Table Of ContentAffirmative Action, Ethnicity, and
Conflict
This book deals with two crucial questions that policy- makers have long
debated. First, should a government adopt policies that are targeted at specific
communities or those that are universal in nature when dealing with serious
social inequalities that could lead to conflict between ethnic groups? Second,
would a race-b ased orientation to policy planning inevitably lead to the essen-
tializing of the identities of ethnic groups, fostering in the long run the idea of
insurmountable or unalterable differences between these communities that could
lead to conflict?
To examine if targeting ethnic groups to resolve socio- economic inequalities
is the best mechanism to resolve or reduce inter-r acial disputes, the methodology
adopted here examines the implementation of a progressive though controversial
policy – affirmative action. This study involves a comparative study of selected
multi-e thnic and multi-r eligious countries that have adopted affirmative action to
target particular communities as a means to resolve social and economic inequal-
ities. This pioneering study reviews affirmative action in developed and develop-
ing countries, including the United States of America, India, Malaysia, Fiji,
South Africa, Northern Ireland and Brazil.
Edmund Terence Gomez is a Professor of Political Economy in the Faculty of
Economics & Administration at the University of Malaya.
Ralph Premdas is Professor of Public Policy at the University of the West
Indies.
Routledge Malaysian studies series
Published in association with Malaysian Social Science
Association (MSSA)
Series Editors:
Mohammed Hazim Shah
University of Malaya
A.B. Shamsul
University Kebangsaan Malaysia
Terence Gomez
University of Malaya
The Routledge Malaysian Studies Series publishes high quality scholarship that
provides important new contributions to knowledge on Malaysia. It also signals
research that spans comparative studies, involving the Malaysian experience
with that of other nations.
This series, initiated by the Malaysian Social Science Association (MSSA) to
promote study of contemporary and historical issues in Malaysia, and designed
to respond to the growing need to publish important research, also serves as a
forum for debate on key issues in Malaysian society. As an academic series, it
will be used to generate new theoretical debates in the social sciences and on
processes of change in this society.
The Routledge Malaysian Studies Series will cover a broad range of subjects
including history, politics, economics, sociology, international relations, geogra-
phy, business, education, religion, literature, culture, and ethnicity. The series
will encourage work adopting an interdisciplinary approach.
1 The State of Malaysia
Ethnicity, equity and reform
Edited by Edmund Terence Gomez
2 Feminism and the Women’s Movement in Malaysia
An unsung (r)evolution
Cecilia Ng, Maznah Mohamad and Tan Beng Hui
3 Governments and Markets in East Asia
The politics of economic crises
Jungug Choi
4 Health Care in Malaysia
The dynamics of provision, financing and access
Edited by Chee Heng Leng and Simon Barraclough
5 Politics in Malaysia
The Malay dimension
Edited by Edmund Terence Gomez
6 Privatization in Malaysia
Regulation, rent-s eeking and policy failure
Jeff Tan
7 The State, Development and Identity in Multi- Ethnic Societies
Ethnicity, equity and the Nation
Edited by Nicholas Tarling and Edmund Terence Gomez
8 Race and Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore
Edited by Daniel P.S. Goh, Matilda Gabrielpillai, Philip Holden
and Gaik Cheng Khoo
9 Media, Culture & Society in Malaysia
Edited by Yeoh Seng Guan
10 Islam and Politics in Southeast Asia
Edited by Johan Saravanamuttu
11 Malaysia’s Development Challenges
Graduating from the middle
Edited by Hal Hill, Tham Siew Yean and Ragayah Haji Mat Zin
12 Ethnicization and Identity Construction in Malaysia
Frederik Holst
13 Malaysia and the Developing World
The Asian Tiger on the Cinnamon Road
Jan Stark
14 Affirmative Action, Ethnicity, and Conflict
Edited by Edmund Terence Gomez and Ralph Premdas
Affirmative Action, Ethnicity,
and Conflict
Edited by Edmund Terence Gomez and
Ralph Premdas
First published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2013 selection and editorial material, Edmund Terence Gomez and
Ralph Premdas; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Edmund Terence Gomez and Ralph Premdas to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Affirmative action, ethnicity, and conflict / edited by Edmund Terence
Gomez and Ralph Premdas.
p. cm. – (Routledge Malaysian studies series ; 14)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Affirmative action programs. 2. Ethnicity. 3. Social conflict.
