Student

Malaysia was known as “Suvarnabhumi” to the Indian, Chinese and European traders. Changes of economical factors in Europe in the 18th century pushed European countries such as France , British and Germany to compete against each other to rule a country with unlimited raw materials. The arrival of the foreign rulers changed Malaya's economical factor to a whole new system by growing crops like rubber , sugar cane , tobacco , and palm trees in estates own by the Europeans. Between year 1850 and 1874ical and economical order. This is a period of great political, social and economic flux as Malaya grappled with the gradual introduction of British induced capitalism. During this period western coastal Malay States of Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan started to experience unprecedented influx of labour migrants , mainly Chinese and capital from the Straits Settlements that would play a big part in charting the future direction of the political economy of the Malay States. The movement of capital and labour into these states was due to a combination of factors. First, the increase in global tin prices in the mid half of the nineteenth century stimulated Straits merchant's interest in prospecting for more of the metal in the tin bearing western coastal Malay States of Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. Britain’s Peel’s Reform Act of 1842 that reduced duties on imported tin also triggered demands from British manufacturers for cheaper tin ores. Favourable global prices for tin and fresh demands for the metal also coincided with the end of China’s opium war in 1842 that opened Chinese ports and encouraged a large amount of Chinese labour migrants from southern China to make their way to the Southeast Asia and to the ports of the Straits Settlements. Besides the above factors, regional trade competition also made Straits Settlements merchants to increasingly look towards the Malay States for access to new markets. In the 1860s, Straits merchants faced