Historical Legacy Diversity and Views on Immigration in Peninsular Malaysia

Authors

  • Jarud Romadan Bin Khalidi Khazanah Research Institute

Keywords:

contact theory, diversity, history, migration

Abstract

More persons enter Malaysia than leave. This makes Malaysia an ideal study site of the contact hypothesis, which theorizes that intergroup contact promotes positive and tolerant attitudes between groups. We test this hypothesis by investigating whether diversity influences views on immigration. A major concern is the endogeneity of diversity, which introduces bias. To address this, we capitalize on historical events from the mid-19th to early-20th centuries that led to an influx of Chinese and Indian labourers, increasing ethnic diversity in selected states only as the location of labourers is highly centralized based on state planning. Using historical records and wave 7 of the World Values Survey (WVS), we regress contemporaneous views on immigration against diversity in 1911. WVS respondents in states with historically higher diversity are more accepting of immigrants.

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Published

24-06-2025

How to Cite

Bin Khalidi, J. R. (2025). Historical Legacy Diversity and Views on Immigration in Peninsular Malaysia. Journal of Ethnic and Diversity Studies (JOEDS), 3(1). Retrieved from https://joeds.com.my/index.php/home/article/view/58

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Ethnic and Diversity Studies (JOEDS): Volume 3, Issue 1

Section

Short communications/research note

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Copyright (c) 2025 Jarud Romadan Bin Khalidi

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