The Landlordism System Of Malaya During The Colonial Period

Before the British invaded the internal Malaya, Malaya was under the rule of the feudal system. Though Portuguese occupied the city of Malacca in16th century, but the social structure of Malaya is basically stable until the mid-1870s. The nominal highest land owner is Sutan, Yamtuan and Raja.Bey obtain land from the hands of the Sutan. Bey is the sole and absolute ruler in their own area, they manage the administrative, economic, judicial power. Bey distribute the land to the smaller feudal lords. Sudan and Bey rule-based on kampong (village community). The sovereignty of the land was transferred to the hands of the Bey when Sudan subinfeudate the land to Bey, and Bey has the right to charge the farmers ten percent of harvest in their territories as rent. Malay cultivators do not care about who has the most primitive and the highest rights of land, and land tenure is really more important for them. The land ownership that based on the private land ownership, characterized by tenancy relationship, was really formed in the late19th century and early20th century in Malaya. Sudan, Yamtuan and Raja were still the highest nominal land owner because of the Malaya traditional land tenure habits, after the British occupied nine princely states of Malaya. In fact, land rental affairs and all related issues were completely determined by the colonial authorities. The British seized a lot of land, and declared the land were all belonged to Royal. Meanwhile, the right to levy agricultural tax reverted to the colonial government. Moreover, the British forced the Malaya farmers to take on a series of obligations. With the further development of relations of capitalism, the plantation economy had an important impact on the land system in Malaya. This had a negative impact on the Malay community on that time, however, the impact from this land system has not been eliminated until now. The paper takes the Malaya land system of the colonial period as the main line, and in-depth discusses the formation, evolution, characteristics and impact of colonial rule in Malaya land system.