INTRODUCTION

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Malaysia are not necessarily more active than those in other Southeast Asian countries. The country's relatively well-developed administrative system, inherited from the colonial days, coupled with its fairly abundant natural resources and small population of 22.0 million, has limited the economic space for NGO activities (Loh 1994, p. 47; Tan and Singh 1994, p. 1). However, by looking at NGOs in relation to the political, economic, and social structures of the country, it becomes clear that the state–NGO relationship, in spite of the small size of the NGO sector, has peculiar dynamism, and that NGOs in Malaysia are performing rather peculiar roles.

Important among the factors dictating the activities of NGOs in Malaysia are: (1) they are subjected to strict supervision and regulation at the hands of the political system with its strong authoritarian leaning; (2) a fairly well-planned development policy has been in place since the 1970s, sustained by a well-developed administrative mechanism and by the ruling party's organization, which extends to the grass-roots level; and (3) Malaysian society is characterized by its typically multi-ethnic social structure (with bumiputra, namely Malays and other indigenous ethnic groups, constituting 61.7 per cent of the population; ethnic Chinese 27.3 per cent; and ethnic Indians 7.7 per cent [Malaysia 1996a, p. 106]), and that the government has actively pursued policies favouring Malays.

Under this situation, NGOs in Malaysia have performed peculiar roles and functions. One salient feature is that, by operating within the anomalous economic space created by a combination of an authoritarian type of government and its special ethnic policy, they act in ways that clearly reflect the society's ethnic features. The delicate inter-ethnic relationships in the country have far-reaching effects on many facets of its society, including politics, economics, and foreign affairs; and these effects are also felt very typically by the country's NGO sector.