate them to choose international schools over government ones for their children, an experiment has shown.
Research firm Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) recently conducted an experiment on 100 respondents, where half were “primed” or unconsciously reminded of racial politics, such as by subtly showing them a “keris” or news on a pro-Malay rally, before they answered survey questions.
One of the survey questions asked was on respondents’ schooling preferences for their children, if all factors such as quality of education, distance from home and price were the same for all three choices: public schools, SJK (national-type) schools, and international schools.
The survey found that Malays reacted negatively to subtle reminders of ethnocentrism and the country’s racial divide, with those choosing public schools dropping from 35.5 per cent to 22.6 per cent when primed, and those choosing SJK (national type schools) for their children falling from 42 per cent to 29.1 per cent. Those who chose international schools, however, more than doubled from 22.6 per cent to 48.4 per cent.
“More would go to international schools than send their loved ones to public schools where the curriculum would be set by the government. Fewer would be encouraged to send their kids to public schools when reminded of politicians talking race-based politics,” Cent-GPS said of the Malay respondents’ choices.
Non-Malay respondents similarly reacted negatively, with a drastic reduction in those opting for national schools, while showing greater preference for the other two choices — SJK and international schools.
“Undisturbed, 31.6 per cent of Non-Malay respondents would send their kids to public schools.
“After they were primed, only 10.1 per cent would send their kids to public schools, not confident in the type of syllabus that is handed out by leaders who echo ethnocentric rhetoric,” Cent-GPS said.
For the non-Malay respondents who were primed, there would be an increase from 26.3 per cent to 32 per cent of those opting for SJK schools, and an increase from 42 per cent to 57.9 per cent for international schools.
Based on the figures provided by Cent-GPS, international schools would end up becoming the top choice out of the three for both Malay and non-Malay respondents after they are subtly reminded of the country’s racial divide.
Signals given out
While respondents were told that the three types of schools would have no difference in quality and logistics, Cent-GPS said respondents’ choices signalled how they viewed national education as compared to international syllabuses. It said confidence and faith in Malaysia’s education system played an important factor in the survey.
“If a respondent chooses to send their kids or a loved one to public school, then that would signal strong approval to where Malaysia aims to take its youths.
“Choosing an international school would imply that the respondent would rather not have their loved one associated to whatever direction Malaysia aims to bring its students,” the Kuala Lumpur-based behavioural and social science research firm said in its recently published report.
The report did not specify if the SJK schools were only those using either Mandarin or Tamil as the medium of instruction, or both SJK(C) and SJK(T).
SJK(C) schools have become more multiracial over the years, with the United Chinese School Teachers’ Association of Malaysia’s (Jiao Zong) January 2015 statistics showing that the proportion of non-Chinese students in such schools grew from 11.84 per cent (72,443 students) in 2010 to 15.31 per cent (87,463 students) in 2014, while news reports had said the 2016 batch had 18 per cent non-Chinese.
What about GLCs?
Respondents were also asked if they would allow their children to work in a government-linked company (GLC).
Cent-GPS noted that GLCs have often been in the limelight over “political intervention or top-down mismanagement”, but acknowledged that there are also many GLCs that are successful and professionally managed with little or no interference from the government.
“However, the underlying question here, hidden from the intuition of the respondent, is whether the respondent is okay with allowing one of their loved ones to be associated with whatever is happening in Putrajaya,” it said of this question.
After being primed on race politics, Malay respondents who would “encourage” their children to work in GLCs fell drastically from 35.5 per cent to 12.9 per cent, while those who would “allow” remained about the same at over 48 per cent.
After reminders of the racial divide, Malay respondents who said they were “hesitant” doubled from 12.9 per cent to 25.8 per cent, while those who “refuse” to have their children work in GLCs shot up by more than four times from 3.1 per cent to 12.9 per cent.
“Incredibly, despite the ethnocentric and race-based rhetoric usually favouring the Malays, encouraging for more special treatment and advantages, the Malay respondents here responded negatively, not allowing their children to work at a company linked with the government,” the report said.
As for non-Malay respondents who were primed, those who would “encourage” their children to work in GLCs fell from 32.2 per cent to 10.1 per cent, while those who would “allow” were halved from 52.3 per cent to 26.5 per cent.
Conversely, non-Malays given subliminal reminders of the country’s racial divide would be more “hesitant” to have their children work in GLCs, with an increase from 10.6 per cent to 37 per cent, while those who refused drastically increased from 5 per cent to 26.5 per cent.
The report said the findings on the GLC question showed both Malay and non-Malay respondents responded negatively when reminded of race-based politics and policies in Malaysia.
“The ethnocentrism in Malaysia is almost always talk of keeping and maintaining Malay affirmative action. Yet, it is the Malays themselves who become discouraged by continued discussions of race in politics,” the report later noted.
What to do in politics, education
Earlier in its report, Cent-GPS cited several surveys and studies by other researchers that highlighted emerging differences among Malaysia’s different ethnic groups, noting that there is “tolerance” or an unspoken rule not to publicly air the tensions.
“Yet, that being said, meaningful levels of dialogue, accommodation and diversity in areas of work, school and housing have still not been attained. Malaysia, it seems, has still not tapped into its potential to learn from one another, to see its differences as avenues for growth and learning.
“Political parties need to lead the way, easing their foot off of the Malay agenda, in hopes of just focusing on Malay majority constituencies. Education needs to be prioritised, to engage the minority-fear that rights would be taken away,” Cent-GPS said.
Research method
For the study titled “The Priming Experiment: Reactions to the Question of Race”, Cent-GPS explained it had primed half of its 100 respondents by placing certain objects in a waiting room and testing centre to subtly remind them of Malaysia’s racial divide and race-based rhetoric, before they answered the survey questions.
These objects included red curtains, a framed “keris” or traditional Malay dagger that contemporarily invokes Malay strength on the testing centre’s wall, newspapers highlighting a pro-Malay rally, right-wing party posters on a table, and a television that played news clips on the protests against the anti-racial discrimination convention, ICERD.
But Cent-GPS did not point out these objects to respondents before they answered questions in another room, intending it to have a “priming effect” where respondents would notice them in passing.
For the other half of the 100 respondents, the room was kept bare and the television was switched off, without any reminders of Malaysia’s racial divide.
All 100 respondents individually took the tests that were presented in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, with all being SPM graduates and with most having gone on to higher education.
The 100 respondents were composed of 62 Malays and 38 non-Malays, with most coming from urban and suburban areas in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang.
Cent-GPS said the survey results would not be able to represent all Malaysians due to the limited number of respondents, also noting that it had no way of knowing if the respondents’ answers were due to the priming effect or if they alreadt had those answers in mind.
The other questions that were asked to determine the 100 respondents’ consumer choices were whether they were confident to raise their children in Malaysia; and which airline (Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Singapore Airlines) they would choose if all factors such as price and quality of service were the same.
They were also asked whether they would build a getaway house in Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur or abroad if they had excess funds; and if they would donate to a local university, overseas university or not donate at all if they had funds.
In summing up the study’s findings, Cent-GPS said it was “clear that reminders of Malaysia’s ethnocentrism benefits no one”, noting that its respondents were discouraged from having anything to do with Malaysia if reminded of the nation’s racial divide.
Malay Mail previously reported on the study’s findings on Malaysian respondents’ confidence levels in bringing up their children here.
