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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
British Malaya before the Japanese occupation was heavily dependent on imported rice, producing on average only 35 per cent of its requirements between 1920 and 1940. During the 1930s, efforts were made to expand rice cultivation, but progress was slow and did not even keep pace with population growth: imports increased at the same rate as domestic production.
As war approached, the government of Malaya built up a stockpile of rice and had about one year's supply in reserve when the occupation began. However, a considerable proportion of this grain was appropriated for military use and the civilian population soon faced food shortages.
This article is an expanded version of a paper presented at the 10th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia held in 1986 in Singapore. I should like to express my appreciation to Universiti Sains Malaysia for funding my research in Kuala Lumpur, and to Jan-Aart Scholte for providing extensive and extremely helpful comments on an earlier draft. Most of the materials used in this article have been drawn from the Colonial Office (CO), Ministry of Food (MAF), Board of Trade (BT), and War Office (WO) records held at the Public Record Office, London, and from the British Military Administration (BMA), Malayan Union (MU), and Selangor records held at the National Archives of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
1 CO file 852/264/14; BMA file DEPT 9/4. The Japanese invasion of Malaya began on 8 December 1941, and British forces in Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942.
2 A certain number of people were given “individual consumption permits” exempting them from the rice rationing system. Details of the operations of the Food Control Department in Singapore are found in WO file 203/4499.
3 BMA DEPT 9/4 and BMA PS/412 Pt. II “Malaya, Part G: Exploitation of Material Resources”.
4 Report of a Conference on Nutrition,May 1946Google Scholar, Appendix M, p. 54, in MAF file 83/2186.
5 United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) R&A Rept No. 1433, “Political and Economic Changes Effected by the Japanese in Malaya”, 1 Dec. 1943, p. 47.
6 OSS SEAC/R&A, “Shortages and Rationing in Malaya”, 26 Oct. 1944.
7 OSS, R&A No. 2072, “Japanese Administration in Malaya”, 8 June 1944, in BMA file ADM 9/1.
8 “Malaya, Part II”, p. 8, in BMA file 506/10.
9 “Appreciation of Malaya, II: Post-Japanese Occupation”, p. 5, in BMA file 506/10.
10 “Malaya”, in BMA file PS/412.
11 Ibid., p. 4.
12 Summary of Economic Intelligence, Far East, No. 130, 15 Oct. 1945, in BMA file DEPT 18/7.
13 MU file 6078/1946.
14 “Colonial Office Food and Nutrition Survey”, p. 9, in BMA file DEPT 9/4; further details are in MU file 6078/1946.
15 Tables 1 and 2 are taken from “Colonial Office Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Survey”, by Lucius Nicholls, MD, 12 March 1946, pp. 1–2, in BMA file DEPT 9/4; also see MAF file 83/2186. A British doctor who analyzed vital statistics kept by the Japanese concluded that deaths resulting from executions or massacres were omitted, and attributed the disproportionate number of male deaths to hard labour with inadequate rations.
16 Minute dated 18 Aug. 1944 on BMA file ADM/229.
17 BMA file ADM/229 inter alia Minute dated 29 Sept. 1944.
18 Wodeman to Newboult, 20 Sept. 1944 reporting on a meeting attended by Mr. Clauson, Mr. Caine, Sir Clifford Figg, Dr. Tempany, Mr. Lord, Mr. Wodeman (of the Colonial Office), Lt. Col. Williams and Mr. M.C. Hay (of the Malayan Planning Unit) in BMA file ADM/229.
19 Long Range Policy Directives for Malaya as Approved by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, “Primary Production Other Than Mineral”, p. 15, in BMA file ADM/229.
20 Donnison, F.S.V., British Military Administration in the Far East, 1943–1946 (London: HMSO, 1956), pp. 243–45Google Scholar. A supplementary set of estimates for additional items was prepared during 1944–45 by a working party under W.B. Brett. The Report of the Young Working Party is in BT 25/75/SLA/MISC 6.
21 Young Working Party Report, p. 3.
22 SACSEA to War Office, 27 Oct. 1945, in WO 203/1436; Summary of Economic Intelligence, Far East, No. 130, 15 Oct. 1945, in BMA file DEPT 18/7.
