Tamilian Labour and Malayan Plantations, 1840-1938

Author(s): Ravindra K. Jain

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 43 (Oct. 23, 1993), pp. 2363-2365+2367-2370
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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Thmilian L ab o u r and Malayan
Plantatio ns, 1840-1938
Ravind r a K Jain
This ar ticle d eals with the co ntinu ities and d isco ntinu ities b etween r ecr u itment o flab o u r fo r migr atio n within TamnilNad u
and to o ther co u ntr ies, specifically, Malaya and then lo o ks at the pr o cess o f lab o u r co ntr o l in b o th the 'enclaves' and the
'hinter land '. A b r iefd iscu ssio n o f the ar ticu latio n theo r y and the d epr o letar ianisatio n theo r y to explain thepr o cess o flab o u r
migr atio n and co ntr o l b etween TamilNad u and Malayafr o mn cir ca 1840 to 1938fo llo ws with apo stscr ipt o n the ethno gr aphy
o f co lo nialism.
RECENT histo r ical r esear ch makes it ab u n-
d antly clear that the emigr atio n o f lab o u r
fr o m Tamil Nad u in the 19th centu r y, its
r ecr u itment fo r plantatio ns and o ther co m-
mer cial agr icu ltu r al enter pr ises within In-
d ia (e g,
in Myso r e) and o u tsid e, viz, in
Bu r ma, Ceylo n and Malaya, and the mecha-
nismo f its co ntr o l and cir cu latio n ar e par t o f
a single histo r ical plo t. This is the co lo nial
amb ience in which these mo vements to o k
place and the gr o wth o f capitalism which
they signalled . Ind eed , with r egar d to Tamil
emigr atio n b eginning in the 19th centu r y, it
wo u ld b e co r r ect to say that we can d elineate
a Bay o f Bengal ar ea
[Baker 1981] fo r ming,
as a who le, a par t o f the Br itish co lo nial
empir e with plantatio n 'enclaves' o f capi-
talist d evelo pment and a 'hinter land ' fr o m
which the cir cu lating lab o u r fo r ce was d e-
r ived [I3r eman 1984]. Especially since the
1880s the valleys o f Tamil Nad u b egan
pr o vid ing in lar ge nu mb er s their su r plu s
lab o u r fo r ce to tea, co ffee and r u b b er estates
o n the wester n Ghats and to Ceylo n and
Malaya, and fo r r ice far ming in Bu r ma
[Baker 1984: 179].
My per spective o n Tamil migr ant lab o u r
in this paper is d er ived , o n the o ne hand ,
fr o m the hinter land o f Tamil Nad u fr o m
which this lab o u r o r iginated and , o n the
o ther hand , fr o m Malaya wher e an incr eas-
ing nu mb er o f Tamiilians wer e emplo yed o n
plantatio ns fr o m mi d - 19th centu r y o nwar d s.
Su ch a 'split-visio n' (enco mpassing Ind ia
and Malaya) is essential b ecau se o f cer tain
salient char acter istics o f this migr atio n and
lab o u r co ntr o l. We shall fir st d eal with the
co ntinu ities and d isco ntinu ities b etween
r ecr u itment fo r migr atio ns within Tamil
Nad u and to o ther co u ntr ies, specifically,
Malaya and then lo o k at the pr o cess o f
lab o u r co ntr o l also in b o th the 'enclaves'
and the 'hinter land '. This acco u nt will b e
fo llo wed b y an exanminatio n o f the 'ar ticu la-
tio n theo r y' [Omved t 19801 and the
'd epr o letar ianisatio n theo r y' [Br ass 1990]
to explain the pr o cesses o f lab o u r migr atio n
and -co ntr o l b etween Tamnil Nad u and Ma-
laya fr o m 1840 to 1938.'
EARL Y RECRUITMENT AND MIGRATION
TO MAL AYA
Befo r e d elineating the patter n o f
emigr a-
tio n fr o m Taniil Nad u to Malaya (1840-
1938), we may no te the po sitio n r egar d ing
r ecr u itment and migr atio n o flab o u r inTamiI
Naiu in the ear ly 19th centu r y. The cr u cial
linkages her e ar e b etween the r espective
caste affiliatio ns o f the land ho ld er s and
agr icu ltu r al lab o u r er s o n the o ne hand and
the cu sto mar y patter ns o f land o wner ship
and attached lab o u r o n the o ther . Ther e is a
d iver gence o f inter pr etatio n b etween no n-
Mar xist and Mar xist scho lar s o n the natu r e
o f these linkages. In the fo r mer per spective
ther e is emphasis o n the lead er ship r o le o f
the d o minant land ho ld er s; they ar e d epicted
as an elite with "high cu ltu r e", r espo nsib le
fo r maintaining peace in the villages and
med iating b etween the wo r ld o f the village
and that o f the state r o yalty. Especially the
wet zo ne o f cu ltivatio n is d epicted "no t a
land o f r u stic war r io r -peasants, b u t o f two
d istinct peasant str ata: o ne o wned land b u t
d id no t lab o u r the o ther lab o u r ed witho u t
o wning even, in many cases, r ights to its
o wn lab o u r po wer ... they co npr ised two
str ata, ind eed two classes, d efined o b jec-
tively b y r elative access to the means o f
pr o d u ctio n, and su b jectively b y their caste
id entity" [L u d d en 1985: 93-94]. Despite
this fu nd amental cleavage L u d d en co ntin-
u es to d esignate the land ho ld er s and the
agr icu ltu r al lab o u r er s as two "str ata" o f the
peasant co mmu nity. Castewise the fo r mer
ar e u nifo r mly, in Tinnevelly d istr ict,
b r ahminsand vellalasand the latter par aiyan
and palla.
In Mar xist sclho lar ship, o n the o ther hand ,
the str u ctu r e o f caste and viewed as id eo lo gi-
cal and so cial str u ctu r al pr o ps to the fu nd a-
mental so cio -eco no mic cleavage b etween
the jo int land ho ld er s o f the wet villages
('mir asid ar s') and their co llectively held
po pu latio ns o f agr eistic ser fs ('pannaiyal'
and 'pad iyal'). The fo r mer ar e mainly
b r ahmin and (so me) no n-b r ahmin and the
latter ar e o ver whelmingly u nto u chab les
(par aiyan and palla). T1her e ar e also , in the
wet villages o f Tanjo r e d istr ict, co -shar ing
tenants (the 'u lku d i' and 'payakar s'); they
ar e o f the no n-b r ahmin castes like the palli.
I-Ho wever , the jo int co ntr o l o f villageland s
and jo int r ights o ver the ser fs attached to
these land s is o f the hear t o f the mattcr -
r ather than r egar d ing the village ser vants
and ar tisans, who co ntinu e to have jo int
o b ligatio ns and r ights vis-a-vis the land -
ho ld ingmaster s, as the co r eo fa 'jajmanitype'
r elatio nship [Po co ck 1962]. Meno n (1983)
has ar gu ed that these catego r ies o f ser vants
and ar tisans r epr esented essentially ser vile
po pu latio ns ho mo lo go u s to the agr eistic
ser fs. It is o nly that-having b een d efined
lar gely in ter ms o f r itu al inclu sio n and ex-
clu sio n-the village ser vants and ar tisans
have o u tlived as inter acting caste-gr o u ps in
thevillages, the tr ansfo r matio no fjo into wn-
er ship into pr ivate pr o per ty in land .
