The inversion of majority/minority at the de/reterritorialised urban higher education enclave: Xiamen University Malaysia

Abstract

This article examines the inversion of majority/minority at Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM), the offshore campus of a mainland Chinese public university and the catalyst development of a satellite township in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. Using the framing of the de/reterritorialised urban higher education enclave, it examines how, within the campus gates, the interests, needs and priorities of the ‘migrant majority’ (mainland Chinese users) take precedence over other user groups that have, in turn, become the ‘minorities’. Given the Malaysian state’s longstanding defensive stance towards ‘Chinese’ education, the existence of XMUM is unprecedented. This article shows how this de/reterritorialised international branch campus has been made possible by the broader Sino-Malaysian geopolitical and urban capitalist relations. The inversion of majority/minority on campus challenges and complicates Malaysia’s state-sanctioned multi-ethnic co-existence, which prioritises the Muslim Malay majority over other groups. Nevertheless, students’ views complicate the neat categorisations of majority/minority and inclusion/exclusion. Such perspectives highlight the need to examine the de/reterritorialised branch campus as a space in-the-making.