Budaya Kepenyokongan Sukan Bola Sepak Sebagai Tapak Integrasi: Penelitian Terhadap Kelompok Ultras Malaya (Culture of Football Supporters As A Platform of Integration: A Study of Ultras Malaya)

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the government has been focusing on building unity among multi-racial communities. This is being taken seriously through the implementation of several key policies such as the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the National Cultural Policy. The goal of both policies is to create an ambitious National Unity. One of the elements contained in the National Cultural Policy relates to sports activities. Through sports activities, the government believes that it can foster inter-racial relations, in addition to fostering common sense and at the same time stimulating the spirit of nationalism among societies. However, it should be noted that the scope of sports activities is too broad to explore. In addition, studies about it have received little attention from local scholars, although they are widely reported. Because of this, it is important to choose the main aspects of sports activities to be the topic of discussion. Therefore, this paper focuses on the existence of a group of football supporters who call themselves Ultras Malaya. Since 2007, the involvement of Ultras Malaya has shown a lot of light that the sport of football is capable of bridging race relations. It has been shown by the attitude of the group. To see these things, it is very important to go back to the history of the establishment of Ultras Malaya and also require that the aspect of uniqueness displayed by Ultras Malaya that can be used as a medium for integration platrorm. This paper uses a qualitative approach. While primary data were obtained based on interviews with the Ultras Malaya coordinator, apart from the direct involvement of the authors in the group.