Co ming to the emigr ants fr o m the vil-
lages o f Tanjo r e and Tinnevelly-and cau -
tio u sly gener alising fo r Tamil Nad u as a
who le-in wet ar eas it is pr ecisely the 'u n-
to u chab le' castes o f par aiyan and palla and
the no n-b r ahmin castes like the palli (o r
vanniyar )-r espectively agr eistic ser fs and
tenant shar eho ld er s-who migr ated to
Ceylo n and Malaya. Alr ead y su ffer ing the
b r eakd o wn o f 'jo int' ar r angements with
encr o achingco lo nial r egu latio ns, these po pu -
latio ns have b een d esignated "co o ly" in
Tamil Nad u itself [Meno n 1983: 158] and
ther e ar e inter esting insights ab o u t the co r n-
tinu ity o f lab o u r o r ganisatio n and r ecr u it-
ment o f these catego r ies b etween Tamil
Nad u and Malaya. As we shall see later ,
co ncu r r ently with ind entu r ed lab o u r and
incr easingly at the b eginning o f the 20th
centu r y, caste specific gangs wer e r ecr u ited
b y 'kanganies' sent fo r this pu r po se fr o m
Malaya to the villageso fTamil Nad u . Ther e
wer e par aiyan and pal la kanganiesas well as
tho se o f no n-b r ahmin castes like the palli.
We may wo nd er ho w it was that agr eistic-
ser fs o f the u nto u chab le caste had a lead er -
ship patter n su ch that ther e emer ged jo b -
b er s/r ecr u iter s o f tho se castes. In this co n-
text it is no tewo r thy that ther e was a patter n
o f this so r t b ack in Tamil Nad u . As L u d d en
pu ts it:
Gang L ab o u r ...wo u ld b e d emand ed b y
mir asid ar s o f lab o u r ing caste gr o u ps as a
whio le. A pal la head man wo u ld b e char ged to
r aise wo r k gangs when need ed , and wo u ld
r eceive special statu s b y his po sitio n. In
so me villages, the palla head man might have
o r ganised the entir e pr o d u ctio n, pr o cess,
wo r kingfo r o nc lar ge ab scntee laind o wner o r
u po n temple land , a situ atio n that seems to
L ind er lie the 17th centu r y 1Tamil fo lk d r ama,
Mu kku d al Pallu ', who se her o , as head man,
seems to have had co nsid er ab le skill and
so me so cial statu s [L u d d en 1985: 92].
Eco no mic and Po litical Weekly Octo b er 23, 1993
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Of co nsid er ab le inter est is the patter n o f
co ntinu ity b etween tho se 'd r y' villages o f
Tamil Nad u , e g, in Tanjo r e d istr ict wher e
the kallar caste co mpr ised the d o minant
small land ho ld er s and also 'b ecame head
kanganies and kanganies (su per jo b b er s and
o r d inar y jo b b cr s) in r u b b er estates in Ma-
laya like Pal Melayu [lain 1968]. As a caste-
gr o u p the Kallar wer e aggr essively no n-
b r ahmanical in their mo r es and had the
r epu tatio n o f b eing fier cely ind epend ent. In
Tamil Nad u ther e isan inter esting histo r yo f
the 'taming' o f the kallar wlho wer e tr ad i-
tio nally village watchmen to their eventu al
enlistingb y the Br itishlau tho r ities as acr imi-
nal caste. It is little wo nd er that head
kanganies and kanganies o f the kallar caste
had a r epu tatio n o f b eing d o minant and
po wer fu l o n Malayan estates to the extent
that the Eu r o pean manager 'd u r ai' fo llo wed
r ather than pr eced ed him d u r ing the annu al
festival.
Also , in the evo lu tio n o f plantatio n pat-
ter n o f au tho r ity d u r ing the 20th centu r y
fir st the head kangany was d r o pped and later
even the kangany was mad e d efinitely su b -
ser vient to the Asian su per viso r y staff. In
this pr o cess the kangany was d elib er ately
cast b y the emplo yer s as the "pu nitive co u n-
ter par t" o f the Eu r o pean manager who se
image b ecame "the b enevo lent father fig-
u r e" [Jain 1970: 217]. This is an inter esting
r epl icatio p o f the tr ansfo r matio n o f the kal lar
watchman into a cr iminal in Tamil Nad u : as
V Samar -aweer a has o b ser ved apr o po s the
pr o secu tio n o f the kangany fo r d iso b ed ience
in Ceylo n, "the (estate)su per intend entswer e
co nscio u sly mar king o u t kanganies fo r
pr o secu tio n in o r d er to pr o vid e an ex-
ample to the lab o u r fo r ce in gener al; it is
as if the kangani's influ ence o ver the
wo r ker s heightened his cu lpab ility"
Samar aweer a 1981: 150- 51].
Even the ear liest r eco r d ed lab o u r migr a-
tio n fr o m Ind ia to Malaya seems to have
taken place in r espo nse to the co lo nialists'
r equ ir ement o f cheap ser vile lab o u r . The
estab lishment o f a Br itish po r t at Penang in
1786 was so o n fo llo wed b y the gr o wth o f an
Ind ian co lo ny. In 1787, L ight su ggested the
go ver no r gener al-in-co u ncil in Ind ia sho u ld
send him a su pply o f 100 co o lies 'as the
pr ice o f lab o u r in Penang was eno r mo u s'.
This r equ est was no t met b u t a similar pr o -
po sal sho r tly ther eafter fo r a su pply o f 'ar -
tificer s' was gr anted and a gr o u p o f 25
Bo mb ay ar tificer s land ed in Penang in Ju ly
1787,[Sand hu 1969: 47]. Wr iting in 1794,
L ight r efer r ed specifically to the Tamil po pu -
latio n (called 'chu liahs' o r 'klings') in
Penang co mpr ising 'co o l ies' and sho pkeep-
er s, and nu mb er ing ab o u t o ne tho u sand .
Acco r d ing to him the majo r ity wer e o nly
so jo u r ner swho 'b y tr afficand var io u s kind s
o f lab o u r o b tained a few d o llar s with which
they r etu r n to their ho mes and ar e su cceed ed
b y o thter s' [Jackso n 1961: 8].
We wo u ld immed iately no te o ne char ac-
ter istic featu r e o f this ear liest 'co o lie' mi-
gr atio n to Malaya, namely, the o ccu patio nal
co mpo sitio n o f a gr o u p co mpr ising lab o u r er s
and sho pkeeper s (also no te the ear lier 'ar ti-
ficer s' fr o m Bo mb ay). All this sho ws, as
Tawney has r emar ked fo r China
[Tawney
1932] and Br eman gener alises fo r the so u th
and so u th-east Asian r egio n in ear ly co lo -
nial times "ther e is no r easo n fo r accepting
that mo b ile lab o u r er s wer e peasant cu ltiva-
to r s cu t o ff fr o m land " [Br eman 1984: 23J.
As a fir st step, these migr ants wer e peo ple
who wer e lar gely lab o u r er s even in the
co u ntr ysid c. Seco nd ly, wc need no t pr e-
su mc that ther e cxisled a str ict d icho to my
b ctween the r u r al and u r b an pr o venance o f
these migr ants. As 'co x)lies' they d id the
wo r k o f
hau lage, etc, either in the r u r al o r
u r b an ar eas. 'Iher efo r e, ther e is an elcment
o f tr u th in the o pinio n expr essed in so me
car lyco lo nfal wr iting that the 'co o lies' wer e
r ecr u ited fr o m and near po r ts and to wns.
The r easo n b eing that this was an alr ead y
mo b ile po pu latio n as b etween r u r al and
u r b an ar eas as well as b etween d iffer ent
r u r al ar eas. 'This was an end u r ing str u ctu r al
char acter istic o f 'co o lies' in the ear ly co lo -
nial per io d b o th in Ind ia and in d istant
co lo nies inhab ited b y east Ind ian. The po int
to no te her e is that no t o nly at the b eginning
o f ind entu r e b u t also at its end , the lab o u r er -
immigr ants wer e b asically 'co o lies' no t
peasants.
