Conflicts in Environmental and Agricultural Organizations in the Far North Region of Cameroon

The population of the Far North Region of Cameroon suffers the most from poverty and huge environmental challenges. As a result, they have the highest concentration of environmental organizations in Cameroon. Data was collected by interviewing key informants who work in environmental and agricultural companies. It was discovered that conflicts in such organizations are caused by the differences people have in terms of opinions, interests and needs as they work together with each other. Their strictness with one another also causes conflict especially when doing dirty or difficult work tasks. Conflict also comes about when the religious values of each other is not respected especially that of the Muslims in Christians dominated companies. There is also generational conflict which is characterized by the confrontation between the older and less educated generation who have some experience and young graduates who would like to implement new practices. Other causes are discrimination where workers are not promoted basing on merit but on their ethnic relation to one another. There is equally an economic cause which is due to the non-distribution of part of the substantial profits that some companies make to their employees as well as too low salary and poor work tasks distribution.

Lesson Learned of Rohingya Persecution in Myanmar for Sustainable Development and Policy Transformation in Malaysia

This paper examines about the lesson learned of persecuted Rohingya people in Myanmar. The Myanmar regime does not recognize the Rohingyas as their people and accused them as Bengalis from Bangladesh. The issue of denied citizenship has caused the Rohingya people to live in limbo. Unlike other ethnics in Myanmar, they are denied the rights as sovereign citizens. The situation becomes worse when the other local citizens, for the reason of ethnic and religion matters, join forces with the regime in violating and abusing the Rohingyas. Therefore, the Rohingyas are left as stateless people in their own country and are forced to become refugees to seek a better life. The case of the Rohingya people in Myanmar can be a lesson learned for Malaysians who are living in a multi-society country. The government and the people have to be aware that unfair policy and physical violence could increase the intensity of conflict and cause bad implication in terms of peace and harmony in the country. Hence, several possible peace process initiatives of sustainable development must be introduced to transform the certain policy and further strengthen the ethnic relation in Malaysia to ensure everyone lives together in peace and harmony.

Inter-Ethnic Relations in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia, with Special Emphasis on Sokoru, Tiroo-Afata and Dedo Districts: 1900s-2007

A careful investigation has been made on the pattern of the 20th century inter-ethnic relation in Jimma zone of the Oromia region focusing mainly on three of the districts: Sokoru, Tiroo Afataa and Dedo. The result proved that the inter-ethnic relation of the period under study was dominated largely by the harmonious relationship between Oromos of the region and basically those Omotic neighbors of Yam, Dawro, Konta and Kafa. The inter-ethnic relation with people of Yam dominated the two districts of Sokoru and Tiro Afaata and the good attitude of particularly the king, Aba Jifar II, towards the Yam people constituted the bedrock of this peaceful interaction and integration with the Mecha Oromo of the region. The inter-ethnic relation with people of Dawro, Konta and Kafa, on the other hand, dominated the district of Dedo, and the fruit of the cash crop transaction of the region attracted a large number of these people to the study area. In both of the three districts, the inter-ethnic relations resulted in the assimilation of the Omotic neighboring communities into the Cushitic culture of Oromo of the study area making the Omotic communities bilingual in their languages and practitioner of mainly the doctrine of Islam in their religion.

THE LANGUAGE CHOICE OF CHINESE COMMUNITY IN MEDAN: A SOCIOLINGUISTICS STUDY

This study aims to describe the manifestation of language choice and the dominant factors of determining language choice among Chinese community inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic relations in Medan. This study used descriptive qualitative method emphasized on a multiethnic and multilingual Chinese community background. The sociolinguistic theory of language choice focused on the domain features involving family and occupation domains was used as the basis of this study. It applied Miles and Huberman technique for analyzing the data and the Bungin formula for calculating the data. Of the 80 respondents, the results of the questionnaire showed that the Hokkien sub-ethnic was the dominant sub-ethnic in Medan compared to other Chinese sub-ethnicities. The manifestation of language choice in the domain of family and occupation especially in inter-ethnic relation is dominated by vernacular language, especially Hokkien language although respondents come from non-Hokkien ethnic. However, Indonesia language becomes the main language used related to intra-ethnic relation. In addition, the dominant language choice factor is influenced by Chinese participant’s cultural backgrounds similarity.

