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Writer's pictureJohn B. Parisutham

The Impact of Globalization on Malaysian Culture

1.Introduction

As we can see today, in our daily lives is related with globalization. Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture. Advances in transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, including the rise of the telegraph and its posterity the internet, are major factors in globalization, generating further interdependence of economic and cultural activities.

The unprecedented development in technological innovations involving the use of electronic devices and computerized communication for the dissemination of information, values and beliefs, and the rapid spread of global culture through the media have far-reaching effects on the development of human communities. Some of the effects may be positive while others may be negative. The economization of time and energy and the information, and the increased communication between cultures of different geographical areas and ethnic backgrounds may be considered positive and therefore desirable. However, the disruptive and disintegrative effects of global culture on the changing patterns of sociocultural institutions, such as the family, language and religion, may be deemed negative and undesirable. Before the rise or the ideology of globalization, all race and people around the world live with their own culture and beliefs. But after the globalization take a place, many of them or a new generation have forgotten about their original culture and easily be influenced with others cultures which have a same situation in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, most of the teenagers are not only be influenced by the Western culture also from the people who comes from abroad that stay in Malaysia such as Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh in term of their language, cloths and food. Before this, most of Malaysian people will talk by using ‘Bahasa Melayu’ but today the language is mixed with others language that we called it as a ‘Bahasa Rojak’. Moreover, we can see in term of their clothes. In Malaysia the majority of religious is Muslim and in Muslim they need wear proper clothes and close their body without showing their body to others especially women. However, most of Muslim people in Malaysia forgot about their religious and wear a clothes a same as West people. They also start be a social able without think about the gender. Finally is food where we can see many type of Western food are being adapted such as pizza, spaghetti, chicken chop and many more. Because of that, many teenagers in Malaysia are started to forget about their traditional food. It is not only about a food but the way or style of eating also change. Another thing is, when people move to others countries, they easily followed the others cultures with a reasons do not want to offend or make a trouble in the new place.

Because of globalisation many kind of culture in Malaysia have changed and it is difficult to cure. The colonialism and westernization has its positive and negative towards Malaysian people, however, modern Diasporas have allowed cultures to communicate and link with their motherlands and traditions meaning that cultures can connect with its heritages through globalisation.

2.Problem/ Thesis Statement

In Malaysia, most of the teenagers are not only be influenced by the Western culture also from the people who comes from abroad that stay in Malaysia such as Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh in term of their language, cloths and food. Before this, most of Malaysian people will talk by using ‘Bahasa Melayu’ but today the language is mixed with others language that we called it as a ‘Bahasa Rojak’. Moreover, we can see in term of their clothes. In Malaysia the majority of religious is Muslim and in Muslim they need wear proper clothes and close their body without showing their body to others especially women. However, most of Muslim people in Malaysia forgot about their religious and wear a clothes a same as West people. They also start be a social able without think about the gender. Finally is food where we can see many type of Western food are being adapted such as pizza, spaghetti, chicken chop and many more. Because of that, many teenagers in Malaysia are started to forget about their traditional food. It is not only about a food but the way or style of eating also change. Another thing is, when people move to others countries, they easily followed the others cultures with a reasons do not want to offend or make a trouble in the new place.

Argument 1- The impact on food culture in Malaysia

As Nederveen Pieterse (2004) states, ‘Globalisation is like a prism in which major over the collective human condition are now refracted.’ Globalisation is about economy, capitalism, politics, power, culture, gender, identity, population and generally with everything we are dealing with in our daily lives. Globalisation has break down many boundaries and because of the globalisation the world become more connected. If in the past it is difficult to travel to the others countries, but nowadays it is easy for us to travel anywhere we want. We also can own or get the others thing from the others countries. We also can start a new life in another countries for a better opportunity such as employment. If we can travel to another countries, people from another countries also can come and stay in Malaysia. In Malaysia, there are much kind of people with different type of race, religious, culture and belief such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and others with religious such as Muslim, Buddha, Hindus and others. Before Malaysian become an independent country, the culture in Malaysia start to change because of globalization (Dentway,2010). Culture is what people eat, how they dress , beliefs they hold and activities they practice. Globalization has joined different cultures and made it into something different. Because of that, the cultures in Malaysia start receiving several impact and can affect the country.

First, it has been said that because of globalization today we can easily find many type of food from another countries (Dentway,2010). For example, if in United States have a Mc Donald and KFC, in Italy have pizza and spaghetti, Thailand has Tom Yam and Japan has sushi but because of globalization in Malaysia also have the same kind of food that being sell not only in Malaysia but all over the world. Malaysian people especially teenager love to eat international food and they also learn how to cook that food and adapt it in their daily life. However, this could lead to the abandoning of our own food and consume more foreign foods and then, deteriorate the culture and identity of particular ethnics (Dentway,2010). Hence, we could say that, globalization affects cultural tradition in food. For example that we can see, if a mother ask their children what they want to eat, her children will said KFC or pizza and if their mother do not buy it, they will rebel until their mother buy it for them. Most of the teenagers when they go to the village stay with their grandparents and their grandparents cook a traditional food, it is difficult for them to eat it and from this we can see how the teenagers start to forgot about their local food. Not only the food are change, the way we eat also change. Malays and Indian normally use their hand to eat, because of globalization, nowadays most of Malaysian people use a spoon while eating (Mary, 2013). We can see at the restaurant, because of Western influenced and we also want to be a high class same as them, we attend to use spoon while eat or we will be damned because using hand while eating.