INDENTURE RECRUITMENT
The per io d fr o m the mid -1840s to 1910 is
char acter ised b y the ind entu r ed immigr a-
tio n o f Ind ian lab o u r r ecr u ited to wo r k o n
Malayan plantatio ns. It has b een estimated
that b etween 1844 and 1910, so me 2,50,000
ind entu r ed Ind ian lab o u r er s enter ed Ma-
laya. This figu r e also inclu d es estimates o f
lab o u r migr atingo nver b al co ntr acts. Ind en-
tu r ed migr atio n thu s fo r med so me 13 per
cent o f the assisted lab o u r , 9 per cent o f the
to tal lab o u r and near ly 6 per cent o f the
who le Ind ian migr atio y into Malaya u p to
1957 [Sand hu 1969: 811. Unlike o ther par ts
o f the 13r itish empir e, in Malaya the r ecr u it-
ment o f ind entu r ed lab o u r er s was d o ne b y
specu lato r s o r the emplo yer s themselves,
either thr o u gh their o wn o r pr ivate agents in
Ind ia. The ind entu r e system liter ally meant
a legally enfo r ced d eb t b o nd age. This sys-
tem came to r eplace slaver y as the pr imar y
mctho d o f su pply and maintenance o f lab o u r
o n the West Ind ies su gar plantatio ns and
was extend ed fr o m ther e to newly d evelo p-
ing plantatio ns in Ceylo n and Malaya. In
Malaya to o this lab o u r was fir st u sed fo r
su gar cane cu ltivatio n since it need ed 'at
least o ne u nit o f Ind ian lab o u r per acr e'
co mpar ed with the wo r k o n co ffee, pepper
and gamb ier estates. Even the canc planted
in Malaya came fr o m the ter r ito r ies o f
Mau r iti u s and Br i tish Gu iana. Also the plant-
er s had lear nt the ind u str y ther e. The su gar
planter s o f Penang and Pr o vince Wellesley
wer e alr ead y o ld hand s when it came to
d ealing with the b o nd ed so u th Ind ian lab o u r
o n the estates. It is har d ly su r pr ising that
u ntil the end o f the centu r y they r emained
stau nch champio ns o f the ind entu r e system.
An examinatio n o f the po litical eco no my
o f so u th Ind ia allo ws thescho lar to avo id the
excesseso feither a natio nalistico r an apo lo -
geticco lo nialist inter pr etatio n when assess-
ing the fir st phase o f Ind ian lab o u r migr a-
tio n to Malaya. The natio nalists have ar gu ed
that agr eistic ser fd o m and u npr eced ented
incr ease in the nu mb er o f agr icu ltu r al
lab o u r er s wer e the twin 'cr eatio ns' o f co lo -
nial r u lc in so u th Ind ia. Bo th these myths
have b een effectively d emo lished . Kathleen
Go u gh d emo nstr ates that 'slaver y' was a
pr e-co lo nial Tanmil institu tio n, and Dhar ma
Ku mar 'swo r kco nclu sively estab lishes that
the nu mb er o f agr icu ltu r al lab o u r er s in the
Mad r as pr esid ency r emained mo r e o r less
co nstant b etween the b eginning and the end
o f the 19th centu r y. On the o ther sid e, ther e
is no r eal b asis to su ppo r t the r o sy pictu r e o f
tho se planter s and o fficer s in Malaya who
wr o te that the Tamilian's so jo u r n to the
ar chipelago meant a vir tu al tr ip to par a-
d ise-to the land o f fr eed o m and plenty.
Ind eed , tho u gh the late 19th centu r y Tamil
peasant may have genu inely lo o ked u po n
emigr atio n as a way o u t o f po ver ty and
d estitu tio n, he/she was d efinitely no t aspir -
ing to 'fr eed o m'. If at all, he/she was lo o k-
ing fo r su b stitu te mechanisms o f b o nd ed
secu r ity and patr o nage as the cu sto mar y
o nes d isintegr ated . The cr u cial qu estio n is
whether emigr atio n to Malaya pr o vid ed them
secu r ity and cer tainly the b u lk o f evid ence
fo r the ind entu r ed phase su ggests that it
failed .
The heavy mo r tality r ate amo ng immi-
gr ant Ind ian lab o u r er s and the high figu r es
fo r d eser tio ns ar e two clear ind ices o f their
d isillu sio nment. The d eath r ate amo ng the-
newco mer s in so me ar eas appear s to have
b een as high as 80-90 per cent. Deser tio ns
wer e fr equ ent, in spite o f sever e penalties if
cau ght. Fo r example, ther e wer e no less than
610 d eser tio ns o u t o f a lab o u r fo r ce o f 1,026
ind entu r ed immigr ants o n Gu la estate, Per ak,
alo ne in 1895.
The ind entu r ed system, d espite the penal
pr o visio ns co ntained in the co ntr act, failed
to ensu r e a r egu lar and r eliab le lab o u r su p-
ply fo r Malayan plantatio ns. Even as an
instr u ment o f explo itatio n it was anachr o -
nistic and co u nter -pr o d u ctive. Despite its
last-d itch d efence b y the heavy-hand ed su gar
planter so f Penang, Po r t Wellesley and Per ak
r ight till the end o f the 19th centu r y, the
ind entu r ed system was d eclining b y the end
o f the 191 Os. Per haps the single mo st per ni-
cio u s featu r e o f the system was the co nd i-
tio n o f 'ano mie' it cr eated fo r the lab o u r er .
2364
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1993-
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This was gr asped b y the mo r e pr o gr essive
planter s exper imenting with the cr o ps o f
co ffee and r u b b er . Altho u gh the su ccesso r
to the ind entu r ed system was as mu ch gear ed
to ensu r ing the su b o r d inatio n o f the so u th
Ind ian lab o u r er in Malaya, yet ther e was
gr eater emphasis o n family migr atio n and
the ensco ncing o f the migr ant lab o u r er in a
pr o tective co ver [Stenso n 1980:24]. Planta-
tio n o wner s pr efer r ed the system b ecau se it
pr o vid ed b etter lab o u r co ntr o l o n the planta-
tio n itself. The lab o u r -co ntr acto r o r kangany
to o k o ver mo st o f the fu nctio ns o f co ntr o l
and su per visio n, and the lab o u r fo r ce o ften
r ecr u ited fr o m the same village o r kinship
gr o u p-wo u ld
act as a mo r e tightly knit
u nit. As we have seen, the o pen, wid espr ead
r ecr u iting asso ciated with the ind entu r e sys-
tem co u ld no t, at the level o f wages paid to
the wo r ker s, pr o d u ce su fficient lab o u r er s in
the way that tlhe lab o u r -co ntr acto r s co u ld
thr o u gh their links with the village ar eas o f
r ecr u itment. As Char les Gamb a pu ts it, "in-
d entu r e pr o ved eco no mically u nsu ccessfu l
and so cially u nsatisfacto r y. Fu r ther mo r e... .it
d id no t satisfy the gr eat d emand fo r lab o u r "
[Gamb a 1962: 5].
KANGANY RECRUITMENr
We shall no t her e go into the d etails o f
pr o ced u r e wher eb y lab o u r was r ecr u ited b y
the kanganies o n Malayan plantatio ns. Su f-
fice it wo u ld b e to say that fr o m cir ca 1910
to 1938 this was the d o minant fo r m o f
lab o u r r ecr u itment and co ntr o l o n Malayan
plantatio ns. The kangany as an agent o f
co ntr o l o f Tamil lab o u r b o th in 'o n' and
'o ff' wo r k situ atio ns o u tlasted the per io d o f
the seco nd vo r ld war and r emains to this
d ay-witho u t b eing a r ecr u i ter -the su per -
viso r o r fo r eman o f gangs o f lab o u r er s.
The r o le o f the kangany as a r ecr u iter in
the macr o -str u ctu r e o f Ind ian immigr atio n
to Malaya has b een o u tlined in d etail b y
Sand hu (1969) and Par mer (I 960). We shal l
co mment o n a few salient featu r es o f this
type o f iimmigr atio n, especially as r eflected
in the micr o co sm o f a 'typical' r u b b er estate
in Malaya, called Pal Melayu [Jain
19701.
