Malaysians know very little about Sarawak.
This severely limits our (Sarawak’s) ability to integrate, and more importantly to influence. Because what good is an ‘equal partner’ without influence?
And faced with an identity crisis and the dual threats of ethnocracy and theocracy, the country needs Sarawak to make its voice heard now more than ever.
Even taking into account our narrow self-interest, Sarawak needs to stand out and promote its own unique selling points to the rest of the world or risk being lumped together with the more right-wing elements coming out of the Peninsula, adversely affecting our ability to secure investments, organise international events and attract tourists, among other things.
Think Texas in the USA or Scotland in the UK, which manages to both stand out as sovereign states with their own distinct identities, while having a large influence on their wider nations as a whole.
It’s not enough for us to talk in a bubble.
What Sarawak needs is a comprehensive soft power strategy.
The phrase “soft power” was coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye, who defined it as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment”, saying it reflects “the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals and policies”.
In other words, Sarawak needs to project its values and strengths through the media to influence culture and win the hearts and minds of our fellow Malaysians.
It means creating content that is truthful and unapologetically Sarawakian. As Joseph Nye said, the best propaganda is not propaganda.
Just imagine how an increased representation of people from Sarawak’s various ethnic groups like the Kelabit and Melanau in the media can expand the concept of multiculturalism in Malaysia, so often seen through the narrow lens of the Malay, Chinese and Indian dichotomy.
Imagine the effect on our political discourse when the term Bumiputera-so often a shorthand for Malay-Muslim in the Peninsula, and the top tier of citizenship rights- is widely understood to also refer to a Christian-Dayak, or a Sino-Kadazan from neighbouring Sabah.
Visualise how, by increasing the media visibility of Sarawak – the land of gothic churches and floating mosques, Tuak and Tattoos, Gawai parades, beauty pageants and music festivals – Malaysia can counter the narrative of being a hyper conservative state that is unwelcoming to the arts, music and entertainment.
It’s not hard to see how these ideals and characteristics of Sarawak, just by merely existing in the mainstream, are subversive to the more extreme ethnocentric ideas that certain factions of Malaysia represents.
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Jason Sim is a media practitioner who believes in promoting the ideals of Sarawak through media and content creation.