The Malay Labourer: By the Window of Capitalism

"This cultural ethnography is the first full length work of its kind with a specific focus on the concept of Malay labourers...." (Asian Journal of Political Science).

This book explores the ethnography of the emerging proletarian social consciousness and resistance as Malay peasants from east coast peninsular Malaysia find themselves reconstituted as a "class" not only as an economic category but also as a "community" in plantation society. The plantation, as a "window" to capitalism, serves as an excellent small-scale empirical ambience and testing-ground to probe how Malays respond to both industrial class-status authority and wage labouring work. The author subsequently analyses how the nuances of Malay proletarian moral economy and dignity are articulated with their notions of class, culture, ethnicity, and humanism.