In
Pal Melayu , even the ear liest Tamil wo r ker s
seem to have b een b r o u ght fr o m their vil-.
lagesin the Mad r aspr esid ency b y kanganies
r ather than u nd er ind entu r e. Planter s o ther
than tho se r u nning su gar plantatio ns had
two pr incipal o b jectio ns to r ecr u iting ind en-
tu r ed ser vants o n estates. Fir st and fo r e-
mo st, they wer e an u nselected lo t, po o r in
physiqu e and u nab le to d o o u td o o r wo r k.
Many wer e weaver s, d ho b ies, 'co o lies' and
o ther wo r ker s with no exper ience in agr i cu l -
tu r e. So o n after ar r ival in Malaya, they
b eco me 'ho spital b ir d s' and wer e ther efo r e
a liab ility fo r the estate and the go ver nment.
Also , their r ecr u itment thr o u gh agents and
su b agents in Tamil Nad aL was co stly. The
lalw enab led l planter s to r eco ver fr o m a ser -
vant witthin the thr ee-year per io d o f co n-
tr act, less than halfo f the to tal amo u nt spent
o n r ecr u itment. Bu t in ever y estatc ther e was
a lar ge nu mb er o f d eser ter s fr o m who m
no thing co u ld b e r eco ver ed , and legal pr o -
ceed i ngsagai nst them o nly incr eased lab o u r
co sts [Jackso n 1961: Chapter
IX].
We have examined in d etail the caste and
kinship co mpo sitio n o f kangany-r ecr u ited
gangso f lab o u r er so n Pal Melayu and fo u nd ,
even in the ear ly 1960s, the Tamil r esid ent
lab o u r fo r ce co mpr ising o f near ly a d o zen
'ki nd r ed s-ar o u nd -kanganies'. These
kind r ed s mu shr o o med ar o u nd a so lid co r e
o f the kanganies' clo se r elatives. As alr ead y
no ted , these kanganies wer e mainly o f no n-
b r ahniin castes b u t so me b elo nged to the
ad i-d r ivid a, par aiyan and palla castes as
well. All kanganies. b elo nging to no n-
b r ahmin castes su ch as the vanniar go u nd er 2
and kallar wer e, witho u texceptio n, invo lved
in actu al cu ltivatio n as r yo ts in their ances-
tr al villages in Ind ia [Ar asar atnam 1970:
261. The so lid co r e o f ki nsmen-r ecr L i ts who
came with them to Malaya also b elo nged to
the peasant str atu m. Besid es the fact that
these r ecr u its, u nlike the ind entu r e r ecr u its
who wer e invar iab ly 'co o lies', wer e o f the
peasant str atu m, they wer e also 'family-
r ecr u its'. This last featu r e r efer s to the fact
that these kanganies and co r e r ecr u its had
spr ead o u t their assets and r espo nsib ilities
b etween the r u b b er estate in Malaya and
natal village in Ind ia as memb er s o f ho u se-
ho ld s. lJence a significant co ntr ast in the
so cial char acter o f these immigr ants and the
ear lier ind entu r e immigr ants was that the
ind ivid u alistic 'ano mie'-mar ked existence
o f the latter type o f immigr ants had b een
r eplaced b y a vib r ant so cialised type o f
existence o f kangany r ecr u its IJain 1970:
Chapter
6].
This r ather than b o nd age ver su s
fr eed o m is the significant d iffer ence b e-
tween the ind entu r ed and kangany-r ecr u ited
immigr antswlho came to lab o u r o n Malayan
plantatio ns.
Besid es kangany r ecr u its and ind entu r ed
co o lies, ther e was a tlhir d catego r y o f 'lo cal
r ecr u its', co nsisting o f ex-ind entu r ed co o -
liesfr o mestatesand lo cally b o r n child r en o f
co o lies. These wer e the two ear liest catego -
r ies o f lo cal r ecr u its; su b sequ ently the
nu mb er o f lo cal r ecr u its was au gmented
also b y the ind epend ent, i c, no n-r ecr u ited
assisted migr ants fr o m Ind ia. A lo cal r e-
cr u it, gcner ally, was a 'fr ee' Tamil co o lie
par excellence. Bu t ind epend ence and self-
r eliance wer e no t pr ecisely the vir tu es
which planter s in tho se d ays lo o kcd fo r in
a co o lie. Ind eed they r emained vehement
cr itics o f the ind cpend ent-mind ed ness o f
lab o u r cr s in the go ver nment wo r ks and
attr ib u ted it to the system o f lo cal r ecr u it-
ment and ind ir ect su per visio n. Only fo u r
year s after the find ings o f the go ver nment
co mmissio n (1890) came to light a planter
wr o te:
Scar cely less d esir ab le is the lo cal r ecr u it.
He ar r ives her e a hu mb le-mind ed , qu iet,
almo st naked savage, and in a few mo nths
time yo u see him walking alo ng with a
cher o o t in his mo u th, attir ed in a gau d y
co stu nme, with a hat o n o ne end and a pair o f
sho es o n the o ther , lo o king in at ever y liqu o r
sho p he passes and ind u lging in su ch amu se-
ments as pu lling the patient Chinaman's
pigtail o r d r iving a pair o f b u llo cks as har d
as he can u r ge the po o r b easts o n thr o u gh the
b u siest par to f to wn. All this isd u e to the fact,
that as an ind ivid u al lhe is qu ite o u t o f to u chi
with his Eu r o pean emplo yer who o nly kno ws
him as o ne o f his su b -co ntr acto r 's gang and
who has pr o b ab ly never spo ken a wo r d to
him since his ar r ival. On estates, the man-
ager kno ws ever y co o lie b y name, pays him
himself, su per vises all his wo r k in per so n
and su b jects him to the str ictest d iscipline;
b u t o n the r o ad s and r ailways wher e the
co o lie's immed iate b o ss is pr o b ab ly a na-
tive, himself well-scho o led in the d evilr ies
o f his co u ntr y, the r esu lt is that the co o lie
d o es ever ything in his po wer to imitate him
and so o n b eco mes a u seless u nd isciplined
b lackgu ar d [Planter 1894: 4546].
In the essay fr o m which this qu o tatio n is
taken the 'planter ' makes sever al su gges-
tio nsb y which a r egu lar lab o u r su pply might
b e assu r ed , b u t fo r u nd er stand ab le r easo ns
his gr asp o f the kangany system as it su b se-
qu ently d evelo ped in Malaya was imper -
fect. A kangany o n the estate d id in fact
b eco me a kind o f a native b o ss b u t even he
was kept d ir ectly su b ser vient to the Eu r o -
pean emplo yer s. Su b ser vience was co nsid -
er ed an essential attr ib u te in the lab o u r
fo r ce, inclu d ing the kangany.
Her e we sho u ld d istingu ish b etween the
kangany 's fu nctio ns as r ecr u iter and as fo r e-
man-su per viso r . Or iginally the kangany
co mb ined b o th these fu nctio ns. Ho wever ,
we sho u ld fu r ther d istingu ish b etween his
r o le as a r ecr u iter fr o m Tamil Nad u villages
and as a lo cal r ecr u L iter . r he latter r o le
b ecame significant after the 1920s. He had
ear lier b een a specialist fo r b r inging lab o u r er s
o ver to an estate like Pal Melayu thr o u gh the
maze o f agents, d epo ts, ships, camps, in-
specto r s, and cler ks. Bu t co ncu r r ent with the
immigr atio n o f these lab o u r er s, d escr ib ed in
the estate statistical r egister as 'co ast r e-
cr u its'-co o lies b r o u ght o ver to Malaya
fr o m the Co r o mand el co ast o f Ind ia b y
Kanganies-ther e was a stead ily gr o wing
str eam o f Ind ian immigr ants d escr ib ed in
go ver nmnent r epo r ts as 'u nassisted ' and 'no n-
r ccr u ited -assisted ' imnmigr ants [Pr ice 1960:
30-33].
