ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a generalization about recent trends in Malay peasant economy. The generalization has far-reaching consequences for the development of Malay society, and, indirectly, for the social and political development of the whole Malaysian nation. Most Malay peasants live from the cultivation of rice and rubber. Concentration of ownership and income differentiation are also to be seen in the Malay fishing industry. Changes outside peasant society have led to the growth and differentiation of the administration and of a Westernized urban bourgeoisie generally. Contemporary Malayan policies are marked by the diversion of large amounts of government revenue to rural improvements. Such measures are a political necessity, given the potential power of the Malay peasantry and their poverty. It is a generally accepted truism today that the main feature distinguishing peasantry from tribesmen is their involvement in a dominating and exploiting wider society.
