Published date: Dec 07 2023

Journal Title: KnE Social Sciences

Issue title: The International Conference on Environmental, Social and Governance (ICESG 2022)

Pages: 336–348

DOI: 10.18502/kss.v8i20.14613

Mashitah Sabdinmashitah_sabdin@utp.edu.myDepartment of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

Mohd Ikhwan Izzat ZulkefliDepartment of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

In a modern society that comprises various ethnic and religious groups, who share different cultures and languages, tolerance between these groups is a critical element in building peace and harmony. In the Malaysian context, the promotion and fostering of ethnic tolerance has become one of the main agendas of the government in strengthening inter-ethnic relations. This is one of the best ways to prevent ethnic conflict in a pluralistic Malaysian society. In addition, building ethnic tolerance among students of different ethnicities, whether in schools or higher education institutions, should be a major concern that needs to be systematically addressed from within the Malaysian education system. To date, past studies have shown that ethnic slurs, prejudice, and discrimination among students still occur, even though various efforts has been introduced to foster tolerance in the education system and curriculum. As such, the role of religiosity is identified as an important element in sustaining ethnic tolerance. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between religious knowledge, religious personality and inter-ethnic tolerance among Malaysian undergraduate students. Data was collected from 53 Malaysian undergraduate students using a survey questionnaire. A Pearson correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the variables. The results show a positive significant relationship between religious knowledge, religious personality and inter-ethnic tolerance among Malaysian undergraduate students. The results of this study indicate that the role of religious knowledge and religious personality could lead students to achieve ethnic tolerance in a multi-racial and multi-religious country like Malaysia.

Keywords: inter-ethnic tolerance, religious knowledge, religious personality, undergraduate students, Malaysia

[1] Ahmad AR, Rahman AA, Awang MM, Chew FP. Influencing factors of ethnic tolerance among multiethnic youths. In: Gaol FL, Hutagalung F, Peng C, editors. Issues and Trends in Interdisciplinary Behavior and Social Science. 1st ed. London: CRC Press. 2018:89–96.

[2] Ananina V, Danilov D. Ethnic tolerance formation among students of Russian universities: Current state, problems, and perspectives. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2015;214:487–496.

[3] Annalakshmi N, Abeer M. Islamic worldview, religious personality and resilience among Muslim adolescent students in India. European Journal of Psychology. 2011;7(4):716–738.

[4] Awang J, Bakar IA. Toleransi beragama dan hubungannya dengan amalan pela gandong dalam kalangan Muslim dan Kristian di Ambon. Al-Hikmah. 2015;7(1):3–16.

[5] Baiasu R. Religious knowledge, ineffability and gender. Religions (Basel). 2018;9(170):1–10.

[6] Barbeito C. Conflict matters. Peace and conflict education practices towards SDG16 [RIEJS]. Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social. 2019;8(1):181–200.

[7] Bergner RM. What is personality? Two myths and a definition. New Ideas Psychology. 2020;57:1–7.

[8] Cortina JM. What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1993;78(1):98–104.

[9] Damin ZA. Ethnic and religious tolerance: Barrier factors and improvement measures based on Malay youth perspectives in Malaysia [TURCOMAT]. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education. 2021;12(2):622–635.

[10] Daud Z, Salleh NM, Ismail AM, Haridi NH, Usman AH. The unbelief thinking among Muslim youth in Malaysia. American Journal of Applied Science. 2016;13(2):163–170.

[11] De Run EC, Butt MM, Fam KS, Jong HY. Attitudes towards offensive advertising: Malaysian Muslims’ views. Journal of Islamic Marketing. 2010;1(1):25–36.

[12] Dziauddin MF, Nayan N, Ismail K. Mengukur perubahan segregasi kaum di Malaysia menggunakan Indeks Entropi dan Sistem Maklumat Geografi (GIS): Kajian kes Negeri Perak bagi tempoh 1991-2000. Geografia Malaysian Journal of Society and Space. 2017;12(4):12–25.

[13] Farahana ZN, Norhasniah WH. Ethnic tolerance among students in Malaysian public universities. 1st International Conference on Contemporary Education and Economic Development. 2018. https://doi.org/10.2991/ceed-18.2018.2

[14] Harun H, Salleh R, Memon MA, Baharom MN, Abdullah A. Job satisfaction, organizational commitment and stress among offshore oil and gas platform employees. Asian Social Science. 2014;10(11):28–32.

[15] Huda M, Yusuf JB, Azmi Jasmi K, Nasir Zakaria G. al-Zarnūjī’s concept of knowledge (‘ilm). SAGE Open. 2016;6(3):1–13.

[16] Hwee L, Yew J. The constructs that influence students’ acceptance of an e-library system in Malaysia. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT. 2018;14(2):75-82.

[17] Idris F, Abdullah MR, Ahmad AR, Mansor AZ. The Influence of Individual Attributes on Inter-Ethnic Tolerance Among Early Youth in Selangor. (Doctor of Philosophy). Universiti Putra Malaysia. 2008.

[18] Idris F, Abdullah MRN, Ahmad AR & Mansor AZ. The effect of religion on ethnic tolerance in Malaysia: The application of Rational Choice Theory (RCT) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). International Education Studies. 2008;9(11):13– 24.

[19] Idris F, Hamzah A, Tamam E, Wong SL, Anwar Mastor K, Suradi NR. Religious personality and perceived behavior among faith-practicing communities in Malaysia: Uniting or dividing factors? International Journal of Learning. 2008;15(4):1–12.

[20] Idris F, Mastor KA, Hamzah A, Tamam E, Luan WS, Suradi NR. Religious personality and gender differences in the perceived behaviour towards inter-ethnic everyday life among youths. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities. 2008;16(2):141– 157.

[21] Ismail AM. Aqidah as a basis of social tolerance: The Malaysian experience. Ahmad Munawar Ismail. 2012:1-7.

[22] Ismail N, Bakar NH, Majid MA, Kasan H. Pengamalan hidup beragama dalam kalangan mahasiswa Institut Pengajian Tinggi Islam di Malaysia: Religious practice among students of Islamic Institutes of Higher Education (IPTI) in Malaysia. Al-Irsyad: Journal of Islamic and Contemporary Issues. 2019;4(2):78–93.

[23] Katila P, McDermott C, Larson A, Aggarwal S, Giessen L. Forest tenure and the Sustainable Development Goals–A critical view. For Policy Economics. 2020;120:1– 5.

[24] Mohd Khalli MN, Sintang S, Kamu A. The framework of socio-religious harmony in Sabah, East Malaysia: An application of Fuzzy Delphi method. Heliyon. 2022 Jul;8(8):e09976.

[25] Krauss SE, Hamzah A, Juhari R, Hamid J. The Muslim Religiosity-Personality Inventory (MRPI): Towards understanding differences in the Islamic religiosity among the Malaysian youth. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities. 2005;13(2):173–186.

[26] Krauss SE, Hamzah AH, Suandi T, Noah S, Mastor K, Juhari R, et al. The Muslim religiosity-personality measurement inventory (MRPI)’s religiosity measurement model: Towards filling the gaps in religiosity research on Muslims. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities. 2005;13(2):131–145.

[27] Krauss SE, Hamzah AH, Suandi T, Noah SM, Juhari R, Manap JH, et al. Exploring regional differences in religiosity among Muslim youth in Malaysia. Review of Religious Research. 2006;47(3):238–252.

[28] Loh FK. Old vs new politics in Malaysia: State and society in transition. Strategic Information and Research Development Centre. 2009.

[29] Memon MA, Ting H, Ramayah T, Chuah F, Cheah JH. A review of the methodological misconceptions and guidelines related to the application of structural equation modeling: A Malaysian scenario. Journal of Applied Structural Equation Modeling. 2017;1(1):1-8.

[30] Nizah MA, Bakar AR. Salient factor of voting behaviour and its relationship with ethnic and political tolerance in Malaysia. RAIS Journal for Social Sciences. 2020;4(1):87– 95.

[31] Nizah MA, Samsu KH, Azzis MS, Bakar AR. Ethnic tolerance in urban Malaysia. Adv Sci Lett. 2017;23(4):2987–2990.

[32] Nordin AB, Alias N, Siraj S. National integration in multicultural school setting in Malaysia. MOJES: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences. 2018;1(1):20– 29.

[33] Nordin N, Husin W, Salleh M, Harun A. Malaysian peacekeepers perspectives on the influence of governance and ethnic-cross relationship in enhancing ethnic tolerance during peacekeeping operations. Journal of Education and Social Research. 2022;12(1):222.

[34] Ramzy MI, Irfan PM, Hussin Z. Religiosity as a mechanism to control delinquent behaviour of school students. Religions (Basel). 2021;12(823):1–19.

[35] Salleh NM, Ismail AM, Haridi NH, Daud Z, Usman AH. The unbelief thinking among Muslim youth in Malaysia. American Journal of Applied Science. 2016;13(2):163–170.

[36] Schirmer W, Weidenstedt L, Reich W. From tolerance to respect in inter-ethnic contexts. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 2012;38(7):1049–1065.

[37] Shukri AS. Religions tension and tolerance in Malaysia: A survey of newspaper report incidents from 1997-2003. TAFHIM: IKIM Journal of Islam and the Contemporary World. 2004;1(3):19–43.

[38] Soong KK, Kua KS. Racial conflict in Malaysia: Against the official history. Race Cl. 2008;49(3):33–53.

[39] Wan Husin WN, Halim NA, Zul Kernain NF. Students’ perceptions on ethnic tolerance in Malaysia: A study in three public universities. Ethnicities. 2020;0(0):1–22.

[40] Wang X, Froese P. Attitudes toward religion and believers in China: How education increases tolerance of individual religious differences and intolerance of religious influence in politics. Religious Education. 2019;47(1):98–117.

[41] Zainal K, Salleh NM. Ethnic relation among the youth in Malaysia: Toward fulfilling the concept of one Malaysia. Procedia Social Behavioral Sciences. 2010;9:855–858.