MIKOROT DALAM KONTEKS KEBUDAYAAN ETNIK DUSUN DI SABAH: ANALISIS DARI PERSPEKTIF HUBUNGAN ETNIK

Kebanyakan negara di dunia yang mempunyai komposisi etnik yang pelbagai sering berhadapan dengan situasi ketegangan etnik, isu kuasa politik etnik, persaingan etnik, malah ada yang memuncak dengan konflik fizikal yang lebih radikal sehingga menyebabkan kehilangan nyawa dan harta benda. Isu etnik sentiasa mewarnai hubungan antara masyarakat dan keadaan ini juga berlaku di Malaysia. Pelbagai usaha telah dilakukan oleh kerajaan untuk memastikan hubungan antara etnik di Malaysia akan terus kekal harmoni sehingga kini. Usaha tersebut dilaksanakan melalui pelbagai program dan turut diterjemahkan dalam pelaksanaan dasar pendidikan negara. Hal yang menarik ialah usaha kerajaan dalam memastikan hubungan etnik sentiasa harmoni bukanlah perkara yang baharu dan menghairankan dalam masyarakat Dusun di Sabah. Amalan cara hidup dan sikap toleransi yang tinggi dalam komuniti ini sudah berakar umbi sejak sekian lama. Salah satu amalan yang menunjukkan sikap keterbukaan mereka yang tinggi terhadap perbezaan etnik dan agama ialah amalan mikorot. Justeru, objektif penulisan makalah ini adalah untuk menjelaskan makna dan konsep mikorot dalam budaya masyarakat Dusun, menjelaskan ritual pelaksanaan mikorot dan yang terakhir, mengetahui implikasi mikorot dan cabarannya dalam masyarakat. Hasil kajian yang diperoleh melalui kaedah kualitiatif menggunakan temu bual mendapati bahawa mikorot adalah satu upacara yang dilaksanakan oleh etnik Dusun di Sabah sebagai cara untuk mengesahkan nilai kekeluargaan mereka terhadap individu yang bukan ahli keluarga mereka tanpa melibatkan perkahwinan atau hubungan biologi. Selain itu, amalan mikorot ini juga berjaya memupuk hubungan yang harmoni antara etnik Dusun dengan etnik Dusun yang lain dan antara etnik Dusun dengan masyarakat lain di negeri Sabah. Kata kunci: Mikorot, korot, toleransi etnik, hubungan etnik. Many countries in the world with various ethnicities often face situations of ethnic tension, ethnic political power issues, ethnic rivalry, or even more radical, physical conflicts that lead to loss of lives and properties. Issues of ethnicity have always influenced the relationship between members of a society, and this situation also occurs in Malaysia.Various efforts have been made by the Malaysian government to ensure ethnic relations in the country harmonious. Efforts have been implemented through various programs including the implementation of the Malaysian education policy. Interestingly, harmonious ethnic relations are not new within the Dusun community in Sabah. The practice of such lifestyle and tolerance in this community existed there since time immemorial. One of the practices that demonstrates their high openness towards ethnic and religious differences is mikorot. This paper seeks to explain the meanings and concepts of mikorot in the culture of the Dusun community, the implementation rituals of mikorot, and the implications of mikorot and its challenges in society. The results obtained through a qualitative study using interviews found that mikorot is a ceremony performed by the Dusun ethnic community to establish or acknowledge in Sabah family ties with individuals who are not members of their families without involving marriage or biological relationships. In addition, the mikorot practice also fosters harmony among the various Dusun ethnics as well as between the Dusun ethnic and other communities in Sabah. Keywords: Mikorot, korot, ethnic tolerence, ethnic relation.

