British Malaya Research Articles

Rice Cultivation and the Ethnic Division of Labor in British Malaya

The idea that the British colonial administration of Malaya systematically excluded non-Malays from rice cultivation has gained some currency in writings on Malaysian history and has become an important part of a model of colonial exploitation. According to this model, the British administration of Malaya undertook to maximize revenue and to serve the needs of British capital by pursuing a policy of ethnic division of labor, with Chinese working in the mines and Indians on the estates of Malaya and with the indigenous Malay population producing food for the mine and estate workers. Immigrant labor, the argument continues, was denied the opportunity to build an economic base in Malaya in order to keep wages low, while the indigenous Malay population was discouraged from growing export produce (particularly rubber) in order to stimulate rice cultivation, thereby creating a cheap supply of food. This model is attractive but in several particulars it is wrong, and taken as a whole it oversimplifies and seriously distorts the situation in colonial Malaya.

The White Man's Burden and Brown Humanity: Colonialism and Ethnicity in British Malaya

AbstractEthnicity is one of several boundary phenomena (another is class) marking out groups within society. Ethnic identity may be perceived according to a variety of terms such as race, culture, religion, language or according to the place of origin of the group's members. In the colonial context the most obvious boundary was between Europeans and non-Europeans. Cast into an alien environment, Europeans acquired a self-awareness and a corporate sense, and the first part of this paper deals with this colonial experience, including the alienation of the individual, the growth of white tribalism and the emergence of a colonial ideology which was partly common to the empire as a whole and partly peculiar to Malaya. I then turn to examine European perceptions of non-Europeans (especially Malays) and the way ethnic attitudes affected colonial administration. I conclude by briefly considering the British influence upon the Malay's image of themselves.

Reply to Professor Lim's Comments on “The Economic Development of British Malaya to 1914, etc.”

Reply to Professor Lim's Comments on “The Economic Development of British Malaya to 1914, etc.”

Islam and Islamic Institutions in British Malaya: Policies and Implementation.

Islam and Islamic Institutions in British Malaya: Policies and Implementation.

A Comment on P.J. Drake's “The Economic Development of British Malaya to 1914: An Essay in Historiography with Some Questions for Historians”

There is little that is not known already in Prof. P.J. Drake's article. He himself admits this. He gets his materials from various published sources. Most surprisingly, he does not make any direct reference to such easily readable and indispensable sources of materials such as Frank Swettenham's British Malaya and Lewis Fermor's Report Upon the Mining Industry of Malaya. Given his subject matter and for the period of his study, to omit these two sources is like discussing Christianity without quoting from the Bible or Islam without reading from the Koran.

The Economic Development of British Malaya to 1914: An Essay in Historiography with Some Questions for Historians

Malayan economic development in modern times can be split into three broad phases:(1) establishment and vigorous growth of the staple industries (tin and rubber) — roughly from the middle of the nineteenth century to 1914;(2) fluctuations of staple fortunes — the period between the two world wars;(3) consolidation and rationalization of the staple industries together with diversification of the economy — post 1945.

Singapore: Its Growth as an Entrepot Port, 1819–1941

Once the premier port in colonial Southeast Asia and one of the foremost in the British Empire, Singapore now ranks as the world's fourth busiest port, tonnagewise, with the second highest per capita G.D.P. in Asia. Its post-war achievements rest on solid historical advantages. A broad historical survey of its commercial growth before World War II is therefore not amiss: the more so, as there has been no such panoramic presentation before. With no natural resources, Singapore's economic growth was almost synonymous with its foreign trade. In most historical works, especially those written before World War II, Singapore has been treated as an integral part of the Straits Settlements or British Malaya, for, until its emergence as a separate nation in August 1965, Singapore as the focal point of reference for researches was not part of the historical consciousness.

Malayan Labor in Transition Labor Policy and Trade Unionism, 1955–63

Malayan labor and trade union policy at the eve of Merdeka (Independence) bore the indelible imprints of past crises and uneven development. Prior to the Second World War trade unions were outlawed in British Malaya, where labor policy limited itself to protecting workers from the more blatant social and economic evils as a means of encouraging immigration of needed manpower.1 By the end of the war and Japanese occupation, however, the hitherto transient Chinese and Indians had become transformed into a domiciled labor force, conscious of their organizational power and prepared to defend their interests.

