published_or_final_version / abstract / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study examined the role the Malaysian government played in developing the Malaysian economy as a means to eliminating poverty and inequality and explored the lessons South Africa can learn from Malaysia's development experience. Under British colonial rule Malaysia developed a divided multi-ethnic society characterised by gross inequality and high levels of poverty. Jolted by the 1969 race riots and in a major departure from the laissez-faire economic policy, the government embarked on the New Economic Policy in 1970. This ambitious twenty-year social engineering plan ushered in greater state intervention in the economy. It greatly reduced poverty among indigenous Malays and made substantial progress towards achieving inter-ethnic economic parity.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-163). / Malaysia is now undergoing rapid economic development, bringing swift and often drastic changes to the built environment. Major cultural changes, the effects of which may not be fully appreciated for a number of years, have also accompanied development. As "modern" construction techniques displace traditional methods, aspects of an intrinsically Malaysian way of life may be lost forever, for vernacular construction has evolved to provide a setting for the intimate and delicate intertwining of social environment with built environment. This thesis examines the traditional Malay settlement, the kampong, and presents an application of observed principles in a design for a contemporary musing development. Descriptions are drawn largely from personal observation, and are given in terms of the cultural-physical interrelationship whenever applicable. Attention is given to the transformations which have occurred as the kampong (a traditionally rural form) has been introduced to the urban context. A hypothetical housing development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia' s largest city, illustrates the adaptation of traditional ideas and methodologies to the modern urban setting. For the sake of economics, as well as for the betterment of the environment, the role of the architect is confined to providing an infrastructure, leaving infill to the residents. Typical units are designed however, to serve as suggestions to the occupants and builders. It is intended that the thesis itself will offer further ideas. / by Teck Neo Choo. / M.Arch.

published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

This study examines how deforestation in Malaysia is framed as an economic issue fought out in the political arena using cultural codes as an entry point to examining the political tensions of contemporary Malaysia. Three themes recur throughout this work. The first theme concerns the centrality of resources in Malaysia's colonial and post-colonial political economy. The second theme concerns the displacement of the anxieties of national and cultural survival onto the contests over economic rights. And the third theme is the way collective memories 'flesh out' contemporary contests between the state and civil society. In the sense that the three themes are inter-related, this study traces the twinned construction, and opposition, of the two central ideas: of 'nature' in the form of the rainforest and 'race' in the guise of nation. In keeping with the role of memory in present-day social and political engagements, this study weaves both archival and contemporary material to trace the construction of the history, imagery and vocabulary that have been mapped onto the physical space of the rainforest. I explore the production of the cultural codes through this mapping process that are then used to articulate the contests over the rainforest. These codes are the consequence of negotiations that reflect the unstable alliances and inconsistent identities of contemporary Malaysia, and they are the legacies, albeit translated, of colonialism. In retracing the contests over and about the forests, I hope to shed some light on why Malaysians made, and continue to make, decisions that appear to work against them. The decisions affecting the fate of the rainforest reflects choices made about the kind of society Malaysians live with. Hence, the three core chapters of this study examine military, political/cultural and economic contests and negotiations surrounding the birth of the Malayan/Malaysian nation-state through their impacts on the rainforest. By acknowledging how much of Malaysia's contemporary politics is its colonial legacy, I hope to highlight the trade-off we have made between limited political engagement and development. To accept that we cannot protect basic rights as the price of economic success is to continue to live within the racist framework of colonialism that human rights are only for some humans.

An analysis of migration patterns and migrant adjustment in peninsular Malaysia is presented, based on data from the Malaysian Family Life Survey. The analysis revealed that urban/rural residence, ethnicity, motivations underlying migration, and manner of securing employment are important determinants of the duration of the job search and of post-migration income. It was further noted that transferees form a distinct stream of migration. They differ from other migrants in age, education, employment, and post-migration income. In discussing the significance of these findings, attention is drawn to the impact of government policies on types of migration streams, and to the size of the public (or formal) sector as a determinant of work-related migration, or transfers.

In recent years, heated debates about the definition and evolutionary role of simple, egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies have assumed a central place in hunter-gatherer studies. Since household dynamics are bound to be fundamental in arguments about these issues, the present study examines social change in terms of household integration in Air Bah, a resettlement village of newly sedentary Lanoh hunter-gatherers and forest collectors of Peninsular Malaysia. The Lanoh have accepted inequality more readily than cooperation and binding relationships. Household integration has remained partial because, even in households of self-aggrandizers, younger men retain their individual autonomy. This incomplete household integration, in turn, continues to affect kinship group and village integration, preventing Air Bah from developing into a centralized "village community." These findings suggest substantial revisions in our understanding of the sociality and evolutionary significance of the "simplest" hunter-gatherer societies.

This study examined the role the Malaysian government played in developing the Malaysian economy as a means to eliminating poverty and inequality and explored the lessons South Africa can learn from Malaysia's development experience. Under British colonial rule Malaysia developed a divided multi-ethnic society characterised by gross inequality and high levels of poverty. Jolted by the 1969 race riots and in a major departure from the laissez-faire economic policy, the government embarked on the New Economic Policy in 1970. This ambitious twenty-year social engineering plan ushered in greater state intervention in the economy. It greatly reduced poverty among indigenous Malays and made substantial progress towards achieving inter-ethnic economic parity.