http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/347645574

On the margin of capitalism : people and development in Mukim Plentong, Johor, Malaysia

On the Johor Straits of Malaysia, a small fishing village of a few hundred residents was transformed in the 1970s into a port, an industrial estate that included the largest palm oil refining centre in the world, and a township of 22,000 people. Johor Port and Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate are part of Malaysia's answer to the growing economic impact of Singapore on southern Malaysia. This book traces the economic growth of Mukim Plentong, a rural subdistrict near Johor Bahru, from the earliest investment of capital in the plantation industry to the establishment of Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate and the construction of massive housing estates along an urban corridor between it and Johor Bahru during the 1980s. It analyses the impact of these developments on Malay, Chinese, and Indian residents in local kampongs, New Villages, plantations, and a FELDA resettlement scheme. While the government is proud of Pasir Gudang's impressive capital growth, it is less assured of the welfare and livelihood of its people. Industrial development has led to the displacement of the rural workforce and the increasing dependence of local residents on unskilled employment in manufacturing firms. The creation of a large immigrant population, from other parts of Malaysia and from Indonesia, has strained public services to breaking-point and further aggravated the problems of tenancy and squatting. Severe social tensions and racial divisions have marked the transformation of the industrial and residential areas. Class interests have polarized, community cohesion has come under threat, and racial identity has assumed a new significance.

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