Argument 2- The Impact on Language and Communication Culture in Malaysia

Second, many of the people said that globalization makes us closer with each other in others countries and with that we can learn their culture also their language (BBC,2012). Through media, internet and television people easily can learn and follow the others language and use it in their daily life. Even in school Malay language has become second language because English language must be priority first. They said that the use of two languages, Malay and English, as teaching mediums, create confusion among the students as to which language they should give the priority. On top of that, since most subjects are being taught in English, this has weakened the students’ ability to master the Malay language (Maryani Zohari,2010). From this, we can see that student will learn more on English language because they always heard the important to learn international languages until they forget to prioritize their local language. When that happen, a new language has been created that is ‘Bahasa Rojak’ (Edward Khoo,2013). Even in Malaysia have many race and ethnic, the fluency of every ethnic language is very good to hear but this mixed language has destroy everything. If we go to shopping complex where have many teenagers, we can hear how broken their languages. That not only affect the country but with the family also. Furthermore, most of television programmes shown by local broadcasters are imported from the USA and other western countries. The values of these programmes are different from the eastern values which are rooted in Malaysian communities. In his own words Yaapar says: Most of the film, sitcom and drama series shows on TV broadcasting channels in Malaysia for example are imported and transmitted directly from the USA, UK, European countries, and Australia. These shows are embracing the values that are familiar to the western communities (Yaapar,2001). Kids easy to followed and learned with what they see and hear. When they watch television with rude word, they will use to talk with their family of friend which can lead to a fighting. So it is important to take care of culture in term of language because there is a phrase in Malay said ‘Bahasa Melambangkan Jiwa Bangsa ’ which mean language represents the culture of the nation.

Argument 3- The impact on lifestyles and Fashion in Malaysia

If we see back to the past, men and women will wear proper clothes that related with their religious. For example, Muslim people will wear “Baju Melayu” for men and for women, they will wear “Baju Kurung” or ” Baju Kebaya” but after the global fashion , we can observe that there are branded goods, clothes, handbags, shoes, fragrance and watches which are produced by famous and giant world designers. Timberland, Diesel, Boss, Polo and Dunhill are several names that are not alien to the teenagers. Likewise, fragrances such as Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Christian Dior and Burberry are also well known to them . The communities, especially teenagers as such, are groups of people that enjoy buying and spending their money on these branded items due to the impact of the global culture. Moreover, one can observe that these fashions and modern trends can also change the way they dress. Most of fashion designer was design their clothes based on western country as Paris and Rome are the fashion empire; but sometimes their fashion design are not appropriate to some Malaysian people, as Muslims are very conservative and it is not polite to wear clothing that is too sexy. Malaysian teenagers also attend to follow their icon or artist from the West and that also lead them to wear a sexy cloth (The Malaysian, 2007). Because of this, the crime such as raped and sex crime has increased because of many women wear a sexy clothes that can attract to a bad man (Victory Oyeleke,2013). Furthermore, the technologies that have been bringing from others countries has change teenagers lifestyles. If in the past, people or kids will do outdoor games or be social with others but today all of that has changed. They can still enjoy and play football virtually through electronic devices such as the internet, ‘ play station ‘, X-Box and many more. The variation of these hobbies reflects the changes in their habit (Wikipedia, 2013). Thus, globalisation through the advancement of modern technology had had an impact upon the teenagers’ world, culture and their lifestyle.

Conclusion

Overall, the discussion of this section does not intend to blame the widespread appearance for appeal of globalization. It is more important to examine the cultural changes among teenagers which have resulted from the process of globalisation. It is important to note here that globalisation has succeeded in creating new mega trend upon the traditional culture elsewhere in the world, and teenagers are the group of people that are mostly affected by this phenomenon. Thus, we should strengthen the value system in a person, family and community so that we can overcome the challenges posed by globalisation . At the same time, it is everybody’s role to preserve the dignity of local culture and tradition.

Reference

Dentway (2010). How does Globalization Affect Cultural traditions? Study Mode. Retrieved from      http://www.studymode.com/essays/Effects-Of-Globalization-Towards-Our-Culture-412003.html

Maryani Johari (2010). Save Malay language, save Brunei’s culture. The Brunei Times. Retrieved from  http://www.bt.com.bn/opinion/2010/12/14/save-malay-language-save-bruneis-culture

Mary M. B. (2013). Malaysia. eDiplomat. Retrieved from http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_my.htm

Nederveen P. J. (2004). ‘Globalisation: consensus and controversies’. Globalisation and      culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 7–21

Oyeleke, V. (2013). Is ‘provocative dressing’ a reason for rape? Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/13878-is-%E2%80%98provocative-dressing%E2%80%99-a-reason-for-rape.html

Pagel, M. (2012). Does globalization mean we will become one culture? BBC. Retrieved from    http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order

The Malaysian. (2007). Western Pop Stars Hassled In Malaysia. The Malaysian. Retrieved from    http://the-malaysian.blogspot.com/2007/08/western-pop-stars-hassled-in-malaysia.html

Wikipedia.(2013). Video game addiction. Wikipedia. Retrieved from    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction

Yaapar, S. 2001 . The impact of globalisation on the Muslim values and culture. A paper presented at the  International Seminar on The Impact of Globalisation on Social and Cultural life: An Islamic  Response. In Kuala Lumpur: Institute of lslamic Understanding Malaysia (KIM).

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