The Social Contract Or Traditional Elements In The Federal Constitution Of Malaysia: An Analysis Of Its Application

Various issues on the constitution involving the traditional elements give rise to debates within the society either on social media or the electronic and print media. Traditional elements issues namely the position of Malay Rulers, the special rights of Malays, Islam and the Malay language are often debated. Through social media, various incidents for example the insultation of Sultan Muhammad V (2019) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) (2018) become the debate of society. This issue shows that the debate regarding the traditional elements often gains the attention of society. Traditional elements contained in the Constitution today starting from the Malacca Sultanate era. These elements are preserved according to the history of the country. all these elements need to be known and understood by the younger generation. A pilot study on the knowledge, attitude and appreciation of the traditional elements in Malaysia has been carried out. A number of two pilot studies were held involving 200 and 191 respondents through social media for example WhatsApp and Facebook. The findings from this study show that the respondents’ knowledge, attitude and appreciation of the traditional elements is high. There were differences in knowledge, attitude and appreciation of the traditional elements according to ethnic. The implication of this study is that the traditional elements should be known and understood by every Malaysian to make this country in peace and harmonious.