Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T07:02:16.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Meaning and Measurement of Ethnicity in Malaysia: An Analysis of Census Classifications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Charles Hirschman
Get access

Extract

In Peninsular Malaysia, the conventional ethnic divisions are “Malay,” “Chinese,” “Indian,” and “Other.” At first glance, this classification seems to represent the popular conception of “race” (the everyday term) as well as the “official” definition. According to the Malaysian constitution, a Malay is a person who was born locally, habitually speaks Malay, follows Malay custom, and professes Islam (Mohammed Suffian bin Hashim 1976:291). The Chinese and Indian communities are supposed to consist of the descendants of immigrants from China and the Indian subcontinent. “Other” is a catchall category for the small number of Eurasians, Thais, Europeans, and other persons who do not fit into the three major categories.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , August 1987 , pp. 555 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Allen, J. de V. 1964. “Two Imperialists: A Study of Sir Frank Swettenham and Sir Hugh Clifford.” Journal of the Malaya Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 37, no. 1:41–73.Google Scholar
Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Andaya, Leonard Y.. 1982. A History of Malaysia. London: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Baltzell, E. Digby. 1964. The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Banton, Michael. 1983. Racial and Ethnic Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barth, Frederick, ed. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Bergen-Oslo: Universitets Forlaget.Google Scholar
Bird, Isabella L. [1883] 1967. The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blythe, W. L. 1947. “Historical Sketch of Chinese Labour in Malaya..” Journal of the Malaya Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 20:64–114.Google Scholar
Bonacich, Edna. 1972. “A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split Labor Market.” American Sociological Review 37:547–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunge, Frederica M., ed. 1984. Malaysia: A County Study. Area Handbook Series, Foreign Area Studies, The American University. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Burchfield, R. W., ed. 1982. A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Burns, P. L., andCowan, C. D.. 1975. Sir Frank Swettenham's Malayan Journals, 1874–1876. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Butcher, John G. 1971. Attitudes of British Colonial Officials Toward Malays. M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Butcher, John G. 1979a. “Toward the History of Malayan Society: Kuala Lumpur District, 1885–1912.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 10 (March): 104–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butcher, John G. 1979b. The British in Malaya, 1880–1941: The Social History of a European Community in Colonial Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cameron, John. [1865] 1965. Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India. Oxford in Asia Historical Reprint. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Carstens, Sharon. 1980. “Pulai: Memories of a Gold Mining Settlement in Ulu Kelantan.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 53, no. 1:50–67.Google Scholar
Chan, Kok Eng. 1983. “The Eurasians of Melaka.” In Melaka: The Transformation of a Malay Capital, c. 1406–1980, ed. Sandhu, Kernial S. and Wheatley, Paul, 2:264–81. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cheah, Boon Kheng. 1981. “Sino-Malay Conflicts in Malaya, 1945–46: Vendetta and Islamic Resistance.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 12 (March): 108–17.Google Scholar
Clammer, John R. 1980. Straits Chinese Society: Studies in the Sociology of the Baba Communities of Malaysia and Singapore. Singapore: Singapore University Press.Google Scholar
Cowan, C. D. 1961. Nineteenth-Century Malaya: The Origins of British Political Control. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Oliver C. 1948. Caste, Class, and Race. New York: Doubleday.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawfurd, John. 1820. History of the Indian Archipelago. 2 vols. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable.Google Scholar
Curtin, Philip. 1960. “‘Scientific’ Racism and the British Theory of Empire.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 2:40–50.Google Scholar
Del Tufo, M. V. 1949. Malaya: A Report on the 1947 Census of Population. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies.Google Scholar
Department of Statistics, Malaysia. 1977. 1970 General Report: Population Census of Malaysia. 2 vols. Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics.Google Scholar
