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23. Socio-economic Self-help among Indians in Malaysia
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
422 23 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SELF-HELP AMONG INDIANS IN MALAYSIA K. Anbalakan INTRODUCTION Self-helpreferstoanycollectiveeffortbyagroupexperiencingtheurgefor selfimprovement.Itcouldbeforeconomicuplift,educationalimprovement, ortoaddresssocialissuesoreventosafeguardandstrengthenculturaland religiousrights.Theeffort,usually,istheresultofaconsciousnessamong somemembersofthegroupthattheonlywayleftforimprovementistoget togetherandworktogether.Inmanycountriestheminorityethnicgroups areforcedtoorganizeself-helpeffortswhentheirhopeforassistancefrom thestateforsocio-economicandculturalimprovementfades.Likewise,in MalaysiatheIndiancommunitywasdriventoinitiateacoupleofeffortsfor itsselfimprovementwhenitsappealtothegovernmentforassistancewas notgivendueconsideration.Anattemptismadeheretoanalysesomeofthe effortsinitiatedbytheIndiancommunityforitseconomicandeducational improvement. THE INDIAN ECONOMIC POSITION Despite the enormous economic growth Malaysia has enjoyed since independence,thepositionoftheIndiancommunitydidnotimprovemuch. Tosomeextendthiswasduetothefailureofthegovernmenttorenderthem anyassistance.Inthefive-yearplansintroducedsinceindependence,for instance,thegovernmentdidnotinitiateanyspecificprogrammestoaddress 23RisingIndia.indd422 8/28/0812:17:53PM Socio-economic Self-help among Indians in Malaysia 423 thesocio-economicandeducationalwoesofthecommunity.Evenunder theNewEconomicPolicy(NEP)1 theIndiancommunitywasnotaccorded separateconsideration.Rather,theywerebundledwiththeeconomically muchstrongerChinesecommunityunderthenon-bumiputracategoryand lefttofendforthemselves. WhentheNEPwasformulated,themajorityoftheIndianswere employedinthelow-payingagricultureandservicesectors.Theirparticipation inothersectorswasnegligible.Therewereonlyabout4.3percentIndians intheprofessionalandmanagerialgroup.Incomparison,thecompositionof theMalaysinthatcategorywas12percentwhiletheChinesemonopolized thesectorwithabout72percent.Similarly,inthetechnicalandsupervisory categorythepercentageofIndianswas6.1percentcomparedto20percent ofMalaysand73percentofChinese(MTR2MP1973,p.13).TheIndian householdincome,too,wasmuchlowerthanotherraces,ascouldbeseen fromthetablebelow. Onlyabout12percentofIndianswereinthemiddle-incomebracket of RM400–699 (US$120–210) while about 40 per cent were in the RM100–199category.InnoneoftheincomebracketsdidtheIndiansfair betterthaneithertheMalaysortheChinese.Despitethese,thegovernment arguedthattheIndianmeanmonthlyhouseholdincomefor1970was RM304,whichwasmuchhigherthantheMalays’RM179andverymuch Table 23.1 Distribution of Households by Income and Race in Peninsular Malaysia, 1970 (%) Income(RM) (permonth) PercentagefromTotal Malays Chinese Indians Total Malays Chinese Indians 1–99 22.9 2.6 1.3 27.1 84.5 9.6 4.9 100–199 19.1 7.8 4.4 31.4 60.8 24.9 14.0 200–399 10.4 11.9 3.5 25.9 40.3 46.0 13.5 400–699 3.0 5.3 1.2 9.6 31.6 55.7 12.1 700–1,499 1.1 2.9 0.6 4.7 23.2 61.4 12.5 1,500–2,999 0.2 0.7 0.1 1.1 14.0 62.1 13.6 3,000&above * 0.1 0.1 0.3 12.1 52.0 17.3 Total 56.7 31.3 11.2 100.0 56.7 31.3 11.2 *negligible Source:ComputedfromMTR-2MP,1973,pp.3and4. 23RisingIndia.indd423 8/28/0812:17:53PM [54.198.45.0] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:18 GMT) 424 K. Anbalakan nearertotheChinese’RM387(MTR2MP1973).Basedonthisdubious argument,thegovernmentrefusedtoformulateanyspecificprogramme toassisttheIndiancommunityundertheNEP.TheMICorganizedtwo seminars,in1974and1980,todrawtheattentionofthegovernmenttowards thepatheticpositionofthecommunity.Findingsandrecommendations oftheseminarswereforwardedtothegovernmenthopingfor...