In Lieu of Race and Religion
By Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng
July 2018 PICKING ON THE PAST
One can easily see how southern South-East Asia – being largely maritime, ethnically very diverse and geo-economically a collection of trade routes – in dividing itself into zealous and jealous nation states over the last century, would as a region see racial and religious sentiments in the creating of stable national ethic majorities.To be sure, the creation of a politically relevant sense of ethnic commonality has almost always depended on synchronised proselytisation of a common religion. Thus, communal sentiments have...
Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng
is the Executive Director of Penang Institute. His latest book is Signals in the Noise: Notes on Penang, Malaysia and the World (Singapore: Faction Press) Homepage: wikibeng.com.