Department of Statistics, Malaysia. 1983. 1980 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia: General Report of the Population Census. 2 vols. Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics.Google Scholar
Emerson, Rupert. [1937] 1964. Malaysia: A Study in Direct and Indirect Rule. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Fell, H. 1960. 1957 Population Census of the Federation of Malaya. Report no. 14. Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics.Google Scholar
Frazier, E. Franklin. 1957. Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Glazer, Nathan, andMoynihan, Daniel P.. 1975. Ethnicity and Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gosling, L. A. P. 1964. “Migration and Assimilation of Rural Chinese in Trengganu.” In Malayan and Indonesian Studies: Essays Presented to Sir Richard Winstedt, ed. Bastin, John, pp. 201–21. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gould, Stephen Jay. 1981. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Hare, G. T. 1902. Federated Malay States: Census of the Population, 1901. Kuala Lumpur: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Harris, Marvin. 1964. Patterns of Race in the Americas. New York: Walker.Google Scholar
Harris, Marvin. 1968. “Race.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. Sills, David L., 13:263–68. New York: The Macmillan Company and The Free Press.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Charles. 1980. “Theories and Models of Ethnic Inequality.” In Research in Race and Ethnic Relations, ed. Marrett, Cora Bagley and Leggon, Cheryl, 2:1–20. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Charles. 1983. “America's Melting Pot Reconsidered.” Annual Review of Sociology, 1983 9:397–423.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Charles. 1984. “Ethnic Diversity and Social Change in Southeast Asia.” In Southeast Asian Studies: Options for the Future, ed. Morse, Ronald A., pp. 83–120. Lanham: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Charles. 1986. “The Making of Race in Colonial Malaya: Political Economy and Racial Ideology.” Sociological Forum 1:330–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Horsman, Reginald. 1976. “Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism in Great Britain Before 1850.” Journal of the History of Ideas 37 (July-September):387–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussein Alatas, Syed. 1977. The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos, and Javanese From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century and Its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Huttenback, Robert A. 1976. Racism and Empire. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
India, Census Commissioner. 1893. General Report on the Census of India: 1891. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Innes, J. R. 1901. Report on the Census of the Straits Settlements, Taken on 1 March 1901. Singapore: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Jackson, James. 1968. Planters and Speculators: Chinese and European Agricultural Enterprise in Malaya, 1786–1921. Singapore: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, R. H. 1962. Immigrant Labour and the Development of Malaya: 1786–1920. Kuala Lumpur: Government Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Greta. 1980. Social Darwinism and English Thought: The Interaction Between Biological and Social Theory. Sussex: The Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Keyes, Charles F. 1976. “Toward a New Formulation of the Concept of Ethnic Groups.” Ethnicity 3:202–13.Google Scholar
Keyes, Charles F. ed. 1981. Ethnic Change. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Khoo, Kay Kim. 1972. The Western Malay States, 1850–1873. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Khoo, Kay Kim. 1981. “Sino-Malay Relations in Peninsular Malaysia Before 1942.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 12 (March):93–107.Google Scholar
Kuczynski, Robert R. 1937. Colonial Population. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lamb, Alastair. 1964. “Early History.” In Malaysia: A Survey, ed. Gungwu, Wang, pp. 99–112. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Lieberson, Stanley. 1961. “A Societal Theory of Race and Ethnic Relations.” American Sociological Review 26:902–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNair, J. F. A.Waller, C. B., andKnight, A.. 1872. Straits Settlements: Population, 1871. 1871 Blue Book of the Straits Settlements. Singapore.Google Scholar
Marriott, Hays. 1911. Report on the Census of the Straits Settlements, Taken on 10 March 1911. Singapore: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Merewether, E. M. 1892. Report on the Census of the Straits Settlements, Taken on 5 April 1891. Singapore: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Hashim, Mohammed Suffian bin. 1976. An Introduction to the Constitution of Malaysia. 2d ed. Kuala Lumpur: Government Press.Google Scholar
