Suchergebnisse

This article discusses how Chinese cemeteries were managed within the broader social and political framework in colonial Malaya and Singapore. This is done through studying the discussions of the Singapore Municipal Council and by looking at a Hokkien cemetery in Penang and in Kuala Lumpur. The article touches on how the colonial state increasingly came to regulate Chinese cemeteries, suggesting that procedures of burials and cemeteries not only enabled the state to monitor health and mortality trends but also to involve itself further in the affairs of the Chinese community at a time of expanding colonial political and economic control. The article further discusses the extent to which cemeteries were a marker of identity of the Chinese community. It was a marker not only of the wider Chinese community but also of dialect divisions

AbstractDuring the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), the colonial authorities resettled an estimated half a million rural dwellers, mainly Chinese, from the fringe of the jungle, to cut them off from contact with armed members of the Malayan Communist Party. The re-location led to political alienation among many resettled in the nearly 500 New Villages. Winning their support against the insurgency therefore was urgent. At this juncture, foreign missionaries were forced to leave China following the communist takeover in October 1949. Many of these missionaries were Chinese-speaking with medical or teaching experience. The High Commissioner of Malaya, Sir Henry Gurney, and his successor, Sir Gerald Templer, invited these and other missionaries to serve in the New Villages. This paper looks at colonial initiatives and mission response amidst the dynamics of domestic politics and a changing international balance of power in the region.

Aceh, as the world's largest producer of pepper in the nineteenth century and exporter of areca nut, had a long and sustained trade connection with Penang. Among its major imports through Penang were cloth, rice, opium and fire-arms. Trade with Penang led to the rise of a wealthy group of ulèëbalangs who were able to assert their autonomous status vis-à-vis the Acehnese sultan. Penang was where many Acehnese took refuge when conflict broke out between the sultanate and the Dutch in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Penang became Aceh's main access to the outside world not only in trade but also in diplomacy as foreign intervention was sought in its conflict with the Dutch. In this dynamic Aceh-Penang connection, the Chinese were important. This article recaptures the inter-ethnic and transnational co-operation and competition in maritime trade that significantly and profoundly shaped the commercial and political landscapes of nineteenth-century Aceh and Penang.

Abstract
Do businesses owned or operated by the Chinese diaspora engage more with China than businesses owned by non-ethnic Chinese? To answer this question, ethnic Chinese owned companies listed on the Malaysian stock exchange were compared with non-Chinese owned/controlled on the extent of their business in China. Of some 800 listed companies as of December 2017, 547 or 68% are Malaysian Chinese companies. Of the latter, some 18.4%, conduct business in China compared to just 8.5% among the non-ethnic Chinese listed companies. This finding needs to be qualified first, by the fact that the companies' presence in China may not represent a major portion of their business. As some firms do not separate their China- from other Asian businesses, the extent of China engagement is likely to be underestimated. Second, while economic motives were responsible for their presence in China, "cultural citizenship" and family business patriarchs being first or second generations could help explain their affinity to China.

Chinese overseas family businesses generally lack longevity. In addition to difficulties in transiting towards professional management they are susceptible to state pressures. However, Robert Kuok, the richest man in Southeast Asia who heads a vast business empire, has been able to surmount both challenges. This study shows how Kuok successfully turned three important sources of identity into strengths: family, dialect, and the state. These three sources are set against his Johor Bahru background, the changing domestic political landscape, and shifting regional economic influence.

Vietnam and China have had a long, if not always amicable, historical relationship. This relationship continued to be important even as Vietnam began its transition from a command economy to greater market orientation using the same strategy of pragmatic gradualism adopted by China when the latter began its own transition a decade before. As this strategy appears now to have lost momentum following the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, Vietnam's economic planners, preparing the country's Socioeconomic Development Strategy for the new decade (2011-2020), have proposed new initiatives to achieve sustained growth. China's successful experiments, specifically with enterprise groups, special economic zones, and technology and industrial policies, again loom large among these proposed initiatives. To be successful, however Vietnamese planners will need to be aware of the particular circumstances that favored China's experiments, to draw lessons from China's successes and failures, and to overcome the major challenges that Vietnam especially faces. These include, in comparison with China, a less competitive state enterprise sector weaker implementation capacity at the subnational level, and pervasive corruption. Adapted from the source document.