Culture and Fertility: The Case of Malaysia

One of the salient features to strike the researcher doing the study on culture and fertility of the people in Peninsular Malaysia is the cultural heterogeneity of its present population. Although the Malays or "bumiputeras" (sons of the soil) were original residents, other ethnic groups, mainly the Indonesians, Chinese and Indians, have contributed to current size, composition and distribution of the population through the process of immigration in the course of history. the topical areas under the first two sections of this monograph are indeed very wide, both in time and other perspectives. As a result, we have demarcated the period prior to the impact of colonialism and the growth of plural society during the British period as points in time which have relevant demographic and cultural significance for the purposes of this paper.