Afra Alatas - South China Morning Post https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/517549/feed Afra Alatas is a senior research officer in the Regional Social and Cultural Studies Programme at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png Afra Alatas - South China Morning Post https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Afra Alatas,Mohd Faizal Musa Afra Alatas,Mohd Faizal Musa Comparing Malaysia to Palestine, as a Malaysian MP did recently, illustrates a reframing of the siege mentality with which segments of the nation’s Muslim community perceive their place in society. By equating a sovereign nation with a stateless territory whose people have suffered decades of occupation and displacement, this distortion of reality risks deepening existing ethnic and religious divides in Malaysia. On October 19, Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) MP for... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/opinion/article/3331986/malaysia-not-palestine-false-equivalence-fuels-ethnic-polarisation https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/opinion/article/3331986/malaysia-not-palestine-false-equivalence-fuels-ethnic-polarisation Sun, 09 Nov 2025 03:00:19 +0000 Malaysia is not Palestine. False equivalence fuels ethnic polarisation True to form, Mahathir Mohamad has stirred the hornet’s nest by saying that not all non-Malays belong to Malaysia. While his comments are deemed irrelevant in the current context, it behoves the incumbent administration to elucidate the vision of a multicultural country. During a recent interview with Indian television channel Thanthi TV, Mahathir said that ethnic minority groups who have “their own schools, their own language, their own culture” are “different from the original people who... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/opinion/article/3249876/malaysias-mahathir-holds-outdated-view-ethnicity-does-debate-show-cracks-nations-multiculturalism https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/opinion/article/3249876/malaysias-mahathir-holds-outdated-view-ethnicity-does-debate-show-cracks-nations-multiculturalism Sun, 28 Jan 2024 02:00:14 +0000 Malaysia’s Mahathir holds ‘outdated’ view on ethnicity but does debate show cracks in nation’s multiculturalism model?