Contesting Religion and Ethnicity in Madurese Society

This paper describes historical phases of Madurese identity construction, the origins of Madurese ethnicity, inter-ethnic and inter-cultural relation, Madurese Pendalungan culture, and how Islam involves into cultural identities of the Madurese. In this paper, I will argue that Islam has become part of cultural values of the Madurese, that is, embedded within traditional activities and local wisdom. However, the involvement does not mean to exclude other “non-Islamic” and “non-Madurese” tradition in the process of construing Madurese identity. By exploring how Madurese identity was culturally constructed we could be able to draw more visible connection between religion, tradition, and social identity. This paper illustrates how Madurese identity culturally produced, nurtured, and matured. Since identity is a way of perceiving, interpreting, and representing the existence of people, I persist that Madurese identity has also been produced and reproduced depending on political, social, and cultural situation. In this regard, inter-religious or inter-ethnic relation remains important. [Artikel ini menjelaskan fase terbentuknya identitas orang-orang Madura, asal-usul etnis, hubungan lintas-budaya dan antaretnis, budaya Pendalungan, dan bagaimana Islam berinteraksi dengan identitas budaya orang Madura. Dalam artikel ini saya meneguhkan bahwa Islam telah menjadi bagian tak terpisahkan dari nilai-nilai budaya Madura, yang bisa dilihat dari dalam aktivitas sosial dan kearifan lokal orang Madura. Meski demikian, hal ini tidak menafikan bahwa tradisi “non-Islam” atau “non-Madura” juga memiliki peran dalam proses pembentukan identitas Madura. Dengan mengurai proses konstruksi identitas sosial Madura, seseorang bisa melihat dengan lebih jelas hubungan erat antara agama, tradisi, dan identitas sosial. Artikel ini juga menggambarkan bagaimana identitas Madura diproduksi, dikembangkan, dan dilestarikan. Sebab identitas adalah sebuah persepsi, interpretasi, dan representasi, artikel ini menyimpulkan bahwa identitas Madura pun tidak lepas dari tahapan itu: bergantung pada kondisi politik, sosial, ekonomi dan budaya. Dalam konteks ini, relasi antaragama dan antaretnis menjadi sangat penting.]

Kajian Tinjauan Hubungan Etnik Dalam Kalangan Pelajar Tahun Satu Di Kampus Johor Bahru, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

Kajian ini membincangkan tentang tahap hubungan sosial dan patriotisme dalam kalangan pelajar tahun satu Kampus Johor Bahru, UTM. Seramai 521 pelajar yang telah mengikuti kursus Hubungan Etnik (KHE) menjadi responden kajian ini. Kajian ini merupakan kajian tinjauan yang menggunakan borang soal selidik. Skop kajian ini tentang hubungan sosial daripada perspektif perpaduan kaum dan partriotisme yang melibatkan kecintaan, kebanggaan dan kesetiaan kepada negara. Data dianalisis menggunakan kekerapan, peratusan dan min. Hasil kajian menunjukkan tahap hubungan sosial pelajar tahun satu adalah berada pada tahap sederhana. Manakala patriotisme pula berada pada tahap tinggi. Beberapa cadangan juga dikemukakan untuk memperbaiki kelemahan–kelemahan kepada pengajaran dan pembelajaran kursus Hubungan Etnik di UTM. Kata kunci: Hubungan etnik; perpaduan; hubungan sosial; patriotisme; masyarakat majmuk; polarisasi This research discusses the level of social relation and patriotism among first year students in Johor Bahru Campus, UTM. Respondents of this study were 521 students enrolled in the Ethnic Relation course. A survey method using questionnaire was used. The scopes of the study include social relation from the perspective of ethnic unity and patriotism in the context of love, admiration and loyalty to the country. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean. The findings showed that the level of social relation among the first year students was at a moderate level, whereas the level of patriotism was high. Several recommendations are given to improve the weaknesses of teaching and learning in Ethnic Relation course at UTM. Key words: Ethnic relation; unity; social relation; patriotism; plural society; polarization