The average Malaysian non-fiction section in any bookstore looks like a country club photo album that portrays the post-colonial elite, endorsing the viewpoint of the status quo they help create. There are few books on the market that study the evolution of Malaysia's multiethnic society, let alone address the country's tumultuous past, its uneasy scandal-laden present and its often uncertain and constantly shifting future. Therefore, a book on multiethnic Malaysia, with its no-holds-barred approach to ethnic issues is a much welcome addition.
Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present and Future is a compilation of 25 papers written by 20 of the country's most well-known academics, political experts, activists and columnists. These include Khoo Kay Kim, currently on the board of the National Human Rights Commission, P. Ramasamy, the current Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, Syed Husin Ali, the deputy president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Zainah Anwar, a founding member of Sisters in Islam. They cover various aspects of Malaysia's ethnic relations, including current social trends, conflicts with new and old ideologies, post-colonial ethnic schisms that persist to this day and the interconnecting issues of culture, language, religion, education and race politics as well as the history of current social phenomena.
