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Throughout its history, Malaysia has always been a place where different cultures and religions meet.
Pre-colonial era
While the area is known as the Malay Peninsula, it is almost certain that the Malay people were not the original natives of the area. Instead, Allen (Allen, Richard. Malaysia: Prospect and Retrospect: The impact and after-math of colonial rule. (London: Oxford University Press, 1968.)] believes that the Malays originated from western China, Burma (today called Myanmar), Thailand and Indonesia. In the same work, Rupert Emerson states that the native orang asli were driven back into the jungles.
In the first century CE, two far-flung but related events helped stimulate the Malay archipelago's emergence in international trade in the ancient world. At that time, India had two principal sources of gold and other metals: the Roman Empire and China. The overland route from China was cut by marauding Huns, and at about the same time, the Roman Emperor Vespasian cut off shipments of gold to India. As a result, India sent large and seaworthy ships, with crews reported to have numbered in the hundreds, to Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, to seek alternative sources. The Malay Peninsula must have been of some significance, as Ptolemy recorded its presence in his map as the 'Chersonesus Aureus'. In the centuries that followed, rich Malaysian tin deposits assumed great significance in Indian Ocean trade, and the region prospered. As maritime trade among Middle Eastern, Indian, and Chinese ports flourished, the peninsula benefited from its location as well as from trade in its diverse resources, including tropical woods and spices. Malay ports served as centers for entrepot trade between these trading centres. Originally based on Hindu-Buddhist culture various traders brought with them different aspects of their culture.
The early Hindu kingdom of Srivijaya, based at what is now Palembang, Sumatra, influenced much of the Malay Peninsula from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The powerful Hindu kingdom of Majapahit, based on Java, ruled the Malay Peninsula in the 14th century.
There was a brief period of influence by the Buddhist Thai kingdom before the arrival of Muslim traders resulted in the conversion of many Malays to Islam, beginning in the early 14th century, accelerated further with the establishment of the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century.
Many early Malay city states paid tribute to various kingdoms such as the kingdoms of China and Siam. In return for such tribute, a princess of China was gifted to the Sultan of Malacca at the time. Eventually such inter-marraiges between local Malays and ethnic Chinese led to a class of straits-born Chinese known as the peranakan. They have a unique culture and distinct foods which is unique to itself. Male peranakan as referred to as Baba and female peranakan are referred to as Nyonya.
Colonial era
Malacca was a major regional entrepot, where Chinese, Arab, Malay, and Indian merchants traded precious goods. By sometime in the 1400s Malacca was technically a colony of China as tribute was paid to the Chinese emperor. However, there was very little interference in habits of the people or policies of the local rulers.
The dawn of European colonialism in Southeast Asia began largely at the start of the 16th Century. Drawn by the vibrant trade, the abundant spice and the large markets, the Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1511, marking the beginning of European expansion in Southeast Asia.
The Portuguese were stubbornly contested by the neighbouring Malays states [Allen] to the point that the Sultanate of Johor aided the Dutch in their attack on Portuguese Melaka. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese from Malacca in 1641 and
In 1795, the Dutch were replaced by the British, who had occupied Penang in 1786.
The British (via their East India Company) initially gained the right to establish a trading post on Penang from the Sultan of Kedah in 1785 via a treaty with the Sultan of Kedah. The Sultan of Kedah eventually attempted to expel the British under force of arms but was repelled leading to the ceding of Penang to the British and the payment of tribute.
In 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles established a British presence in Singapore by recognizing the elder brother of the Sultan of Riau as the rightful ruler in Singapore. In return he would grant various rights to the British including trading rights.
In 1826, the British settlements of Malacca, Penang, and Singapore were combined to form the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements. In 1867 the Colonial Office in London took over control of the Straits Settlements which changed the tone of the local British presence.
During the British colonial period, a system of public administration was established which included a civil service, public education, transportation, various infrastructure and healthcare. Resource development was also a mark of the British era. Primary resources including plantations and tin were developed aggresively to fund the empire.
Migrant workers were imported en-masse from India to work in plantations as lowly paid indentured labourers, little better than slaves or serfs in other parts of the world.
Agents were paid to obtain workers from China and some agents resorted to less than noble means of obtaining workers. Many of the workers were transported to the Malay Peninsula under horrible circumstances in a trip of 30 to 40 days in a space totalling less than 8 square feet (under 1 m²) per person. Incidence of cholera on the ships was high but incidence of malaria among those who survived was higher.