Unasssisted immigr ants wer e per so ns who
paid their o wn expenses to Malaya. No n-
r ecr u ited -assisted immigr ants wer e per so ns
who o b tained fr ee tickets and b o nu ses to
immigr ate o n applying to the Malayan go v-
er nment d epar tments at Avad i and
Nagapattinam. A lar ge niu mb er o f these
lab o u r er s wer e also r ecr u ited b y kangannies
b u t lo cally in Malaya. Ther e was a qu alita-
Eco no mic and Po litical Weekly Octo b er 23, 1993
2365
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tive d iffer ence in the kangany's ties with
these r ecr u its co mpar ed to his 'co astal r e-
cr u its'. We have alr ead y co nsid er ed the
co astal r ecr u its and the way kangany b e-
came their patr o n,.linking Malayan estates
with villages in Tamil Nad u thr o u gh ties o f
caste and kinship. As r ecr u iter o f lo cal im-
migr ants that nexu s o f the kangany b ecame
lo o se. Wher eas in the ear lier system ther e
was a par tially au to no mo u s po wer -hier ar -
chy o n plantatio ns with head kanganies,
kanganies and lab o u r er s, in the later phase
the kangany as lo cal r ecr u iter -cu m-fo r e-
man-su per viso r b ecame par t o f a lar ger b u -
r eau cr acy, immed iately su b o r d inate to the
Asian estate staff 'kir ani'. In the pr o cess,.
the kangany also mo ved clo ser to his gang-
lab o u r er s. The co ntr ast b etween the ear lier
and later phases is well b r o u ght ab o u t b y the
o ld lab o u r er s' sto r ies co ncer ning the o ver -
weening po wer and au tho r ity o f the ear lier
head kanganiesand the 'd emo cr atic' lead er -
ship r o les o f the pr esent-d ay kanganies [Jain
1968:166-67].
PATTERNS OF CONTROL
Many o f the d etails ar e lacking in the
extinct histo r ical r eco r d fo r r eco nstr u cting
the b asis o f lab o u r co ntr o l in Tamil Nad u
villagesat the b eginningo f the 19th centu r y.
Ho wever , ther e ar e eno u gh clu es to po sit a
co ntinu ity b etween the ear lier fo r ms o f the
patter n o f lab o u r co ntr o l in r amil Nad u
villages and o n Malayan plantatio ns.-It may
even b e said that the r o o ts o f the ind entu r ed
system lay in so u th Ind ia itself. Fo r ex-
ample, ther e is evid ence that in the ear ly
19th centu r y the pannaiyals had b een fo r ced
into per petu al and her ed itar y b o nd age
thr o u gh a mar r iage-lo an fr o m their master s
o f, say 20 to 30 pago d as. At that time ther e
was no system wher eb y a lab o u r er co u ld
d ischar ge this lo an b y manu al lab o u r [Ku mar
1965:
42-65].
The o nly change that ema-
nated fr o m the mid -19th centu r y o nwar d s
was the pr o visio n o f wr itten co ntr acts o f
ind entu r e, which legally and tempo r ally
specified the ter m o f lab o u r against lo an
[Tho masand Ramakr ishnan 1940:
174-761.
A system o f vo lu ntar y d eb t-b o nd age was
alr ead y pr evalent amo ngst agr icu ltu r al
lab o u r er sand lo wer peasantr yinTamil Nad u
at a time when their mnemb er s b egan signing
co ntr acts fo r
ind entu r ed .lab o u r in Malaya
(and even ear lier fo r Ceylo n).
The highly r egimented , segr egated , r esi-
d ential patter n o f the var io u s caste-gr o u ps
in Tamil Nad u villages was also r eplicated
o n Malayan plantatio ns. Ir her e is a tend ency
in the Ind ianist liter atu r e to r egar d r esid en-
tial segr egatio n in 'r amil villages-espe-
cially the co nfinement o f the b r ahmin into
the 'agr ahar am' and o f the u nto u chab les in
'cher i' as a char acter istic su i geciter is o f the
caste system. I-lo wever , r ecently it has heen
ar gu ed o n the b asis o f su b stantial evid ence
that this r esid cntial segr egatio n was inter -
r elated to the patter n o f jo int land ho ld ing
(b y the higher castes) and jo int agr eistic
ser fd o m (o f the o wner , especially, u nto u ch-
ab le castes) in the pr e-co lo nial village sys-
tem o f Tamil Nad u . It is par ticu lar ly signi fi-
cant to no te that o n Malayan plantatio ns
while ther e was a tend ency fo r all lab o u r er s,
whether no n-b r ahmin o r ad i-d r avid a, to b e
settled in co mmo n lab o u r -lines, the o wner s
and their r epr esentatives (e g, the Eu r o pean
manager and assistant) and the higher b u -
r eau cr ats (Asian estate staff) lived in pr e-
cisely segr egatcd r esid ential ar eas o f the
plantatio n. Also , the allo catio n o f'fr ee' b u t
no n-o wning lab o u r lines to the 'lamil plan-
tatio n lab o u r is str o ngly r eminiscent o f the
agr eistic ser fs (pad iyal and pannaiyal) liv-
ing o n land , jo intly at the su ffer ance o f the
jo int mir asid ar s o f the village.
L ABOUR CONTROL UJNDER INDENTURE
Jan Br eman (1984) has wr itten ab o u t the
pr o cesses o f r egu latio n o f lab o u r o n capital -
ist plantatio ns in co lo nial Asia. These pr o -
cesses can b e seen as fu lly o per ative in
Malaya r ight fr o m the b eginning o f the
ind entu r ed r ecr u itment. Go ver nment su per -
visio n o f the migr atio n and co nd itio ns o f
settlement meant sever al things. Fir stly, the
Ind ian go ver nment r efu sed to sanctio n in-
d entu r ed emigr atio n fr o m any par t o f Ind ia
o ther than Mad r as. Seco nd ly, while u p to the
1870s 'co o lie' tr ad e fr o m so u th Ind ian po r ts
appear s to have b een car r ied o n b y Ind ians
themselves emplo ying Ind ian-o wned sail-
ing ships, su b sequ ently, as in the o ther
co lo nies the mo no po ly o ver shipping, no w
co nver ted to steam, was captu r ed b y Eu r o -
peans. Thir d ly, ther e was ab sence o f family
migr atio n r esu lting in an imb alanced sex-
r atio amo ng the Ind ian lab o u r migr ants
thr o u gho u t the 19th centu r y. This is r e-
flected in the 1891 censu s, when ther e wer e
18 females per 1,000 Ind ian males
[Ar asar atnam 1970: 32].
Natu r ally, the r esid ence o f Ind ian lab o u r
immigr ants in Malaya was at this time b o th
tempo r ar y and r elatively sho r t. As Br eman
sho ws fo r the plantatio n enclaves o f Asia in
gener al, the immigr ants wer e no t paid a
family-wage in Malaya; the co st o f their
r etir ement and r epr o d u ctio n was thu s lar gely
b o r ne b y their ho mc villagcs in the 'hinter -
land ', and the entir e pr o cess o f i mmigr atio n
was cir cu lar . The Annu L al Repo r t o n Emigr a-
tio n fr o m 1Mad r as, 1900-01, giving
figu r es
fo r the highest ever cxo d u s fr o m Mlad r as
u pto that d ate also stated that o ver a 1.0-year
per io d 82 per cent o f the emigr ants camc
b ack to thlcir ho miie [Tinker 1974t: 57-58].
Acco r d ing to a r ccent estimate [Su nd ar am
1986: 1921, o ver the entir c per io d 1860 to
1957, o f the to tal emigr atio n fr o m Ind ia to
Malaya o f ab Io u t fo u ir millio n, 70 per cent o f
this nu mb er left Malaya o vewr the same per io d .
The ab jectly lo w wages and the o per atio n
o f a 'tr u ck system' fo r the su pply o f
fo o d gr ains and o ther essential items fo r
ind entu r ed lab o u r er s o n plantatio n r esu lted
in a vicio u s cycle o f po ver ty and explo ita-
tio n. Other no tewo r thy featu r es o f their
ab ject living co nd itio ns wer e the cr amped
co o lie lines and ind iscr iminate mixing o f
sexes in the living qu ar ter s fo r the co o lies.
