Malay - Economy

Wet-rice growing is the chief occupation of the Malay farmer, now often accomplished with modern irrigation systems that allow double cropping. This crop is consumed within Malaysia. The paddy farmers, who sell their rice in a market economy, are likely to be sharecroppers or tenants, not a rural proletariat. Fishing is the next-largest occupation of Malays, and this too is a small-scale commercial operation. Like most rural dwellers, the Malay peasant is engaged in smallholder rubber tapping, and just under half of the rubber production of Malaysia comes from smallholders rather than from the estates or plantations. Malays are only slightly engaged in tin mining, but they are increasingly involved in factory work and modern occupations, especially on the west coast. They are involved in transportation to and trading in the local pasar markets and, increasingly, in government, professional, and town- and urban-based salary occupations. Because paddy farming is a low-paying occupation engaged in virtually by Malays only, Malay income is below that of other ethnic groups; it is government policy to reduce the income differential between Malays on the one hand and Chinese and Indians on the other. Certain Malay arts and crafts still flourish, especially on the east coast with its dense Malay occupation. Batik cloth is woven and dyed, and silver-, brass-, and ironwork are produced and sold. Malaysia has been the fastest-growing economy of mainland Southeast Asia during the 1970s and 1980s.