Communication Shock and Imbalance Spiral： A Study of May 13th and the Cognitive Reconstruct among New Generation in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is a multicultural country where Malays and Chinese show a symbiotic state. However, 50 years ago, an ethnic conflict break the peaceful relationship between Malays and Chinese, which is the ethnic riots of May 13, 199. May 13^th incident caused the Malays and Chinese to be frightened and even caused cognitive bias between them. These two communities kept each other a safety distance, but today, the new generation reform a new ethnic relationship because of the social media. Interactive between Malays and Chinese is different from their grandparents. This study conduct depth interview among young generation of Malays and Chinese, and also the survivor of May 13, to explores their views on collective memory and the changes of ethnic relationship between old and new generation. The result shows that, May 13 fix into an “imbalance spiral” since government control media and audience “heard” those scary stories. However, this phenomenon broke due to new media and the selective exposure by audience. Besides, “communication shock” occurs when young generation receive message that against stereotype, where this bring the reconstructs of cognitive to other ethnic.