4. Equality. I. Gomez, Edmund Terence. II. Premdas, Ralph R.
HF5549.5.A34A4633 2013
331.13′3–dc23
2012021780
ISBN: 978-0-415-62768-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-64506-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-07883-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of tables ix
Notes on the contributors x
Acknowledgements and preface xi
Abbreviations and acronyms xiii
Introduction: affirmative action, horizontal inequalities, and
equitable development 1
EDMUND TERENCE GOMEZ AND RALPH PREMDAS
1 Poverty, equality, and affirmative action in India 27
SUNITA PARIKH
2 The struggle for equality and justice: affirmative action in
the United States of America 43
RALPH PREMDAS
3 Ethnicity, economy, and affirmative action in Malaysia 67
HWOK-AUN LEE, EDMUND TERENCE GOMEZ,
AND SHAKILA YACOB
4 Coerced preferences: affirmative action and horizontal
inequality in Fiji 95
STEVEN RATUVA
5 Affirmative action in South Africa: disadvantaging the
many for the benefit of the few 126
ANTHEA JEFFERY
6 Power- sharing, communal contestation, and equality:
affirmative action, identity, and conflict in Northern Ireland 154
COLIN HARVEY
viii Contents
7 Appraising affirmative action in Brazil 183
JOAZE BERNARDINO- COSTA AND FERNANDO ROSA
Index 204
Tables
1.1 Percentage of SCs in central government posts by category:
1965, 1995, and 2001 33
1.2 Percentage below the poverty line (BPL), 1983, 1993–4,
2004–5 34
3.1 Share capital ownership (at par value) by ethnic group,
1970–2008 (%) (Malaysia) 74
3.2 Summary of affirmative action programmes and notable
features 79
3.3 Percentage of labour force with tertiary education, by race
group 80
3.4 Unemployment rates within ethnic group, by highest education
attained, 1995 and 2007 80
3.5 Ethnic representation in occupation groups (percentage of
Malaysian employed population), 1970–2000 83
3.6 Ethnic representation in occupation groups (percentage of
Malaysian employed population), 2000–2005 84
3.7 Teachers and nurses as percentage of total professionals and
technicians, within race, 2000–2005 85
3.8 Registered professionals by race, percentage of total 85
4.1 Civil service staff turnover, 1987–1994 105
4.2 Occupational categories of economically active population by
ethnicity (Indians and Fijians only), 1986 108
4.3 Equity index for selected different professions 116
4.4 Allocations towards rural and outer island development
programmes: 2009 budget 118
7.1 Modality of affirmative action in federal and state public
universities in Brazil 189
7.2 Beneficiaries of affirmative action in federal and state public
universities in Brazil 190
Contributors
Joaze Bernardino-C osta is Professor of Sociology at the University of Brasilia,
Brazil.
Edmund Terence Gomez is Professor of Political Economy at the University of
Malaya, Malaysia.
Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law at Queen’s University, Belfast,
Northern Ireland.
Anthea Jeffery is Head of Special Research, Muriell Horrell Research Fellow,
and Dick Gawith Fellow at the South African Institute of Race Relations in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Hwok-Aun Lee is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics & Administra-
tion, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Sunita Parikh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Washington
University in St. Louis, USA.
Ralph Premdas is Professor in the Sir Arthur Institute of Social and Economic
Research (SALISES) at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago.
Steven Ratuva is a political sociologist at the Center for Pacific Studies, Uni-
versity of Auckland, New Zealand.
Fernando Rosa, an anthropologist and historian, is Senior Research Fellow at
University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Shakila Yacob is Associate Professor of History at the University of Malaya,
Malaysia.