As late as 1910, estate lab o u r er s seem to
have b een paid wages no t per d iem b u t o n
task wo r k b asis [Jackso n 1961: 111]. Per -
haps the mo st acu te tr au ma o f r egu latio n
and co ntr o l exper ienced b y the ind entu r ed
lab o u r o n Malayan plantatio ns was the o ne
r elated to their ear liest exper iences o f set-
ting fo r th to the new lo cale. The fo llo wing
excer pt fr o in an ad d r ess b y the co ntr o ller o f
lab o u r d escr ib ing the pr o ced u r e in the
Nagapattinam camp in 1912 is fair ly vivid :
By two o 'clo ck in the after no o n... o n the d ay
pr io r to shipping ever y man in the camp will
have shaved , and i have had his hair cu t...Then
they ar e all lined u p fo r their gingelly o il
b ath. They squ at o n the gr o u nd with their
hanld s extenid ed in fr o nt o f them, while two
attend ants, o ne w itlh a lar ge tin o f o il and o ne
with a d lipper , pass d o wn the r o w, and give
cacti co o lie a hancifu l o f o il and as o ften as
no t po u r a qu antity o n tlheir hiead s. Ten
minu tes ar e allo wed fo r the r u b b ing o f the
o il, thiCIl at a given signial they' mo ve d o wn in
b atches to the canal wher e five minu tes is
allo wed fo r a go o d wash. At ano ther signal
they mar ch u p to the d r ying gr o u nd while
their places in hlie can1al ar e taken b y ano ther
b atch [Par nier 196():
541.
Fu r ther mo r e, after b eing r emo ved fr o m
the camp to the ship each emigr ant was
given a 'tin ticket' b ear ing a nu mb er which
r epr esented the estate to which he was b eing
d espatchied . Rcfcr r ing to an ear ly per io d
(1865), an assistant su per intend ant o f po -
lice, Mad r as, no tcd in his d iar y, "This mo r n-
ing I acco mpanied the master attend ant o n
b o ar d o ne o f tho se co o lie tr ad er s waiting to
star t fo r the str aits. It was a b eastly sight,
co o lies cr o wd ed to gether like b easts"
[Sand hu 1969:
791.
On ar r ival in Malaya the
immigr ants u su ally enter ed qu ar antine sta-
tio ns fo r o ne week o r lo nger b efo r e b eing
sent to d epo ts and thence r emo ved b y the
emplo yer s' agents to the allo tted estates.
r he measu r es l isted ab o ve and many mo r e
mar ks o f r egimentatio n in the actu al field
situ atio n o f immigr ant lab o u r er s [Daniel
1986: 7-8] signified a lo ss o f self as in the
asylu m-type 'to tal institu tio ns' [Go ffman
1961] o r situ atio ns like tho se d efined b y
Fo u cau lt wher e "time penetr ates the b o d y
and withi it all meticu lo u sco ntr o lso f po wer "
[Fo u cau lt 1979:
1521.
L IABIOUR (:()N-I1ROL UIND}R KANGANY
As r egar d s the d eb t-b o nd age o f kangany
r ecr u its to the jo b b er r atiler than the em-
plo yer , llr eman (198S4) has cho sen to
Eco no mic and Po litical Weekly Octo b er 23, 1993
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emphasise the elcment o f co ntinu ity. This
emer gesclear lyinhisr emar kso n the po wer -
r elatio nship b etween the kangany and his
men since the kangany was ho pelessly en-
tr enched as a r epr esentative o f the manage-
ment. Thu s Br eman emphasises kangany's
r o le in "tying o f lab o u r " r ather than his
med iatio n in the lab o u r er s "hab itu atio n to
ind u str ial climate" (ib id ) [Br eman 1984:
55]. While we agr ee with Br eman that a
simple fu nctio nalist explanatio n o f the
kangany's r o le as a mid d leman b etween
lab o u r emplo yer s and r ecr u its and , fu r ther ,
his image as a b enevo lent par tr iar ch, d o es
no t take su fficient acco u nt o f the pu nitive
aspects o f his r o le as an emplo yer s' agent,
ther e is sco pe yet o f u nd er sco r ing the cu l-
tu r al r ather than the pu r ely po litical-eco -
no micd imensio n o fthis r elatio nship. Sand hu
su ms u p the situ atio n with r egar d to the
kangany's d eb t witho u t o f co u r se, explicat-
ing the cu ltu r al d imensio n inher ent in it:
The lab o u r er was o b liged to pay within two
year s the su m ad vanced to b r ing him to the
place o f wo r k. He co u ld no t b c co mpelled to
pay, since the law clear ly allo wed him to
leave his jo b with 30d ays' no tice and d id no t
ho ld him liab le fo r any d eb t to the kangani,
b u t in fact he wo u ld find it d ifficu lt to get
wo r kat ano ther plantatio n if he failed to pay,
and he to o k the d eb t as a po int o f ho no u r
[Sand hu 1969: 91].
Altho u gh, u nlike Ceylo n wher e the
kangany himself was the paymaster o f his
gang in Malaya the emplo yer s paid wages
d ir ectly to each lab o u r er , the cu ltu r al sanc-
tio n o f b ei ng ho no u r -b o u nd to r epay the d eb t
wasco mmo n to r ecr u i ts i n Malaya as wel l as
in Ceylo n. This sanctio n was d ir ectly r e-
lated to the str ength o f village, caste and kin
ties b etween the kangany and his r ecr u its,
and is a str u ctu r al featu r e o f wo r king class
etho s in Ind ia [Chakr ab ar ty 1989]. The co n-
tr actu al b o nd age o f the ind entu r ed r ecr u it
need s to b e qu alitatively d istingu ished fr o m
the so cio -cu ltu r al b o nd s tying r ecr u its to
their kangany. The latter r elatio nship was
per haps less fr ee than the fo r mer . As we
o b ser ved r ecently:
Family, kin and caste ties wer e pr eser ved
and r espected mu clh mo r e in the kangany
system than u nd er ind entu r e. Similar ly, pa-
tr o n-client ties b etween the kangany and his
r ecr u its-even wher e they left o ne estate
and to o k u p emplo ymcnt o n ano tlher u nd er
pr essu r e o f 'cr inmping' d u r ing per io d s o f
highi d emand fo r lab o u r -wer e an end u r ing
featu r e o f the latter system. In b r o ad ter ms,
ther efo r e, the system o f r ecr u itment and
settlement o f immigr ant Ind ian lab o u r as it
o b tained in Tr inid ad and as was eventu ally
estab lished in Malaya co u ld b e d istingu ished
as 'ind ivid u alistic' in the fo r mer and 'co m-
mu nal' in the latter . Par ad o xical as it may
seem, i-n so cio cu ltu r al r atlher thfan po litico -
eco no mic ter ms, the ind cntu r ed r ecr L u it in
Tr inid ad had gr eater o ccu patio nal fr eed o m
thlan his kangany-r ecr u ited co u nter palr t in
MalJaya [Jain 1988: 128].