Mohd. Aris Hj.Othman. 1983. The Dynamics of Malay Identity. Monograph 7. Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bangi, Malaysia: University Kebangsaan Malaysia.Google Scholar
Morner, Magnus, ed. 1970. Race and Class in Latin America. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Nagata, Judith. 1974. “What is a Malay? Situational Selection of Ethnic Identity in a Plural Society.” American Ethnologist 1:331–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, J. E. 1922. The Census of British Malaya, 1921. London: Waterloo and Sons. Oxford English Dictionary. 1933. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Parkinson, C. Northcote. 1960. British Intervention in Malaya, 1867–1877. Singapore: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Peterson, William. 1969. “The Classification of Subnations in Hawaii: An Essay in the Sociology of Knowledge.” American Sociological Review 34 (December):863–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Population Research Center, University of Texas. 1966. International Population Census Bibliography: Asia. Austin: Bureau of Business Research, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Pountney, A. M. 1911. Review of the Census Operations and Results, 1911. London: Darling and Sons.Google Scholar
Purcell, Victor. [1948] 1967. Chinese in Malaya. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ratnam, K. J. 1965. Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Reid, Anthony. 1980. “The Structure of Cities in Southeast Asia, Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 11 (September):235–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, Paul B. 1986. Race and Empire in British Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Risley, H. H., andGait, E. A.. 1903. Census of India, 1901. Vol. 1. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.Google Scholar
Roff, William. 1967. The Origins of Malay Nationalism. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Sandhu, Kernial Singh. 1969. Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of Their Immigration and Settlement (1886–1957). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Saw, Swee Hock. 1963. “Trends and Differentials in International Migration in Malaya.” Ekonomi (Kuala Lumpur) 4 (December):87–113.Google Scholar
Sidhu, Manjit S., andJones, Gavin W.. 1981. Population Dynamics in a Plural Society: Peninsular Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: UMCB (University of Malaya Cooperative Bookshop) Publications.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, Donald. 1980. Inequality and Economic Development in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stepan, Nancy. 1982. The Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800–1960. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockwell, A. J. 1982. “The White Man's Burden and Brown Humanity: Colonialism and Ethnicity in British Malaya.” Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 10, no. 1:44–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Settlements, Straits. 1881. Population: According to the Census Taken in 1881. Singapore.Google Scholar
Swettenham, Frank. [1906] 1955. British Malaya: An Account of the Origin and Process of British Influence in Malaya. London: George Allen.Google Scholar
Swettenham, Frank. 1900. The Real Malay. London: John Lane.Google Scholar
Tan, Chee Beng. 1982. “Peranakan Chinese in Northeast Kelantan, with Special Reference to Chinese Religion.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 55(1):26–52.Google Scholar
Tan, Chee Beng. 1983. “Acculturation and the Chinese in Melaka: The Expression of Baba Identity Today.” In The Chinese in Southeast Asia, ed. Gosling, L. A. Peter and Lim, Linda Y. C., 2:57–78. Singapore: Maruzen Asia,Google Scholar
van den, Berghe, Pierre, L. 1967. Race and Racism: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
van den, Berghe, Pierre, L.. 1981. The Ethnic Phenomenon. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Vlieland, C. A. 1932. British Malaya: A Report on the 1931 Census and Certain Problems of Vital Statistics. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies.Google Scholar
Wallace, Alfred Russel. [1869] 1983. The Malay Archipelago. Singapore: Graham Brash.Google Scholar
Winzler, Robert. 1972. “Ethnic Complexity and Ethnic Relations in an East Coast Malay Town.” Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 2, nos. 1–2:45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Lin Ken. 1960. “The Trade of Singapore 1819–69.” Journal of the Malaya Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 33, no. 4:1–315.Google Scholar
Wong, Lin Ken. 1965. The Malayan Tin Industry to 1914. Tucson: Association for Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Yinger, J. Milton. 1985. “Ethnicity.” Annual Review of Sociology 11:151–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar