This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 19, 2023 - June 25, 2023

If you have paid any attention to Malaysian news in the past few years, you would be aware of the magnitude and gravity of the encroaching wave of division and intolerance that has befallen the nation. As Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia, puts it in her latest article, the world is increasingly “seen through tinted ethnic lenses of threat and, at times, conspiracy and bigotry”.

In an age where diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) are the focus of corporates, one does not have to look very far to witness the state of Malaysia’s social landscape and experience striking dissonance. What gives, what can be done and what roles can we play?

The genesis of the rise in social exclusion in Malaysia can be traced back to the set of policies and social behaviour post-1969, where various institutions effectively — but perhaps unintentionally — further divided communities into living in silos.

In the journey to address economic inequality, Malaysia saw a gutting of shared spaces that facilitated empathy building and cross-group understanding, which are essential foundations of diversity and inclusion.

At the heart of these shifts was the mal-transformation of the education system that deprioritised the diversity of schools and gave rise to monoethnic spaces, where the proliferation of bumiputera-only institutions and the mass exodus of Chinese Malaysians to vernacular schools are some of the most well-known examples of the phenomenon. Today, Malaysian youth are more segregated than ever, shaping their worldview and, subsequently, the country.

As the corporate world trudges on in its efforts to make workplaces more inclusive, it will eventually have to contend with the downstream effects of more radicalised and divided youth joining their workforce.

In a national survey of about 2,500 respondents in 2021 by Architects of Diversity, a non-profit organisation that I founded, we found that Malaysians below 30 years old were more likely to report perceived identity-based discrimination in education than those 45 and older. These norms and consequential avoidance towards cross-group interactions that flow into the workplace hurt both our productivity and the prospect of full inclusion.

Fortunately, trends can be reversed. As the largest generation in Malaysia, youth are still shaping their opinions about acceptable (and unacceptable) norms and practices. However, a reversal requires a greater number of champions from leaders both in politics and business.

As Malaysia approaches a critical juncture of polarised social attitudes, two crucial calls for leadership are needed to change the tide. Firstly, leaders need to push back against exclusionary beliefs and narratives.

It is insufficient to limit the bounds of DEI to staff training and compliance mechanisms. Rather, DEI leadership requires a conviction of responsibility to take charge of speaking out, both in the workplace and the broader Malaysian community, and leading breakthroughs in inclusion where others are not.

Secondly, investment is direly needed in the area of social cohesion. National Service, or Program Latihan Khidmat Negara, which still provided meaningful means of relationship building between youths of disparate backgrounds even though it brimmed with controversies, was abolished in 2018.

Rancangan Integrasi Murid untuk Perpaduan, or Student Integration Plan for Unity, which paired students from different schooling streams for co-curricular activities has been defunded. Barely a handful of corporate foundations invest in the intangible but crucial bond-making platforms between racial and religious groups, preferring to contribute towards politically safe humanitarian causes.

As a result, social bridge building has gone significantly underinvested, representing a failure in leadership to attend to the root cause of the erosion of inclusivity in the nation. If DEI championship requires leaders to allocate resources towards change, then Malaysia sorely needs a shift of time, energy and money towards rebuilding shared spaces and institutions.

As our nation’s leadership charts a vision of a Malaysia Madani, representing a clean slate from the socio-political turmoil of the past three years, there is a chance and, dare I say, hope that such a rebuilding process can begin.

Jason Wee is the co-founder of Architects of Diversity Malaysia, a youth-led non-profit organisation that bridges youth for justice, peace and a sustainable future.

This op-ed is part of a thought leadership series by diverse voices for inclusion, done in collaboration with 30% Club Malaysia, a global business campaign.

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