Ernest Renan, a French scholar, once affirmed that all countries, regardless of their pedigree and political types, must first 'get their nations wrong'. In other words, facts, reality and history must all be deftly 'disciplined' - distorted, if you may - before a country can be formed.

Benedict Anderson, a political scientist at Cornell University, went a step further. He claimed that before a nation could be built, some form of common imagination must be forged. Empirically, Anderson`s thesis is a sound one, even if subject to an empirical test.

If a person were to live from one to 100, for instance, s/he would only be acquainted with a handful of people in a country of teeming millions. Such a person`s social ties are therefore never more than 0.0001 percent of the entire population.

Yet, a person well integrated into such an 'imagined community' would fight or die in the name of a country that is literally full of strangers. In this context, Terence Rangers and Eric Hobswam, have written that the history of nation-states is replete with examples of tradition being invented, or inverted.

In Malaysia, the leading specialist on the extent to which identity is collectively manufactured, and passed off as historically and politically unproblematic, is of course Professor AB Shamsul, the director of Malay Civilisation at the National University of Malaysia.

Using works pioneered by Ernest Renan, for instance, Professor AB Shamsul has been able to show how the term 'bumiputera' for instance was created in 1971; indeed how the authorities have since struggled with such concepts as Melayu Jati or Melayu Baru.

Concept of Malayness

Is it the Malay mentality that the government seeks to change; or the original Malayness with which a party like Umno seeks to protect, and project, through the political system ?

The former seeks to discipline the Malay, to free them from the proverbial 'clutches', while the latter seeks to make other groups aware of the political supremacy of the Malays, which is indeed guaranteed in the constitution.

Often times, a party like Umno chooses both, sending confusing signals as to how it seeks to advance the cause of Malaysia into the ranks of an egalitarian entity. Thus, the discourse on Malay identity - even when purely within the ranks of Umno - comes with clear policy implications; due largely to Umno's strength as the mainstay of the Malaysian political system.

Although Umno is often seen as the epitomy of narrow Malayness - which Malaysia has come to grieve - the key decision makers are not beyond compromise. This is partly due to their world view and background. Indeed, a form of genealogy paradox also exists within the top tiers - while Umno seeks to be a Malay only domain, its key leaders have had rich pedigree.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and now Abdullah Ahmad Badawi are not merely Malays in how the constitution defines them - all practice Islam, speak Malay, and respect the Malay customs - but they also have Arab, Siamese, Indian and even Chinese heritage.

This shows that the concept of pure Malayness in Umno is quite pliable in practice; with the reins of leadership given to those who can govern effectively, rather than based purely on racial probity

Given the fact the leading office bearers in government are already cosmopolitan in background, why is the 'construction' of Bangsa Malaysia such a conflict-ridden one?

The answer to this question lies partly in the manner in which political power has been historically divided in Malaysia - according to ethnic representation, especially in the form of the National Front - but also because of the way in which reforms are attempted by the administrative elite.

In the search for Bangsa Malaysia, for instance, there has been the official tendency to initiate the mental change through the education system first. Incidentally, this is a legacy inherited from the British in 1946, according to research by Professor Tan Liok Ee in her book The Politics of Chinese Education in Malaya 1945-1961.

Vernacular education

The post-war colonial government was antagonistic to vernacular schools. Its aim was to expand English-medium education as a prelude to independence and nation-building. When Umno was enthroned as the key party of the government since independence, it has exhibited the same desire to transform the vernacular schools to be more in line with its concept of nation-building.

Yet, such attempts are seen by other racial groups, especially the Chinese and Tamils, with deep suspicion, as the system of ethnic concessions available to the Malays, which is heavily practiced in Umno, is left intact.

Such selective reforms have obviously courted open resistance from other groups protective of their cultural and educational conclave.

Indeed, for over a hundred years up to 1945, the Chinese in Malaya, for instance, operated a comprehensive system of independent primary and secondary schools. Management committees comprising community leaders and teachers set their own admission policies, curricula and examinations. To this date, outside of China, only Malaysia has an established system of Chinese schools.

Further more, with the tertiary education system still driven by quotas, it has been difficult for other races to compromise on the 'intangibles' that they cherish - among others, cultural autonomy, space, and lifestyle have been buttressed partly by the vernacular education system.

Inordinately, those who cannot vote for a change in the policies, for instance, have thus voted with their feet; by seeking greener pastures in other countries.

Irrespective of the difficulties of forging Bangsa Malaysia, the issue is one of pace: How quickly does the government want to achieve this? Officially, the goal is to instil some sense of a race-blind Malaysian identity by 2020, based on accommodationists platforms; as opposed to forced assimilation schemes, as in Thailand and Indonesia.

To be sure, the construction of a common Malaysian identity is possible. However, it should not be centered on Ernest Renan`s dictate to 'get the nation wrong'. In other words, facts and history need not be twisted to create an 'imagined community'.

If seen strictly in terms of numbers, the vernacular schools in the country have no more than 700,000 students at any one point. The enrolment, while high, has remained relatively static for the greater part of independence too. This alone should indicate that more and more households are agreeable to the idea of a common Malaysian identity.

But in seeking to erect such a nation, policies - rather than communal politics - must be given increasing salience, not necessarily for idealist reason, but because of practical changes on the ground.

Key amongst these practical changes is the increased professionalisation of the middle class, a phenomenon which can only gain in momentum due to the existence of a demography profile where up to 70 percent of Malaysians are under the age of 35 .

In this sense, the country will increasingly judge the leadership in the government and opposition based on pragmatic and effective policy platforms. In creating a Bangsa Malaysia by 2020 the trick therefore lies in getting the policy right, rather than the history wrong.

PHAR KIM BENG is author of the Eye Eye You column in malaysiakini. He graduated from the International Islamic University in 1994 as a Muslim convert, having previously been a Buddhist. He has travelled around the world studying at the University of Notre Dame, where he understood the beauty of Catholic scholarship, the University of Cambridge, where he learned the importance of British education, and later the University of Tokyo, where he learned his survival Japanese.