Drug Abused Among Secendory School in Malaysia

NEGOTIATING ETHNIC IDENTITIES - Alcohol as a Social Marker in East and West Malaysia By Timo Kortteinen1 Academy Research Fellow Department of Sociology University of Helsinki Finland

The paper will be published in Akademika in 2008.

1

For comments, the author can be reached at [e-mail].

2

Abstract From the point of view of alcohol consumption, there are two contradicting tendencies in the present-day Malaysian society. On the one hand, Western influences, including the consumption of alcoholic beverages, have gained ground along with industrialisation and increased standards of living. On the other hand, Islam has become more influential in the country during the past couple of decades. These two contradict each other as far as alcohol consumption is concerned. The paper sets out to examine present-day alcohol consumption as well as positive and negative experiences related to alcohol in Peninsular Malaysia as well as in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The focus of the paper is to study the impact of ethnic and religious identity on alcohol consumption in East and West Malaysia. The information on West (Peninsular) Malaysia was collected in 1996 and 1997 and the information on East Malaysia (Sarawak) in 1999. The study, however, is not only about the quantities and qualities of alcohol consumed in Malaysia. The alcohol issue is used as a ‘window’ through which the broader issue of the construction of ethnic or racial boundaries in the country is studied. Officially, Malays do not drink alcohol because they are Muslims. In reality, however, some Malays do drink. Ideologically, politically and socially drinking is used as a way of segregating races in Malaysia in general and defining the superiority of the Malay race in particular.

Introduction Malaysia is a multiracial society. Racial identities while well formed and strong were created and consolidated by British colonial rule when differences between racial groups2 were governed by

References: Abdul Rahman Embong, Social Transformation, the State and the Middle Classes in Post-Independence Malaysia. In Zawawi Ibrahim (ed.), Mediating Identities in A Changing Malaysia. Special Issue, Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1996. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University: Kyoto 1996., pp. 56-79. Abraham, Collin E.R., Divide and Rule. The Roots of Race Relations in Malaysia. INSAN: Kuala Lumpur 1997. Andaya, Barbara Watson & Andaya, Leonard Y., A History of Malaysia. Macmillan: Hongkong 1982. Annual Statistical Bulletin Sarawak 1988. FAO Food Balance Sheets 1972-1996. Financial Times, November 30, 1998. Gomez, Edmund Terence & Jomo, K.S., Malaysia’s Political Economy. Politics, Patronage and Profits. Cambridge UP: Cambridge 1997. Guinness, Patrick, On the Margin of Capitalism. People and Development in Mukim Plentong, Johor, Malaysia. Oxford UP: Singapore 1992. Heng, Pek Koon (1998): Chinese Responses to Malay Hegemony in Peninsular Malaysia. In: Zawawi Ibrahim (ed.): Cultural Contestations. Mediating Identities in A Changing Malaysian Society. London: ASEAN Academic Press. Pp. 51-82. Jernigan, David, H., Thirsting for Markets. The Global Impact of Corporate Alcohol. The Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems: San Rafael 1997. Kortteinen, Timo, Agricultural Alcohol and Social Change in the Third world. The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, Volume 38. Helsinki 1989. Kortteinen, Timo, Urban Peasants and Rural Workers - Making A Living in the Third World. Finnish Anthropological Society TAFAS 43, Rauma 1999. Kortteinen, Timo, Alcohol in Malaysia: The Impact of Social Transition. Contemporary Drug Problems. An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, VOL. 26, No. 3, Fall 1999. Pp. 391-411. Mäkelä Klaus & Mustonen Heli, Positive and Negative Experiences Related to Drinking as a Function of Annual Alcohol Intake. British Journal of Addiction (1988)83, 403-408. Roth, Henry Ling, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, Volume I. University of Malaya Press: Kuala Lumpur 1980. 23 Shamsul, A.B., Debating about Identity in Malaysia: A Discourse Analysis. In: Zawawi Ibrahim (ed.), Mediating Identities in A Changing Malaysia. Southeast Asian Studies, Special Issue, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1996, pp. 8-31. The Sunday Times, April 18, 2004. Zawawi Ibrahim (2000): Anthropologising “National Culture” in Malaysia: Representing and Contesting Culture in the Age of Fragmentation. . In: Kortteinen, Timo & Kaartinen, Timo (eds.): Southeast Asian National Culures in A Fragmenting Global System. Special Issue of the Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society. Vol. 25, 2 (June 2000). Pp. 50-61. 24 APPENDIX Table 1. Drinkers by income group and race, Sarawak 1999 (%). Income group (in RM)