Disaffection and Revolts in Nigeria During the First World War, 1914–1918

Nigeria, the biggest of the British dependencies in West Africa and the most populous of British African possessions found herself involved in the First World War barely eight months after the amalgamation of the separate southern and northern Protectorates, to form a single unified British possession. The country naturally did not have time to digest the new administrative changes that had just taken place before the war broke out. The policy of federating contiguous but separate political units, had become of the cardinal principles of British imperial policy. Unification with all its shortcomings had worked well enough in Canada, Australia, and South Africa with their sophisticated electorates and even in small African countries like Uganda and the Gold Coast which, when compared with Nigeria, had the benefit of cultural homogeneity. Amalgamation in Nigeria brought in its trail the problem of finding a common administrative policy in an ethnically variegated country. To complicate things the country was put under an autocratic Governor-General Lugard. This was an unfortunate thing for a country with its 337,000 square miles and about 20 million people in an area one third of that of British India and a population greater than that of Ceylon, British Malaya, Australia, New Zealand and British West Indies all added together. 1 It was not just the size of Nigeria that was overwhelming, but the administrative problems that went with the size proved almost unsolvable. These problems, to make matters worse, were tackled with a rather dogmatic approach of pseudo anthropologist who having designed what African political models should be, tried as much as possible to shape the actual societies to fit into a sort of administrative strait-jacket. Since force was needed to make the Nigerian conform to the official political philosophy of indirect rule, any attempt at withdrawal of these visible signs of Imperial control was of necessity fraught with danger. Before the outbreak of the war Nigeria had a single brigade of five battalions known as the Nigeria Regiment. The total strength of this brigade was about

Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of Their Immigration and Settlement (1786-1957).

List of illustrations List of tables Preface Abbreviations Glossary of Indian, Malay and other local terms Aide-memoire Part I. Indian Immigration into British Malaya: Origins and Trends: 1. Indians in pre-British Malaya 2. Causes of Indian immigration into British Malaya 3. Types of migrants and recruitment or movement 4. Emigration-immigration law and practice 5. Flow and characteristics of migration Part II. The Indian Population of Malaya: Growth and Associated Characteristics: 6. Growth and structure 7. Pattern and distribution 8. Settlement characteristics 9. Ethno-linguistic composition Part III. Indians in the Modern Malayan Economy: 10. Agriculture and industry 11. Communications and commerce Epilogue Appendices Select bibliography Index.

The Development of British Malaya, 1896–1909. By <italic>Chai Hon-Chan</italic>. [Oxford in Asia.] (New York: Oxford University Press. 1964. Pp. xi, 364. Cloth $7.35, paper $4.90.)

Journal Article The Development of British Malaya, 1896–1909. By Chai Hon-Chan. [Oxford in Asia.] (New York: Oxford University Press. 1964. Pp. xi, 364. Cloth $7.35, paper $4.90.) Get access The Development of British Malaya, 1896–1909. By Hon-Chan Chai. [Oxford in Asia.] (New York: Oxford University Press. 1964. Pp. xi, 364. Cloth $7.35, paper $4.90.) Lennox A. Mills Lennox A. Mills Wolfville, Nova Scotia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 72, Issue 3, April 1967, Page 1066, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/72.3.1066 Published: 01 April 1967

The Development of British Malaya, 1896-1909

The Development of British Malaya, 1896-1909

The Development of British Malaya, 1896–1909, The Story of Malaysia and Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya

The Development of British Malaya, 1896–1909, The Story of Malaysia and Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya

Book Review: Far East: The Development of British Malaya 1896–1909

Book Review: Far East: The Development of British Malaya 1896–1909

The Development of British Malaya, 1896-1909.

The Development of British Malaya, 1896-1909.

