A 'nation branding' project disseminates the reputation of a country, just as a company's or product's brand image is created through advertising and branding. This reputation has a profound impact on a country's image and the way it is perceived. Increasingly countries are reinventing themselves and, in each time, repackaging its symbolisms for both internal and external audiences. This is essentially a nation branding effort that utilises symbols like colours, the national flower, the national anthem, military uniforms, medallions, rituals and patriotic songs. Radio Malaya, which began broadcasting in 1946, gradually developed into an arm for the propagation public service announcements, news, documentaries, interviews apart from music and songs upon the Federation of Malaya's independence in 1957. With the establishment of Orkes Radio Malaya in 1961, popular patriotic songs began airing earnestly. This marks the beginning of the government's intent in branding a national identity and making it identifiable in a sonic manner. This paper discusses the role of the popular patriotic song Tanah Pusaka (1964), in the process of branding the nation through the radio. It focuses on the importance of branding disseminated through the repetition of symbols in songs via the radio. The salient symbols and narrative of collective history embodied in this song are important in maintaining the survival and resilience of the ethnic that share the same collective history.
Upon its independence in 1957, Malaysia was in the process of becoming a modern nation and therefore required modern totems to bind together its diverse population. Malaysia's postcolonial plural society would be brought under the imagined 'nation-of-intent' of the government of the day (Shamsul A. B., 2001). Music in the form of the national anthem and patriotic songs were and remained essential components of these totems; mobilised by the state to foster a sense of national cohesion and collective identity. These songs are popular and accepted by Malaysian citizens from diverse backgrounds as a part of their national identity, and such affinities are supported by the songs' repeated broadcast and consumption on national radio, television and social media platforms. For this study, several focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and the Klang Valley. This research intends to observe and analyse whether selected popular patriotic songs in Malaysia, composed and written between the 1960s to 2000 could promote and harness a sense of collective identity and belonging amongst Malaysians. There exists an evident lacuna in the study of the responses and attitudes of Malaysians, specifically as music listeners and consumers of popular patriotic songs. The study finds that unlike initially hypothesised, patriotic songs -instead of commercial popular songsare more popular and wide-reaching in appeal across different professions, ethnicities, religions and geographic locations of Malaysians. Patriotic music provides a means for social cohesion, not via the propagation of dogmatic patriotic content, but through the personal, intimate and affective associations that such songs solicit from individual citizens.
Education and the schooling system in Malaysia are constant agenda in the discourse of nation-building. This is because education is regarded as an important avenue to inculcate national consciousness and social cohesion among the people. This article attempts to track the various school systems in Malaysia, with the purpose to highlight the different routes of educational choices in Malaysia. These different routes have their roots in the education policies formulated through time and the growth of a multi-ethnic population in the country. It is argued that these different routes of educational choices display 'inclusiveness', catering to the needs of the diverse population of Malaysia -ethnic, language, religion, regional, disability, vocation, public or private. The Malaysian education scenario represents a complexity of choices, each colouring the pathways of educational experience, expertise and engagement. The guiding question is to what extent this complexity of educational routes influence social cohesion?
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melaksanakan penyelidikan empirikal mengenai pengaruh nilai sivik, batas etnik dan tadbir urus kerajaan terhadap pembinaan etos bangsa di sekolah-sekolah kebangsaan di Zon Utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Data kajian ini dikumpulkan dari soal-selidik ke atas 566 orang guru sekolah kebangsaan di negeri-negeri Perak, Kedah, Perlis dan Pulau Pinang. Data dianalisis menggunakan kaedah Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) menggunakan perisian SmartPLS 3.3.3. Skala interval lima mata digunakan untuk mengukur item-item dalam setiap konstruk. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan, pertama sekali, nilai sivik mempunyai kesan positif yang signifikan terhadap batas etnik (β=.286; p=.00). Kedua, nilai sivik mempunyai kesan positif terhadap tadbir urus kerajaan yang signifikan dan cukup besar (β=.409; p=.000). Ketiga, nilai sivik mempunyai kesan positif yang signifikan terhadap etos bangsa (β=.304; p=.000). Keempat, batas etnik mempunyai kesan positif yang signifikan terhadap etos bangsa (β=.156; p=.000). Akhirnya, tadbir urus kerajaan mempunyai kesan positif yang signifikan terhadap etos bangsa (β=.442; p=.000). Hasil kajian ini dapat memberi implikasi praktikal bagi para guru untuk mengenali pengaruh nilai sivik, batas etnik dan tadbir urus kerajaan terhadap pembinaan etos bangsa di sekolah-sekolah kebangsaan di negeri-negeri Zon Utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Selain itu, berdasarkan nilai sivik, batas etnik dan tadbir urus kerajaan, mereka juga dapat meningkatkan inisiatif dalam pembinaan etos bangsa.
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