Despite clo se ties o f ascr iptio n b etween
the kangany and his gang o n Malayan plan-
tatio ns, it sho u ld b e emphasised that the
char acter isatio n o f the kangany as jo b b er
has to b e that he was the emplo yer s' agent
amo ng his men. As r egar d s the kangany o n
Ceylo nese and Malayan plantatio ns, it has
b een co ntend ed r ecently [Heid emann 1990]
that r ather than assigning him a po sitio n in
the pyr amid al o r ganisatio nal char ts o f the
co mpany b elo w the Asian estate staff and
ab o ve lab o u r er s, the fo llo wing 'inter med i-
ar y' po sitio n in the plantatio n system as a
who led epictsthe situ atio n mo r e accu r ately:
Pr o pr ieto r /Planter
Kangani
1
L ab o u r er s
The kangany thu s is an 'inter med iar y' in
the system; ho wever , the kind o f inter med i-
ar y that he is can b e b etter u nd er sto o d in
ter ms o f an analo gy o ffer ed b y Br eman
(1984:76), "ju st as the co mpr ad o r in co lo -
nial times had acted as the lo cal pivo t in Asia
fo r tr ad e with the centr e o f the wo r ld
eco no my, so the jo b b er fu nctio ned as a link
b etween the capitalist emplo yer and the
wo r ld o f ind igeno u s lab o u r ". And , again,
tho u gh we may no t agr ee with Hleid emann's
co mplete ar gu ment that the institu tio n o f the
kangany r eplaced the caste system o n
Ceylo neseand Malayan plantatio ns, itsho u ld
b e co nced ed that wher eas in Tamil Nad u
villages the d o minant castes so u ght legiti-
macy fr o m the r itu ally 'pu r e' b r ahmin pr iest,
tlhe legitimacy o f the d o minant kangany was
d er ived fr o m the b eef eating, 'po llu ted ',
white b o ss.
With r egar d to kangany r ecr u itment,
Stenso n has r emar ked that "the intr o d u ctio n
o f this go ver nment-co ntr o lled system o f
lab o u r r ecr u itment and emplo yment was a
po l i tical master str o ke" [Stenso n, 1980: 20].
By the legal ab o litio n o f r ecr u itment o f
ind entu r ed lab o u r in 1910 and b y r elying
u po n fr ee' lab o u r b r o u ght into the co u ntr y,
the Malayan go ver nments co u ld claim qu ite
co nvincingly that this was the mo st pr o gr es-
sive system o f lab o u r su pply in the Br itish
co lo nial wo r ld . The appar ent stab ilisatio n
intr o d u b ed into the r anks o f Ind ian planta-
tio n lab o u r in Malaya achieved a d o u b le
pu r po se: o n the o ne hand , vind icatio n was
pr o vid ed to an o r ganised system eminently
acccptab le as 'pr o gr essive' to the emplo y-
cr s and the emplo yed alike and , o n the o ther
lhand , the so cial and o ther extr a-eco no mic
b u r d ens o n the so u th Ind ian lab o u r er in
Malaya wer e effectively co ncealed . 13ecau se
o f the r eso lu tio n o f thc fo r mer facto r s, "a
r isine tid e o f cr iticism pr evented the r evival
o f assisted lab o u r migr atio n to Fiji aftcr the
fir st wo r ld war , and cu t the link witlh Ceylo n
in 1923; the flo w o f lab r o u r to Malaya was
little r estr icted u ntil 1938 [Stenso n 1980:
20]. Ind ian po litical o pinio n co ncentr ated
u po n cr iticisino the manifest inequ alitieso f
flagr ant r acial d iscr iminatio n in so u th Af-
r ica and Kenya, o f ind entu r ed lab o u r in Fiji,
and o f the 'tu nd u ' system in Ceylo n [Tinker
1974: 29-100].
The co ncealment o f the explo itatio n o f
so u th Ind ian lab o u r tiy in the fact that this
r eser ve ar my, instr u mental in the d evelo p-.
ment o f the Malayan ju ngle was no t o nly
cheap b u t eminently r eplaceab le. The essen-
tially co nser vative fu nctio n o f the incipient
stab ilisatio n o f so u th Ind ian plantatio n lab o u r
in Malaya o f the 1920s is d emo nstr ated b y
the ab sence o f ab o l i tio n mo vements co mpa-
r ab le to tho se in Fiji and Mau r itiu s. The
d ifficu l tieso f o b taining and co ntr o lling no r th
Ind ian lab o u r was o ne facto r which enab led
the co nver sio n fr o m a plantatio n to a small-
far mer leaseho ld system in Fiji [Gillio n
1962: 138-41]. In Mau r itiu s ther e had b een
pr o gr essive d ecline in the per centage o f
Ind ians livingo n estate camps--44 per cent
in 1861, 28 per cent in 1871, 15 per cent in
1904 and 9 per cent in 1956 [Bened ict 1961:
38]. In Malaya, as late as 1965 the per cent-
age o f lab o u r in the gainfu lly o ccu pied
Ind ian po pu latio n was appr o ximately 60 per
cent. Of these near ly 60 per cent wer e estate
lab o u r er s, the majo r ity o f who m lived in
lab o u r -lines [Sand hu 1969: 255-56].
CONCL USION
It r emains fo r u s to d r aw o u t the implica-
tio ns o f the acco u nt o f migr atio n, r ecr u it-
ment and co ntr o l pr esented ab o ve. Fo r a
star t, the Ind ian b ackgr o u nd to b o th migr a-
tio nand co ntr o l o f Tamil lab o u r o n Malayan
plantatio ns d o es no t imply that ther e was a
cu sto mar y co ntinu ity b etween ear ly 19th
centu r y Tamil Nad u and Malayan planta-
tio ns (1840-1938) as r egar d s 'lived -in' ex-
per iences o f the su b jects invo lved . Ther e is,
o n the o ther hand , a clear tr ansitio n fr o m
pr e-co lo nial r elatio ns to
capi,talist
r elatio ns
o f pr o d u ctio n. The natu r e o f this tr ansitio n,
ho wever , is the cr u x o f the matter . To d esig-
nate this as a pr o cess o f 'd epeasantisatio n' is
o b vio u sly wr o ng; neither wer e the majo r ity
o f emigr ants to Malayan plantatio ns peas-
ants (they wer e r ather 'co o lies') and even
tho se who wer e agr icu ltu r ists o f o ne kind o r
ano ther b elo ng to a selective, lo wer str atu m
'peasantr y' which was b o th highly mo b ile
and stagnant. This co mb inatio n o f mo b ility
and stagnatio n was an o u tco me o f the cir cu -
lato r y natu r e o f migr atio n mad e po ssib le
u nd er cir cu mstances o f o ver ar ching co lo -
nial r u le b o th in the capitalist enclaves and
lab o u r -su pplying hinter land . Mechanisms
-o f lab o u r -b o nd age-thr o u gh ind entu r e and
later b y means o f jo b b er co ntr o l- enu r ed
the existence, r epr o d u ctio n and r eplenish-
ment o f u nfr ee lab o u r u nd er capitalist co n-
d i
,tio ns.
2368 Eco no mic and Po litical Weekly Octo b er 23,
1993
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Wer c these mo b ile b u t b o nd ed lab o u r
pr o letar ians-cithcr existentially o r po ten-
tially-and wer e they effectively 'd epr o le-
tar ianised ' o n plantatio ns? In tr ying to an-
swer this co nu nd r u m we b egin to u se
cr eatively the info r matio n pr o vid ed o n the
Ind ian b ackgr o u nd to r ecr u itment and co n-
tr o l. In co ntr ast to , say, the Car ib b ean
b lack ex-slaves after Emancipatio n (1834)
the so u th Ind ians invo lved in var io u s fo r ms
o f cir cu lato r y migr atio n to the near b y
d estinatio ns o f Malaya and C'eylo n r e-
mained par t o f an 'attached ' lab o u r fo ce.
They mo ved fr o m agr eistic ser fd o m in
Tamil Nad u to ind entu r e b o u nd ed ness and
kangani d eb t-b o nd age in Malaya and .
Ceylo n. It is a mo o t po int whether the
pr o geny o f ind entu r ed east Ind ian lab o u r
fo r ce in the Car ib b ean (the majo r ity hail-
ing fr o m no r th Ind ia) wo u ld b e called a
'pr o letar iat' o r no t-per haps b ecau se o f
the lo ad o f their Ind ian cu ltu r e and even-
tu al o ccu patio n as cane-far mer s-they
wo u ld no t so qu alify; b u t the Tamil lab o u r
o n Malayan plantatio ns d efinitely sho ws
no sympto ms o f fr ee valu atio n and sale o f
its lab o u r po wer su ch that it may b e d e-
scr ib ed as an existential o r po tential pr o -
letar iat. And , ther efo r e, the qu estio n her e
is that if the Tamil lab o u r o n Malayan
plantatio ns was neither at inceptio n no r its
gr o wth a pr o letar iat, ho w can it have
'd epr o letar ianised '?
