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Chapters: Jews and Judaism in Malaysia, History of the Jews in the Philippines, History of the Jews in Malaysia, History of the Jews in Indonesia. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: History of the Jews in the Philippines -The Spanish Inquisition in the 16th Century forced many Jews in Spain to convert to Christianity or to flee. These Jewish "New Christians" were known as "Marranos" or "Conversos" , a term which included converted Muslims. Some, called Crypto-Jews, observed their Jewish rites in secret. The Inquisition investigated and persecuted many of the Conversos, accusing them of practicing in secret, some without substantial basis. Thus many of the original Jews and Marranos fled to the new Spanish colonies including the Philippines. Two "New Christian" brothers, Jorge and Domingo Rodríguez, arrived in the Spanish Philippines in the 1590s. By 1593 both were tried and convicted at an auto da fe in Mexico City because the Inquisition did not have an independent tribunal in the Philippines. The Inquisition imprisoned the Rodríguez brothers and subsequently tried and convicted at least eight other "New Christians" from the Philippines. Such was the precarious status of Jewish settlers in the Philippines. Jewish presence during the subsequent centuries of Spanish colonization remained small and unorganized. Spanish Christianized laws would not have permitted the presence of an organized Jewish community. The first permanent settlement of Jews in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial years began with the arrival of three Levy brothers from Alsace-Lorraine, who were escaping the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. As entrepreneurs, their business ventures over the years included jewelry retail, a general merchandising business, ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3043505 ... Read more

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In the 1880s, an estimated 4,000 people lived in the Kinta District of Malaya.Twenty years later, with the discovery of tin deposits, the population had increased to 123,000, comprised mainly of Chinese immigrants who found employment as coolies in the open-cast mines.Although the tin industry was gradually brought under the control of the British colonial government, the lives of the workers largely remained beyond its reach.This study of the Chinese working people in Kinta over a 100-year period explores how their lives have been affected by these changes and how they have adjusted in order to meet the challenges posed by changing situations. ... Read more

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This book offers an in-depth analysis of transformations in the Malaysian economyand argues for the central role of ethnic structures in shaping development outcomes. The activities of key economic actors, such as the state, local Chinese business, and multinationals, are analysed in the context of the countries' ethnic-political structure. The authors show how shifts in the political coalitions among the elite affect the alliances between these economic groups and their respective bargaining powers. These changes, in turn, have important implications for development, and explain the twists and turns of the Malaysian economy. By highlighting the role of ethnic politics in shaping such macroeconomic characteristics as state economic intervention, the fiscal position of the state, and the role of multinationals, this book demonstrates that ethnic studies should go beyond looking at the economic role of middlemen minorities to consider the broader political economy, and, as such, provides a useful framework for studying other ethnically divided societies. ... Read more

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Bangsawan--the first popular urban commercial theatre in Malaysia--emerged in the late nineteenth century as an adaptation of the Parsi theatre of India which toured Malaya. This book traces stylistic changes of Bangsawan from the late nineteenth century to the 1980s, linking these changes to socio-political transformations in Malaysian society. ... Read more

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This book offers reflections of the representations of the Indian diaspora of Malaysia according to two spectrums, colonial and postcolonial. It takes seed from the belief that any engagement with the Indian diasporic experience in Malaysia must take into account the role of the pioneer Indian immigrants who carved the niche of existence for the overseas Indian on Malayan soil. It begins by tracing their presence within the terrain of colonial narratives to uncover, not only the ways in which they were subordinated to colonial ideological discourses but also, and more significantly, the suppressed story of coolie resistance that lies under the weight of such masks of conquest. It then moves on to show how postcolonial revisioning is able to reconstruct the Indian immigrants of Malaya as choreographers of the diasporic identity that they have left as the most significant legacy for contemporary Malaysian Indians. This book ultimately reveals thepolitics of Malaysian Indian identity from colonised to globalised grounds, and the ways in which the subaltern spaces of the former can be reclaimed and reterritorialised in the latter.'Shantini Pillai offers a challenging way of rethinking the transitionsfrom a colonial to a globalized order through the active role of so-calledminority ethnic groups. Focusing on a little discussed topic in globalpostcolonial studies--Malaysian Indians--she admirably draws attention tomulticulturalism, ethnicity, diaspora, migration and coolie labour asissues that emerge during colonial rule and produce the character ofglobalization, which Pillai rightly suggests cannot be separated from itscolonial roots. The book will make a valuable contribution to diasporastudies from the colonial to the postcolonial era.' Gauri Viswanathan, Columbia University, author of Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief ... Read more

