Dangerous Trade: Histories of Industrial Hazard across a Globalizing World

1. Rubber Plantation Workers, Work Hazards,and Health in Colonial Malaya, 1900–1940

1 rubber Plantation workers, work hazards, and health in Colonial Malaya, 1900–1940 amarjit Kaur B y the early twentieth century, Britain had created an externally oriented colonial economy in malaya (the malay peninsula and singapore before 1948) based on rubber and tin. rubber cultivation centred on the plantation mode of production, incorporated new agricultural techniques and scientific methods, and exemplified capitalist ecological interventions in agriculture. For the most part, companies with european management ran the plantations, where work was extremely labour-intensive. labourers were imported from south india and settled on large interior estates, where they formed isolated migrant communities. the environmental and health consequences of this new mode of agricultural production were far-reaching and primarily affected the labouring population. exploitative working conditions and constant exposure to work hazards amplified the workers’ vulnerability to nutritional and infectious diseases, resulting in high morbidity and mortality rates. Consequently, intergovernmental and imperial regulation led to greater intervention and supervision of workers’ health and the promotion of plantation medicine. health care provision was expanded to embrace preventive measures, including maternal and child health codes. the specific political and administrative relationships between the Colonial Office in london, the india Office, and the malayan administration were crucial to these transformations. this chapter focuses on key aspects of indian workers’ economic, social, and health engagement with plantation owners, subimperial india, and the global trade in commodities. the study first examines the 18 / ChaPTer 1 development of the rubber plantation industry against the backdrop of colonial developing-world agriculture and the recruitment of indian labour. then it analyzes the consequences of this encounter through the prism of workers’ plantation life, the epidemiology of migration, and plantation work hazards. Finally, the investigation turns to the unique labour and health experiences of indian plantation workers by examining labour codes and other administrative legislation that registered and contended with the resulting health consequences for the workers. Colonial economies, Commodities of empire, and Malaya the expansion of trade and conquest by european powers in southeast asia after the 1870s involved the restructuring of the economic landscapes of colonized states. southeast asian economies and societies were integrated more completely into the global colonial economy and mobilized for expanded commodity production. since the imperial drive was fueled by an agenda of competitive state building overseas, these states were transformed into colonies, protectorates, or informal empire and assigned roles in subimperial and global commodity chains. in the malayan region this process climaxed between 1870 and 1914. By 1914, too, Britain had extended its influence over all of “British” malaya, which included three administrative units: the original straits settlements ports (ss), the Federated malay states (Fms), and the unfederated malay states (ums). the unified trading networks in asia, the open-borders policy, and the imperial web of connections established spaces that produced new networks, creating officially authorized opportunities for indian (and Chinese) labour migration to malaya. prior to the dominance of rubber, malaya’s chief commodity exports were tin, coffee, and sugar. Chinese producers dominated the tin industry using Chinese labour, while european planters chiefly controlled coffee and sugar, employing indentured indian workers. the early uses of rubber were limited, and low production levels in Brazil (the principal rubber producer) and high prices characterized the industry. this situation changed following Charles Goodyear’s improvement of the vulcanization process and thus the suitability of natural rubber for hoses, tires, and shoes. the popularization of the bicycle and the development of the automobile and tire industries in the twentieth century subsequently resulted in a rubber boom. high prices provided an incentive to British and other entrepreneurs to invest in rubber, particularly since sugar and coffee were facing stiff competition from other producers. malaya’s competitive advantage in climate, low population density , and vast tracts of suitable land for the plantation mode of production, as well as Britain’s access to cheap indian labour, guaranteed the rapid development of the malayan rubber industry after 1910. the British helped transform the cost structure and capacity of the industry by privileging plantation production, and Western (mainly British) investors obtained large land grants on very long leases at charges of 3 to 4 percent per annum. european trading agencies or agency houses dominated ruBBer PLanTaTIon worKers In CoLonIaL MaLaya / 19 the rubber industry. the agency houses floated limited-liability companies, principally in london, to mobilize substantial funds for the industry. in Britain alone, they floated 260 rubber companies...