The Development of British Malaya 1896-1909

The Development of British Malaya 1896-1909

The geological relationship between Mt Kinabalu and neighbouring regions

For this meeting an account has been requested of the relationship between Mt Kinabalu and the geology of the neighbouring regions in as far as this is likely to have influenced the fauna and flora. This involves a consideration of two of the most interesting and striking features in South-East Asia. The first is Mt Kinabalu itself; at 13455 ft. it is the highest and most spectacular peak in the Malayan Archipelago. Unlike many other facts this is not only true scientifically, but can readily be seen to be so, for approaching North Borneo on either its east or west coast one of the first sights, and a most impressive one, is of the mountain mass dominating the sky-line and often even rising above the scattered white cumulus clouds. The second feature is the Sunda Shelf, one of the most extensive and best defined shelf areas in the world. The identification of this shelf area in the first half of the last century marks it as one of the earliest regional geological features to be recognized in South-East Asia; we will examine it in the light of recent investigations and in particular the findings of palaeontological and age determination work. Figure 26 shows the main features of their regional setting. The two features mentioned above appear to be of primary importance in influencing the regional fauna and flora. The influence of Mt Kinabalu will be referred to first, but only briefly as the mountain is being described by Mr Collenette and Mr Askew; the Sunda Shelf will then be considered more fully. Mt Kinabalu influences the fauna and flora by a number of factors of which the more important are its altitude, its composition and its relationship to other highland areas now separated from it by lowlands and seas. Of these the last two are geologically significant. The composition of the rock forming the mountain is varied: the main peaks are granodiorite, but within the massif there are two large areas of older ultra-basic rock and also a highland area (Pinosuk Plateau) formed in more recent times from rock debris. The rock composition is a factor in determining the soils which in turn affect the flora, but it is the geological relationship of the mountain to the surrounding islands and mainland area which is of particular regional interest. An outline of the regional geology enables this to be appreciated. In the last fifteen years there has been a substantial increase in the knowledge of the geology of British Borneo, Malaya and southern Thailand, but with some exceptions full descriptions of the findings have yet to be published; thus attempts to correlate regionally the new data with older results and ideas are scanty. An attempt to do this is made below and the following features are outlined: ( a ) the regional geology, ( b ) the Sunda Shelf, and ( c ) the geological relationship of Kinabalu to the surrounding area.

In 70 Days: The Story of the Japanese Campaign in British Malaya. 2nd ed. (rev. and enlarged)

In 70 Days: The Story of the Japanese Campaign in British Malaya. 2nd ed. (rev. and enlarged) In 70 Days: The Story of the Japanese Campaign in British Malaya. 2nd ed. (rev. and enlarged). By Edwin Maurice Glover. London, Muller, 1949. 248 pp. Illus. Index. 712′​′×434′​′⁠. 8s. 6d. Victor Purcell Victor Purcell Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 26, Issue 3, July 1950, Pages 413–414, https://doi.org/10.2307/2607722 Published: 01 July 1950

British Malaya: an Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya

British Malaya: an Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya British Malaya: an Account of the Origin and Progress of British Influence in Malaya. By Frank Swettenham. Third ed., London, Allen & Unwin, 1948. xxi + 380 pp. Illus. Map. Index. 812′​′×512′​′⁠. 21s. Jones S. W. Jones S. W. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 25, Issue 3, July 1949, Pages 387–388, https://doi.org/10.2307/3016794 Published: 01 July 1949

Analyses from a Tropical Epidemic of Poliomyelitis 1,2,3 Which Occurred in Florida and Cuba in 1946

Until quite recently the opinion has been widely held that poliomyelitis was essentially a disease of temperate climates, that it was relatively uncommon in the tropics, and in particular, that epidemics in tropical regions were rare. This impression has been borne out by reports from many tropical areas, such as those listed by McKinley in 1935 (1); by reports from the Health Section of the League of Nations during the 1930s (2); and many others. Simmons el al (3) stated that: In British Malaya, poliomyelitis is rare; in Burma, poliomyelitis is so rare that it was never listed in their records. Comments from a number of other tropical or subtropical countries have referred to the local endemicity of the disease and to the fact that, the patients have been largely confined to infantile age groups. But within recent years there has been reason to question the rarity of the disease in the tropics, as well as the absence of epidemics there.