23 “Memorandum on the Rice Position in Malaya”, by K.C. Tours, Chairman, Joint Supply Board, 12 Nov. 1946, in Resident Commissioner (RC) Sel 1102/46; CO 537/1392; CO 537/1401. A history of the activities of the Rice Division of the IEFC is found in MAF file 75/72.
24 See Secretary of State for War, Paper for Overseas Reconstruction Committee, 10 Dec. 1945, O.R.C.(45)51, in CO 852/568/13.
25 Cabinet Paper O.R.C.(45)46, Memorandum by the Secretary of State for War, 22 Nov. 1945, in CO 852/568/12.
26 “Statistics Relating to Southeast Asia: Food and Related Economic Matters”, No. 15, August 1948, in CO 537/2998. Figures for 1934–38 are from Wickizer, V.D. and Bennett, M.K., The Rice Economy of Monsoon Asia (Stanford, California: Food Research Institute, 1941), p. 320Google Scholar.
27 CCAO, Malaya, to Lt. Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey, 5 Jan. 1946, in BMA file DEPT 18/13; “Report of Rice Investigation Committee”, Federation of Malaya and Singapore, 19 Oct. 1949, in CO 537/4475.
28 “Colonial Office Food and Nutrition Survey”, in BMA file DEPT 9/4.
29 Statistical Abstracts for the British Territories of South East Asia, 30 June 1948, in CO 537/2996.
30 MU Secret Desp No. 10, 30 Apr. 1946, and CO Secret Desp 186 to MU, 30 July 1946, in CO 537/1392.
31 G.C. Gimsan to CO, 4 Oct. 1946, in RC Sel 1102/1946.
32 Maj-GeneralHone, H.R., Report on the British Military Administration of Malaya, September 1945–March 1946, pp. 15, 41 ffGoogle Scholar.
33 CO 537/2996; CO 537/4475. For the period 1 Oct.-31 Dec. 1945 Malaya was granted 103,000 tons, some 22 per cent of the total amount of grain reportedly available for distribution and, with the exception of that for India, the largest allocation made to any area in Asia for this period.
34 Heath, R.G. (comp.), Malayan Agricultural Statistics, 1949 (Kuala Lumpur: Department of Agriculture, Federation of Malaya, 1951)Google Scholar, Table 33. There are discrepancies between the sources used for Tables 8 and 9.
35 Hone to G. Hall, Secretary of State for Colonies, 16 Feb. 1946, in BMA file DEPT 9/4.
36 MU Confidential 678/47; CO 537/2996. The 1947 census report was not published until 1949.
37 “Chinese in Malaya”, in United States National Archives and Records Service (NARS) RG 59 Phil/SEA Division, Box 14 — Malaya.
38 Minute by O.H.R. Beadles, Ag. Controller of Supplies, 26 July 1948, in MU Confidential 678/47.
39 MU Confidential file 678/1947.
40 “Rice Position”, 17 July 1945, in CO 852/568/12.
41 US State Department Aide-memoire, 25 Oct. 1945, in Tel. no. 7168, 27 Oct. 1945, in CO 852/568/12.
42 SACSEA to War Office 29 Nov. 1945 in CO 852/568/12. The national revenue for 1945 was 250 million baht. Dening (SACSEA) to FO, no. 899 dated 12 Dec. 1945, in CO 852/568/13.
43 Mr. Doll to FO, 4 Dec. 1945, in WO 203/4500.
44 CO 852/568/12, inter alia SACSEA to WO 28 Nov. 1945; Dening (SACSEA) to FO, no. 833 dated 3 Dec. 1945. Extract from Minutes of Fourth Meeting of the Far Eastern (Ministerial) Committee, 11 Dec. 1945, and FO to SACSEA 11 Dec. 1945, in CO 852/568/13.
45 Mr. Bird (Bangkok) to Foreign Office, 25 Jan. 1946, in CO 537/1391.
46 “Malaya's Indigenous Production of Foodstuffs”, in BMA file DEPT 12/38.
