Capitalist development, class and race in West Malaysia

Abstract

A major pre-occupation of everyone interested in Third World countries has been the extension of capitalist relations and the nature of capitalist development; the question of class transformation and development; and the conditions which define the political positions of different classes.¹ This paper addresses itself to some of these issues albeit from the perspective of a particular historical experience, that of Malaysia where the multi-racial character of the population renders the problem of understanding class evolution and capitalist accumulation an even more difficult one. 1. Methodological Perspective Much of the debates on capitalist development in Third World countries have overstressed the opposing interests of domestic and foreign capital and among various fractions of the domestic capital thereby providing an ideological platform for ambitious fractions of the domestic capitalist class to use nationalist and anti-foreign capital rhetoric. What is worse, all the contradictions between national bourgeoisie and the poor are seen as a function of its role as agent of foreign capital and not of its role as bourgeoisie. It would then appear that the national bourgeoisie and the poor are aligned on the same side of the contradiction with foreign capital. The main factors stressed here particularly are the siphoning of wealth by foreign investors and stunted industrialisation. This line of argument commonly used also by critics of the Malaysian state is vulnerable on two counts. The heavy outflow of legal and illegal profits to foreign capital can be reduced by a more efficient and nationalist government. Moreover, partly through acquisitions of foreign companies and partly through new discoveries of vital resources such as petroleum, the Malaysian government had had exceptional resources at its disposal for national development. Yet this massive expenditure has done little to alleviate mass poverty. If the Malaysian State has been able to retain more foreign profits will the share going to the poor increase?