So me scho lar s have ar gu ed [Omved t 1980]
that lab o u r migr atio n, its cir cu lar natu r e and
the mechanisms o f its r egu latio n and co ntr o l
sho w a highly specific ar ticu latio n b etween
two secto r s-the 'mo d er n
'
plantatio ns
and mines afnd facto r ies with the 'feu d al'
and tr ad itio nal o ngo ing str u ctu r es o f the
agr ar ian r egio n. As Br eman (1984: 122-
23) has pu t it, the pr o cesses o f d iffer entia-
tio n emer ging in the co lo nial per io d gave
r ise to at least two secto r s, each mo r e o r
lessco nfined within itso wn spatial milieu
and so cial spher e b u t nar r o wly inter wo -
ven. The inter actio n b etween the two sec-
to r s o ccu r r ed in ter ms o f lab o u r . Rather
than lab elling the two secto r s as 'capital-
ist' ver su s6no n-capitalist' it is pr ecisely
the inter actio n b etween b o th secto r s that
u nd er sco r es the d ynamic char acter o f the
tr ansfo r matio n pr o cess in the capitalist
plantatio ns o f co lo nial Asia. The 'lived -
in' exper ience o f Ind iar nlab o u r fr o m Tamil
Nad u migr ating and r epr o d u cing o n Ma-
layan plantatio ns b elo ngs to this so cio -
histo r ical fr amewo r k.
POSISCRIP'r : ETHNOGRAPI HY OF COL ONIAL ISMI
In the fo r ego ing we have pr esented a
lar gely factu al acco u nt o f immigr ant Tamil
lab o u r o n Malayan plantatio ns. Implicit, o f
co u r se, in the ab o ve d escr iptio n has b een a
cer tain theo r etical (o r even epistemo lo ci-
cal) stance. As a so c:ial anthr o po lo gist the
wr iter is axwar e thlat in the 1980s the r ise o f
cr itical anthr o po lo gy his meant: (a) that
po litical
eco no my
and cu ltu r e ar e so u ght to
b e examined within an o ver ar ching fr ame-
wo r k [Mar cu s and Fischer 1986: Chapter 4],
and (b ) that anthr o po lo gists ar e incr easingly
tu r ning their attentio n inwar d s to a new
d ialo gu e with the 'o ther '. The latest chapter
in the anthr o po lo gy o f co lo nial lo r matio ns
[Co o per
and Sto ler 1989] clear ly
r eveals
this tr end . The au tho r s co ntr ib u ting to the
special issu e o f Amer icani EI/hito lo gim r e-
fer r ed to ab o ve ar e co ncer ned no t o nly with
the co lo nised b u t mainly (and r efr eshingly)
with the co lo niser s. And in this latter pr eo c-
cu patio n they take into acco u nt no t o nly the
actu al lo gistics o f co lo nial r u le b u t also the
co gnitive catego r ies o f r u le and d o mi nance.
The co ntr ast b etween a pu r ely lo gistical
kind o f stu d y and the o ne enco mpassing
co gnitive catego r ies may b e illu str ated -to
take an example su ited to the pr esent u ni-
ver se o f d isco u r se-b y stu d ies like tho se o f
Tinker (1974, 1976 and 1977) and the o nes
pu b lished r ecentlyb y Sto ler (1986and 1989)
and Br eman (1989).
Ou r acco u nt may lar gely b e seen to b e-
lo ng to the Tinker genr e. No t o nly that ther e
is little cu ltu r al analysis o f the co lo niser s
b u t also ther e is an explicit r ealisatio n-to
b o r .r o w and mo d ify a chapter -head ing fr o m
Tau ssig (1987)-as to who is r id ing who se
b ack in the co lo nial situ atio n o f immigr ant
plantatio n lab o u r in Malaya. It is the white
who r o d e the b ack o f the Tamil co o lies-an
almo st co mplete inver sio n o f the 'white
man's b u r d en'. It seems to u s that wer e we
(fr o m the 'thir d wo r ld ' o r the 'so u th') to
u nd er take a cu ltu r al analysis o f the
co lo niser s, it wo u ld r u n against the gr ain o f
feasib ility-b o th o f id eo lo gy and r eso u r ces.
L et u s so u nd o u t that this is a mid d le o r
'd ialo gical 'po sitio n in the kind o f d isco u r se
we ar e having no w; we ar e no t d ealing with
the catego r ies o f co lo nial r u le and d o mi-
nance as r epr esented b y the co lo niser s and
we ar e also no t asser ting that ther e is a
d istinctively Ind ian o r 'thir d wo r ld ' o r
'so u th '-o r iented cu ltu r al analysis mo r e ger -
mane to the u nd er stand ing o f co lo nialism.
L est this b e misu nd er sto o d , let u s state what
we ar e gu ar d ing against:
...even wlhen co lo nial r egimes wer e b egin-
ning to co nced e in the 1940s and 1950s
that ind igeno u s lead er s wer e capab le o f
r u nning states and o r ganising eco no mies,
they d id so in ter ms o f "mo d er nisatio n"
and 'wester nisatio n' and a Eu r o pean-.
b ased co ncept o f ho w states co llected and
u sed kno wled ge-that d enied the valid ity
o f Afr ican and Asian fo r ms o f kno wled ge
per haps even mo r e than co nser vative fo r ms
o f co lo nial r u le [Co o per and Sto ler 1989:
6121.
In the heyd ay o f capitalist co lo nialissm it
co u ld b e assu med that ther e was no o ther
p.ith availab le to the co lo niall peo ple thaln
that o ffer ed to themt b y co lo niallism. Withl the
d ecline o f empir e, ho wever , the cu ltu r es and
po litical systems
o f the co lo nial peo ple may
well u nd er go a r enaissance and may well
shio w that co ntr ar y to the view o f Eu r o pean
so cio lo gy, thcse civilisatio ns have wvi thin
them the capacity fo r change and d evelo p-
ment, inclu d ingeco no micd evelo pment (Rex
1982:204].
Statementssu ch as these ar e u nexceptio n-
ab le, b u t they ar e cr yptic and liab le to b e
twisted -as they have b een
[L al
1988] in a
cu ltu r al so lipsist d ir ectio n. The epistemo -
lo gical situ atio n ab o u t the co lo nial impact
fo r the thir d wo r ld scho lar s is, as said b e-
fo r e, d ialo gical.
No tes
1 This is the r evised ver sio n o f a paper pr e-
.sented at theCo nfer ence o n 'Capitalist Plan-
tatio ns in Co lo nial Asia', Centr e fo r Asian
Stu d ies, Amster d am, Septemb er 26-29,
1990.
2 Ab o u t the Vanniar Go u nd er it canno t b e
vo u ched that they wer e all 'peasants'. They
co mpr ised a sectio n o f the gener ic caste
kno wn at the end o f the 19th centu r y as
'palli'.Thesu b stitu tio n o f the namevanniyar
o r vanniyan fo r palli was d efinitely r elated
to a mo ve to war d s sanskr itisatio n o f this
caste and a sympto m o f their str iving fo r a
kshatr iya (war r io r ) statu s. Acco r d ing to
Co x, the palli wer e a Tamil cu ltivating
caste, inclu d ed in his manu al amo ng
'lab o u r er s'. They ar e co nsid er ed to b e o f an
'infer io r statu s' and "a link b etween su d r as
and o u tcastes"
[Co x
1894:236-37]. On Pal
Melayu 58 per cent o f Ind ia-b o r n r esid ents
wer e fr o m no r th Ar co t d istr ict and 51.8 per
cent o f the ho u seho ld s o n Divisio n I (56 o u t
o f 108) gave their caste as vanniar [Jain
1970:25 and 347].
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2370 Eco no mic and Po litical Weekly Octo b er 23,- -1993
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