The lot of the Chinese worker in Malaya was stark. Often arriving with only his clothes, he would set to work and dream of returning to China with wealth. Those who came to work in the tin industry often worked on a system based on the amount of ore mined and was settled upon smelting of the tin. Tin was smelted only once or twice a year so the coolies were given cash advances which had to be repaid with interest. The few diversions open to them - gambling, prostitution or opium - was also another means for the owner to pry the littlemoney they had from them. It must be noted that most of the owners exploiting the Chinese workers were other Chinese who were called "towkays" (Hokkien for "head of family"). This occured with the complicity of the ruling British. W.E. Maxwell stated "Unless it can be proved that Europeans, working with labour-saving machinery of all kinds, can do everything for themselves...it is pretty clear that the Chinese coolie is indispensable..." [Kratoska]
Many Chinese migrants fell back to their traditional clan associations for various social services. Social services included protection, ceremonial needs and the saving of money for repatriation of their corpse and burial in their home village. Not all of the clan associations were benign and some were local branches of the "Heaven and Earth Society" in China. Sometimes "protection" of their members resulted in rioting and large scale melees. Some of these groups were subsequently branded "Secret Societies" by the British government and declared illegal.
In 1862 rival secret societies striving for control of mining activities in the Larut district with the Raja of Larut being unable to bring about order. With the death of Sultan Ali of Perak, a succession battle began between Raja Abdullah and Raja Ismail with secret societies becoming their proxies in the fight for the throne. Initially the British stepped in as a supporter of Sultan Ismail and after some fighting the civil war was ended by the Treaty of Pangkor in 1874 which established Raja Abdullah as the Sultan conditional upon his retaining a British Resident whose advice was to be sought and obeyed in all matters besides traditional Malay customs and the Muslim religion.
Thus Perak became the first Malay state to accept British indirect rule and this was followed by other states. Eventually Perak was conslidated with Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan in 1895 as the Federated Malay States.
The first British Resident J.W.W.Birch was assasinated by local freedom fighters less than a year after his installation in 1874. A second Resident, Hugh Low, was immediately appointed
States under direct British control ceded their rights of Foreign policy and Military affairs to the British Crown. All other affairs were still controlled by the pre-existing local ruler. The means used to control the rulers was the appointment of a Resident under terms similiar to the one in Perak.
The number of Chinese on the peninsula grew at a rapid rate increasing from 87 thousand in 1871 to 183 thousand in 1891. A Chinese Protectorate was set up in 1877 (initially in Singapore) to look after the interest of the Chinese people and perform many of the functions previously undertaken by these associations. This resulted in a lessening of the influence secret societies had over the Chinese and a lessening of their ties to their country of origin. Subsequently, the British Government allowed immigration of Chinese woman as well, which was previously disallowed. Once they were allowed to bring their wives (many had more than one) from their home village, it was only a matter of time before some decided to call Malaysia their home.
Tin became the primary source of tax revenue for the British by 1896 with the British levying up to 12% in taxes. [Kratoska, Paul H., ed. Honorable Intentions: Talks on the British Empire in South-East Asia delivered at the Royal Colonial Institute 1874-1928. (Singapore: Oxford University Press,1983.)]
In order to work the plantation trade the British imported Indian labour. Sir Frederick Weld stated that "labor from the outside was vital, that Indians were preferable to the unruly Chinese, and that over the years, they would be a useful counterweight to that troublesome race." [Heussler, Robert. British Rule in Malaya: The Malayan Civil Service and Its - Predecessors, 1867-1942. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1981.)]
Also, Indians imported from Ceylon already had much relevant experience in working plantations under almost similiar conditions. From Ceylon, tea was imported to the hill stations of Malaysia by the British and is still grown today on plantations bearing the colonial names of the large British conglomerates who once helped finance an empire. Up to the time of importing plantation workers the only groups of Indians present in Malaysia were "klings" (merchants from Kalinga) and "chetties" (Indian money-lenders and financiers). Besides south Indian low-caste labour the British also imported Punjabi men to take the role of policemen and low-level functionaries in the civil service.
The rise of sugar and coffee planting led to an increase in demand for Indian labour. The conditions under which the "Kangani" (Indian labour recruiters) obtained labour became as bad as the Chinese situation. Abuses led to an outright ban by the Indian government of such labour export. Eventually it was lifted at the insistence of the British and labour continued flowing over. By 1905 the colonial government had itself become invovled the in the migration of Indian labour and it established the Tamil Immigration Fund in 1907. In 1909 the fund assisted 21,963 Indian migrants. By 1913, the number was 91,236. Besides the plantation boo, high mortality rates required importation of more Indians.