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The '911' attacks on the United States and subsequent 'war on terrorism' have brought a discussion of transnational 'religious' networks onto centre stage. While the Sai Baba movement (the focus of this study) has no militaristic ideology, it may - like any other such movement - ultimately call into question the sovereignty of the nation state. Today, then, issues of faith and devotion are more urgent than ever in the interfaces between diverse world-views, not only at local and national levels but, increasingly, at the global level as well. Religion and religiosity are potent cultural resources that undergo continuous reinvention by particular actors within relationships of power. This book looks closely at the Malaysian following of the contemporary Indian godman Sathya Sai Baba, a neo-Hindu guru famed for his miracle working. This religious innovation has broad appeal among non-Malays, but attempts to formalize and control it have evolved within a middle-class subsection of the Malaysian Indian community.This community makes subtle and ambiguous appeals for both spiritual unity and religious pluralism in response to the totalitarianism and intolerance of Malaysian modernity as it is wielded by the Malay-dominated government. ... Read more

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Presents various aspects of life in Malayasia and Singapore through interviews with twenty-six people representing different age groups, occupations, and regions. Also includes a section of brief facts about each country and a glossary. ... Read more

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The fact that the Malaysian state has managed to maintain a relatively democratic regime, while an authoritarian regime came to power in Indonesia has never been the focus of historical and comparative analysis despite certain cultural, social, and historical affinities between these two countries. This study looks at how the interplay of three factors, that is, elite cohesion, internal state strength and armed resistance, led to two different outcomes: authoritarian and democratic post-colonial states in Indonesia and Malaysia respectively. The historical background is presented to assess the impact of colonialism on pre-capitalist society in these two colonies. This provides the context in which to understand the development of the Indonesian and Malaysian states in terms of differences in the degree of elite cohesion, state strength, and the nature of urban and rural resistance against the state. In this way two different paths to state forms can be mapped. ... Read more

