Colonial capitalism moment.

Was reading a book chapter this topic so take this post as a daily reminder to hate the Brits.

Admittedly, this is the full quote:

Many ‘coolies’ perished in this brutal and coercive colonial capitalist economy due to diseases, largely malaria, poor diet and harsh working conditions for long hours. On some plantations, the mortality rates were huge ‘as many as 60 rising to 90% of the labourer’s died within a year of their arrival’ (Sandhu, 1969: 171). These appalling and deplorable living conditions were prolonged for a long time (Sasidaran, 2012), and the education and medical facilities were far from adequate (Tinker, 1976: 153).

But what’s interesting was the book mentioned that more than 2million south Indian labourers had arrived into the colony by 1939, but the actual recorded Indian population from census never reached above 700,000. Although they could have emigrated back, another possibility is well, as mentioned above, they died.

Regardless, the population statistics do add up.

Book chapter referenced:

Selvaratnam V. (2021) ‘Malaysia’s South Indian ‘Coolies’: Legacies of Imperialism, Colonial Capitalism and Racism’ in R. Rasiah, A. Hashim and J.S. Sidhu (eds) Contesting Malaysia’s Integration into the World Economy, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillian, 169-200.