The British saw an opportunity to plant rubber in the compatible soil so a few trimmings of Hevea brasiliensis were smuggled back to Malaya where a booming trade in rubber soon resulted. Malaysia has since become the world's largest producer of natural latex.
In 1929, the Immigration Restriction Ordinance was established allowing free migration into Malaya. In 1931 a census was taken, the Malays were no longer the majority race in the country. Chinese and Indians combined totaled 53.2% of the total population. In the FMS, the non-Malays accounted for 63.7% of the population. In the Straits Settlements the figure was 71.5%. One response was that the Aliens Ordinance of 1933 was passed which set quotas on immigrants.
The Malay Reservation Enactment was passed in 1913 which designated some lands as Malay lands. It reserved a minimum of 60 percent of all cultivatable land in a state for Malay people and ownership of such land could not be transferred to non-Malays. In 1933 the enactment was further amended to prevent "pepetual lease" agreements to non-Malays. The definition of Malay under this act was anyone who belonged to the Malay race, spoke Malay, and professed Islam. As today, it included immigrants from the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) but not the Indians or Malays who had lived here longer.
The British colonials never viewed the Malay native with high regard. It is mentioned by Ernest W. Birch who said, the of the Malay - "to sit in the shade and tap rubber-trees will surely appeal to his temperament as an attractive way of earning a wage. The one drawback is that the Malay will not work for longer periods or with greater regularity than his inclination moves him." [Kratoska]
Sir Frank A. Swettenham spoke on the topic of the Malay saying "the leading characteristic of the Malay of every class is a disinclination to work...the Malay has no stomach for really hard and continuous work, either of the brain or the hands..." [Birch, K.C.M.G, Sir Ernest, ed. from the writings of Sir Frank A. Sweetenham, G.C.M.G., C.H. "The Malay," in The Native Races of the Empire, Sir Godfrey Lagden, K.C.M.G., ed., - volume 9 of The British Empire: A Survey in 12 Volumes (London: Henry Holt & Co., 1924)].
They also viewed the Chinese immigrants poorly. Sir Hugh Low stated "they are of all men the most rude, conceited and ignorant, with no confidence in Europeans..." [Purcell, Victor, C.M.G., Ph.D. The Chinese in Malaya. (London: Oxford University Press, 1948.)] Sir Frank A. Swettenham Swettenham stated that "it is almost hopeless to expect to make friends with a Chinaman, and it is, for a Government officer, an object that is not very desirable to obtain." [Kratoska].
They however had better opinions of the Indian labourers. Sir Frederick Weld stated that "the Indians are a peaceable and easily governed race."
British rule was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and occupation from February 1942 to August 1945 during World War II.
Post-war reorganisation
In 1946, the whole of Malaya (except Singapore, which became a separate crown colony) was consolidated into a crown colony called the Malayan Union. Because of opposition from the Malays the Union was a political failure, and was replaced just two years later by a looser Federation of Malaya in 1948.
In 1948, local communists of the Communist Party of Malaya, nearly all Chinese, launched an insurgency, prompting the imposition of Malayan Emergency.
During this time of change, many political parties were formed and in 1954 the Alliance party was formed consisting of UMNO and the MCA. In July 1955, just before the federal elections, the MIC joined the Alliance to form a coalition which has governed the country since then. During the first election UMNO demanded that 90% of candidates fielded be from UMNO and this led to the party almost splintering until the Tunku threatened to resign if UMNO persisted. He spoke to UMNO saying "A prerequisite to independence is willingness to sacrifice. We do not need to sacrifice our lives . . . Ours is a constitutional struggle and it only needs the sacrifice of racial selfishness."
The Tunku became chief minister and he formed his first cabinet with 6 Malays, 3 Chinese and 1 Indian member.
In 1947 Chin Peng suceeded Lai Tak as the Secretary General of the Malayan Communist Party. The Tunku sought an end to the emergency and proposed terms. the terms proposed included a general amnesty and the offer of a personal meeting with Chin Peng. Furthermore, any insurgents seeking repatriation to China would be considered. Otherwise, the government threatened to mobilize all available resources against the terrorist.
The Royal Air Force dropped 40 million leaflets into the jungles with a full list of the governments terms. The amnesty was offered from September 9, 1955, to February 8, 1956. In total 72 rebels surrendered during the amnesty.
Chin Peng requested a meeting and a cease fire. On December 28 and 29, Tunku Abdul Rahman (Chief Minister of Malaya), David Marshall (Chief Minister of Singapore), and MCA President Dato Sir Tan Cheng-Lock met with Chin Peng and two other Communist leaders in Baling, Kedah.
Chin Peng offered to stop the war if the Tunku obtained control of national defence and internal security (then controlled by the British) which was tantamount to independence. The Tunku would only accept unconditional surrender.
Popular sentiment for independence swelled during and after the war and the Federation of Malaya. A movement began which sought a country independent from the British, Tunku Abdul Rahman among others, toured the country seeking support and funds for independence. The first stop of his tour was in Melacca where future Malaysians heard him speak in Dewan Meng Seng and donated money and their jewellery to finance the trip.
The independence delegation consisting the Tunku, three other Alliance leaders and four representatives of the sultans went to London to seek independence. They boarded a ship (Asia) in Penang for a trip to Karachi from where they could fly to London.
On the 8th of February (the Tunku's birthday) 1956, the Merdeka Agreement was signed. The Tunku remarked to the British Secretary for Colonies that he had righted the "wrong" of his great-great-great grandfather, Sultan Abdullah II, who had allowed the beginning's of British rule in 1786 by granting Penang as a trading station to the British East India company in exchange for assistance against the Bugis of Selangor.
On the 20th of February 1956 they returned via the Batu Berendam airport and a throng marched 16 kilometres from the airport to Padang Pahlawan to hear the Tunku announce that the British would allow the nation it's independence on the 31st of August 1957.
The Tunku then sent a message to Chin Peng calling him to surrender as his terms had been met but the communist was not prepared to honour the pledge he had made at Baling.
The next task was to craft a consitution and a five-man Constitutional Commissionheaded by a British Privy Councilor and composed of a Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, a former Governor General of Australia, an Indian Chief Justice and a Pakistani Justice worked with the Allience to produce a constitution.
The biggest point of dispute in the setting up of the consitution was the right to citizenship. The principal eventually chosen was Jus Soli (right of birth). All persons born in Malaya of alien parents after independence would be allowed to choose their nationality upon turning 21.
On the night of August 30, 1957 the Union Jack was lowered for the last time over the Selangor Club (in a field now known as Dataran Merdeka) and the Malayan flag was raised in its place. The following day the Tunku declared independence at the Merdeka Stadium. Most historical pictures and videos of the event depict him shouting the word "merdeka" (means "independence") 7 times to the cheers of the crowd at this location. The Queen of the United Kingdom was represented by the Duke of Gloucester at this event, where a formal handover was performed.
Eventually the Tunku became the first Malaysian Prime Minister.
In 1960, the state of emergency was lifted. Small bands of guerrillas remained in bases along the rugged border with southern Thailand, occasionally entering northern Malaysia. These guerrillas finally signed a peace accord with the Malaysian government in December 1989.
Malaya remained part of the Commonwealth of Nations, and hosted a large British and Commonwealth military presence until the withdrawal of British forces East of Suez in the late 1960s.
Malaysia
The independent Federation of Malaya combined with the British colonies of Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (renamed Sabah) to form Malaysia on September 16, 1963.
The state's formation was highly controversial, and both the Philippines and Indonesia made claims to parts of East Malaysia. Internal rebellions supporting these claims or regional independence were suppressed by Commonwealth forces and three years of semi-war called Indonesian Confrontation on the borders to Indonesia ensued. As a concession to the widespread opposition, Brunei was kept outside the Malaysian federation, but remained under British military protection. The United States decisively agreed to support the formation of Malaysia after a 1964 secret diplomatic deal with the United Kingdom, in return for British support in Vietnam.
As a result of differences between the two governments, and tensions between Chinese and Malays, Singapore left the federation and became an independent republic on August 9, 1965. Continued ethnic tensions led to bloody racial riots in Kuala Lumpur on May 13, 1969, which resulted in a two-year state of Emergency, and the subsequent imposition of a New Economic Policy aimed at redistributing wealth to the Malays, who at the time owned 2% of the economy.
Prime Minister Razak died in 1975 of leukaemia, and was succeeded by his brother in law, Tun Hussein Onn.
In 1981, Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad assumed power. He became a patron for new heavy industries such as steel and car-manufacturing. He also encouraged many "mega projects" such as the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Petronas Twin Towers. Detractors of these projects have claimed that some projects were unnecessary or that limited resources could have been better utilised in other areas such as rural development or education.
During the booming period of mid 1980s to early 1990s, the entire Southeast Asian region benefited from Foreign Direct Investments, including Malaysia. Foreign investment flowed into the country, increasing the standard of living and establishing Malaysia as one of the world's leading OEM (original equipment manufacturing) and trading nations, where previously the economy had been dependent on tin, rubber, petroleum and other extractive/primary industries. Malaysian economic growth averaged 10% from the period 1988 – 1997, and Malaysia's per capita income became the third highest in South-East Asia.
In 1997, Malaysia was caught in the Asian economic crisis suffered by the entire Southeast Asian region, which caused a stock market crash and the plunge of the Malaysian Ringgit. Many mega-projects were abandoned or put on hold, businesses collapsed and banks were struggling with massive bad debts. The then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim advocated the implementation of the IMF prescription for economic recovery, raising interest rates and implementing a severe austerity programme similar to those implemented in similarly affected countries such as Indonesia and South Korea, putting some of these plans into action during a 3-month long sabbatical by Mahathir. Mahathir strongly disagreed with Anwar's course of action, choosing instead to implement a recovery plan which shocked the financial world at the time due to its unorthodoxy. It was condemned by the IMF and by investors including George Soros, who Mahathir had previously blamed as being the cause of the crisis while others like the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz praised Malaysia's rejection of IMF's advice of increasing the interest rate.
Mahathir subsequently sacked Anwar, who was then arrested and convicted in a trial conducted by Judge Augustine Paul, who had been recently appointed to the Federal Court, leading to accusations of government manipulation. Amnesty International expressed doubts about the fairness of the trial. The struggling economy coupled with the Anwar crisis led to one of the ruling coalition's (Barisan Nasional) worst election results in the general election of 1999.
The economic situation improved after the crisis, but foreign direct investment figures have yet to return to pre-crisis levels as of 2004. One possible cause is the lack of corporate governance in government-linked corporations like Renong , Malaysian Airlines and Bank Bumiputra.
On the 31st of October, 2003, Dr.Mahathir retired in favour of the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Mahathir was quite aware of the assumptions people made of his regime but he believed that he left with the gratitude of the Malaysian people. In an interview with a local Newspaper (The Star Daily, Oct 18 2004) he stated "
I think it is a nice feeling to know that people still remember and appreciate you. Of course when other people asked me about this, not the Press, I told them, Actually I paid all of them to stand up (laughter). But I am glad as I think it is genuine. I feel very satisfied; at least people remember me."
Badawi is seen as something of a reformer, and he has taken steps to reverse some of Mahathir's policies. During the first year of his tenure, Badawi reviewed the status of several mega-projects initiated during Mahathir's rule such as cancelling of a contentious RM 14.5 billion railroad project, cancelling the consturction of an electrical smelter which was to have been powered by the Bakun Dam, a second link to the island of Penang and the revoking of a 25 million dollar license for a new gambling concession. Other visible changes included the release of Anwar, and the trial of several of those accused of being cronies of Mahathir, notably Eric Chia, formerly leader of Perwaja Steel.
However, this cannot definitively prove that Badawi was against Mahathir's policies. It may just be the winds of change in Asia where newly elected prime minister of India cancelled a 16 Himalayan river-linking "mega project" that could have cost up to $150 billion and Beijing cancelled 5 out of 10 venues for the 2008 olympics, with modifications to scale back other sites such as the retractable dome on the main site.
Badawi led the Barisan Nasional to a major victory in the 2004 general election, recapturing the formerly opposition-controlled state of Terengganu, which had been lost in the 1999 elections.
Foreign policy under Badawi has taken a less confrontational approach. Angry polemics against western nations, Australia and Singapore have ceased. After his retirement Mahathir admitted that he had created some of the problems which had caused friction with Singapore. He specifically said 'When I became PM in 1981, I met Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The relationship was very nice initially but we never knew what would happen later. So I am very glad that all the problems that I created have now been relegated to the background. I hope they'll never come back.'
External link
- Prime Minister of Malaysia since 1981, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad has overseen Malaysia's transformation into one of the wealthiest nations in Southeast Asia and has become a vocal critic of Western-style globalization – see PBS's report (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitextlo/int_mahathirbinmohamad.html)
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