From the Margins to Centre Stage: ‘Indian’ Demonstration Effects in Malaysia’s Political Landscape

Tim Bunnell, Sabitha Nagarajan () and Andrew Willford
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Tim Bunnell: Asia Research Institute and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge, Singapore, 117570, geotgb@nus.edu.sg
Andrew Willford: Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. USA, acw24@cornell.edu

Urban Studies, 2010, vol. 47, issue 6, 1257-1278

Abstract: This paper traces senses of injustice among Indian Malaysians which found expression in the ‘illegal’ Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. While underlying ethnic and racial differentiation has been rendered through law in the post-colonial nation-state, the focus here is on a specific locality: resettlement flats for Indians displaced for the construction of Malaysia’s federal government administrative centre, Putrajaya. Ex-plantation workers are shown to be symbolically peripheral (to the spectacular ‘national landscape’ of Putrajaya) and to have experienced everyday forms of ethnicised marginalisation. The rally in the commercial heart of Kuala Lumpur—involving tens of thousands of Indian Malaysians from across peninsular Malaysia—mobilised what were previously largely localised grievances such as those associated with the Putrajaya estate evictions. It is shown how this ethnic transgression not only contests the ‘second-class’ position of Indians in Malaysia, but may also contribute to a redrawing of the ethnic contours of Malaysia’s legal and political landscape. More broadly, the Hindraf events also serve as a reminder that rights and social justice claims expressed in key urban centres continue to have important national-scale dimensions, even in an ostensibly neo-liberalised global economy.

Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:47:y:2010:i:6:p:1257-1278

DOI: 10.1177/0042098009360235

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