Building integration platforms in multiethnic Malaysia: A tribute to ideas and contributions of Professor Ruediger Korff

My work has always been about ‘Malaysia in the village, simultaneously the village in Malaysia’, that is, how the global and local become socially woven, in the context of the ‘Society, State and Market Nexus.’ I have learnt about and experimented with ideas and concepts developed by the Ger-many-based ‘strategic group’ academic study in the last thirty years. I have used them to try to make sense of the complex, inter-ethnic, Malaysian society and its ability to build and sustain a resilient cohesive whole, which, despite imperfections, has managed to thrive over the last seventy years. I contend that it is less challenging to explain why conflict has occurred and violence has broken out in Malaysia; the harder task is actually explaining why it hasn’t happened for 50 years, when most observers, local and foreign, have predicted that the ‘ethnic time bomb’ shall explode anytime. The brief essay that follows is an attempt to explain how has an admirable level of peace and stability for a long time and, indeed, with improved economic conditions has enabled the people to reject violence altogether.Social mobility has improved and poverty considerably declined. Social safety nets are contributing to this harmonious state of existence in Malaysia. I present this essay to a colleague and friend who has my utmost respect, Professor Ruediger Korff.