Race, Gender and the Tin Mining Industry in Malaya, 1900-1950

Abstract

Britain's imperial drive in Malaya after 1870, which was consistent with an agenda of competitive state-building overseas by rival European powers, resulted in the redrawing of the political map of Malaya. Building on the earlier acquisition of the East India Company's Straits Settlements, Britain placed the Malay states under formal protectorate status between 1874 and 1914. The new colonial state had precisely delineated boundaries, a new style of administration, and institutional and legislative structures to oversee the various aspects of government. In the mining sector the colonial administration introduced a series of mining regulations, including titles and leases to mining land, and codified the 'mutual rights and obligation of the State and miners' (Wong, 1965: 15). The details of these regulations need not detain us here. Suffice it to say that these regulations impacted on tin mining in three main ways. First, the state assumed control over the development of the tin industry. Second, the commodification of mining land meant that miners obtained security of tenure which enabled them to undertake mining operations on a more 'permanent' basis. Third, a 'new' class of independent operators, the dulang workers, was created alongside the other miners. The role of these dulang workers must be understood in the context of the structure of the tin industry after 1850 and the mining methods and labour systems.