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Good alternative explanation to the type of state forms.
Central Argument. The author attempts to explain how and why democracy persisted in some post-colonial states and give way to authoritarianism in others in spite that they both emerged as democratic post-colonial states.Alatas argued and show that factors such as level of economic developmentand mode of colonial administration cannot provide explanation of thedifferent post-colonial state form of Malaysia and Indonesia. They providean alternative explanation of the different state forms by comparing theinterplay of three factors and show how these three factors led to two verydifferent outcomes, that is, authoritarian and democratic post-colonialstates. The three factors are elite cohesion, internal state strength andarmed resistance. In Chapter 4, 5 and 6, the Alatas shows how the absenceof armed resistance, the presence of an internally strong state and a highdegree of elite cohesion led to a democratic Malaysia while the presence ofarmed resistance in the context of a weak state and elite factionalism leadto an authoritarian Indonesia. Chapter by Chapter Review. InChapter 1, Alatas provides us with an introduction to the state structureof Malaysia and Indonesia. The Malaysian form of state is a federatedconstitutional monarchy while the Indonesian form of state is apresidential government. He also shows that the independence of judiciaryin Indonesia tends to be restricted by political influences while theMalaysian State has a relative independence judiciary. By using structuralcomparisons such as judiciary system and government structure, betweenMalaysia and Indonesia, Alatas clearly explains that Malaysia is moredemocratic as compare to Indonesia. He also states that although democracyin Malaysia does not live up to the standards of western liberaldemocracies, nor does it aspire to, it is a system in which democraticprocedures and institutions distinguish it quantitatively from the regimein Indonesia. In this chapter, Alatas provide us with reliable facts andgood examples to show that Malaysia is indeed more democratic thanIndonesia in which he is going to base his argument on. In Chapter 2,Alatas introduces us to the three types of approaches in which we can useto explain the formation of the type of states. They are the psychological,cultural and structural approaches. Here he also emphasizes that theapproach use in this article is that of a structural approach. Alatas showsthat the cultural theory, that focuses on the assumption that share valuesare a prerequisite to democracy, fail to explains the Indonesia-Malaysiacontext because studies show little variation between Indonesia andMalaysia in terms of cultural pluralism. In this chapter, Alatas giveexamples showing that the difference between Dutch and British forms ofcolonial administration, as far as the inculcation of democratic ideals isconcerned, was not a factor leading to the different post-colonial outcomesin Malaysia and Indonesia. His presentation of theoretical perspectives onthe state in third world was comprehensive. In this article he presentedthe deficiency of 6 theories in explaining the post-colonial state formwith the exception of the elite theory. The 6 theories are the economictheory of democracy, dependency/world system theory, bureaucraticauthoritarian model, elite theories of the state, post-colonial statetheory and the non-capitalist path of development. Here he provides analternative theoretical perspective focuses on the class composition of thestate and the dominant elite. Here he also states that the method ofcomparison employs in this study is that of a historical comparison. Inthis chapter, he also gives the definition of armed resistance, elitecohesion and state strength. In his study, Alatas focuses on the threeinternal factors while foreign power support will be referred to as well. In Chapter 3, Alatas discusses the Muslim cultural identity of theMalay-Indonesia Archipelago hence providing explanation for its similarityin local worldviews and the notion of power and authority. Here, he givesan account of the pre-capitalist mode of production and the economy andsociety during the colonial period. This chapter provides a very goodhistorical and sociological background for studying the emergence of theMalaysian and Indonesian post-colonial states discussed in chapters 4, 5and 6.In Chapter 4, based on historical and sociological background heintroduces in Chapter 3, Alatas discusses the peasants and workersmovement, their potential for revolution and their resistance against thecolonial and post-colonial states. Here he states that while peasants andworkers uprisings were common against colonialist and indigenous leaders inMalaysia and Indonesia, what we do not find is widespread revolts amidstthe breakdown of the colonial state. There is also no mass mobilization ofpeasants and workers in the post-colonial state building. Therefore, theresult of an authoritarian Indonesia is not the result of mass oppositionagainst the state. Here, Alatas also provides us with information of theDutch and British policy towards communist insurgency and non-communistinsurgency. The Dutch sponsored some of the separatist movements, such asthe Free Aceh movement, while the British adopted a counter-insurgencypolicy. This clearly shows that the newly independent state of Malaysia didnot inherit oppositional mass movements that might have led to the reactiveestablishment of authoritarian regimes, while the rise of an authoritarianstate in Indonesia is to be explained in terms of the presence ofoppositional mass movement. This chapter provides examples supporting hisclaim that the presence of armed rebellion led to an authoritarianIndonesia while the absence of it led to a democratic Malaysia. Thepresence of armed rebellion rationalizes the military role in politics ofIndonesia and thus leading to an authoritarian Indonesia. In Chapter5, Alatas discusses the principal causes behind the independence movementsin British Malaya and Netherlands Indies as well as their democraticoutcomes. Here, he also discusses the internal strength of the state as afactor in post- colonial state formation. Internal strength of state isbeing defined in terms of strong dominant internal class support. He alsoemphasizes that an understanding of the internal strength of the state willhave to take into account both class and ethnic aspects of dominant classsupport for the state. Here, Alatas attempted to show that the presence ofan strong Malaysian state, as a result of strong dominant class support,led to a democratic state formation while the absence of it led to aauthoritarian Indonesia. The failure of the weak state in Indonesia tocreate political stability and economic prosperity created therationalization for the military to play a dominant role in politics andhence leading to an authoritarian Indonesia. In Chapter 6, Alatas discussesabout his third internal factor of elite cohesion. Here, we can see thatthere is an overlap between elite cohesion and the internal strength of astate. Alatas attempt to explain that the presence of the coalition ofethnic parties result in an internally strong state while factionalism inIndonesia result in a weak state. As mentioned in Chapter 5, the internalstrength of a state is a factor to the kind of post-colonial state form asargued by Alatas. Therefore, we can conclude that the presence of elitecohesion led to a democratic Malaysia while the absence of it led to anauthoritarian Indonesia. Alatas shows that the presence of elite cohesionalso led to democratic stability while the absence of it led to instabilityand hence promoting politicized military. In Chapter 7, Alatasconcludes his argument by drawing us to the implication of his theory withother theories such as the peripheral Caribbean and Africa states studiedby Thomas and the semi-peripheral Latin American countries studied byO'Donnell. He also provides us with possible future political developmentsin Indonesia and Malaysia based on his theory, showing us how the threeinternal factors have changed and how these changes are going to affect thefuture political developments.Language and style. The author is very wellorganize and focus in his presentation. This can be see by the systematicorganization of chapter in this book starting with introduction to Malaysiaand Indonesia political structure and the historical and social backgroundin the early chapters to facilitate his explanation of post-colonial stateform in his later chapters. Apart from the good organization of chapters,he also consistently reminds the reader of his theoretical explanation byemphasizing on the three internal factors in the ending of every chapter.In addition, an introduction to what he is going to discuss at thebeginning of every chapter also help readers to oriented themselves duringtheir reading. Targeted Audience. This book is very suitable for bothstudents and lecturers interested in doing any research on post-colonialstate forms and internal political development of Malaysi ... Read more