Majmuk in Practice: Intergroup Contact for Prejudice Reduction in Malaysian Schools

Abstract

In recent years, Malaysia has seen increased intergroup tension and conflict due to greater political and social polarisation along ethnic and religious lines. Many have pointed to segregation as the leading cause of negative attitudes between groups; in particular, the fragmentation of Malaysia’s education system since the New Economic Policy (NEP). While various efforts have attempted to use contact-based interventions to improve intergroup relations among youth, optimal contact conditions for prejudice reduction have yet to be well-characterised. I employed a correlational survey (N=316) and personal interviews (N=19) in five Malaysian schools to explore how interpersonal relationship dynamics affect contact conditions. Associations between contact and lower prejudice were only found for Malay respondents, which may be explained by a ceiling effect for non-Malays who are likelier to have prior outgroup contact. Individuals who used English as a primary language were strongly associated with lower outgroup prejudice regardless of race, which suggests that cross-language challenges may be most salient in shaping equal status and motivation to engage in intergroup contact. Anecdotal findings also steer suggestions for future research to consider group-level variables that may affect contact conditions at both the intra- and interpersonal level.