47 See Hwa Chiao Jit Pau 23.11.45 and Sin Chew Jit Poh 24.11.45 as reported in Chinese Press Summaries, Sel CA file 336/45.
48 Malaya Tribune editorial: “Spectre of Famine”, 23 Feb. 1946.
49 “Colonial Office Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Survey”, by Dr. Lucius Nicholls, in BMA file DEPT 9/4.
50 Report of Special Committee to Review the Food Situation in the Malayan Union and Singapore, 30 May 1946 (App. H to Report by Col. A.G. Liddle, P.A. to Under-Secretary of State for War, on Visit to South East Asia, 25 June-5 Aug. 1946), in CO 852/628/8; Short Term Food Production Department Report for 1946, in MU file 3090/47; Interim Report on the Policy and Practice of Short Term Food Production, by F.W. South, in RC Sel 459/1946.
51 See extracts from the minutes of the 8th meeting of the Selangor Food Production Committee held on 21 May 1946, in Sel CA 114/46.
52 The UPAM figures are enclosed as item (48) in Sel CA 114/1946.
53 Senior Agricultural Officer, Sel to RC Sel, 22 June 1946, in Sel CA 114/46.
54 Hall to Fletcher, 23 May 1946, in CO 852/628/8; further details are found in BMA files DEPT/11/18 and DEPT/12/26.
55 Deputy Chief Secretary, Malayan Union to Resident Commissioners, 5 Feb. 1947, in Sel CA 114/46.
56 2nd Supplement, 11 March 1946, to BMA Malaya Gazette of 7 March 1946 in BMA file DEPT 12/26; MU file 3090/47.
57 Interim Report on Short-Term Food Production by F.W. South, 3 July 1946, in RC Sel 459/46.
58 South to Newboult, 7 Mar. 1946 in BMA file DEPT 12/26.
59 Interim Report and Final Report on Short Term Food Production, by F.W. South, Adviser on Agriculture to the Special Commissioner for Southeast Asia, 3 July 1946 and 31 July 1946, in RC Sel 459/46.
60 DID Circular 1 of 1947, 15 Feb. 1957, in RC Sel 503/46.
61 F.W South, Interim Report and Final Report on Short Term Food Production, in RC Sel 459/46.
62 Ibid., Final Report.
63 MU file 3090/47; Pyke (Office of the Economic Adviser) to Caine, 19 July 1946, in CO 825/628/8.
64 The government offer was $3.60 per picul in the field (50 per cent above the 1941 price) and $4.40 per picul for padi delivered to the mill. The sale price for milled rice was set at 8 cents per kati which amounted to a return of $4.80 per picul of padi if the recovery rate for of milled rice from padi is taken to be 60 per cent (generally it was slightly higher). Eight cents per kati was very nearly the price charged for rice in 1941 and this figure was adopted because wages had been pushed back to 1941 levels. Imported rice was to be sold at the same price, with losses borne by the government.
65 BMA file DEPT 8/48, especially Copy of a Report by E. A. Md. Noor, Asst. District Officer, Bukit Mertajam (n.d.).
66 BMA file DEPT 8/48; CO 852/628/8.
67 NARS RG59 846D.61317/7 Josselyn to Secretary of State, Washington, Desp 80, 12 July 1946.
68 Kin Kwok Daily News, 11 Dec. 1945, cited in Chinese Press Summary, Sel CA336/45. The government did not allow free movement of rice, and supplies that reached Malaya through the activities of coastal traders could not readily be moved inland, hence the price differentials.
69 Statement by Dr. Clyde to the Malayan Union Food Production Committee, 16 Sept. 1946, in RC Sel 672/46.
70 Paul R. Josselyn, American Consul General, to Secretary of State, Washington, No. 158, 25 Sept. 1946, in US NARS (Diplomatic Section) 846D 61317/9–2546.
71 Memorandum by A.B. Ramsay, District Commissioner (Coast), 4 Oct. 1946, in RC Sel 672/46; the issue is discussed in detail in Malayan Union file 4620/46.
72 Memorandum by Ramsay, 4 Oct. 1946, in RC Sel 672/46; in RC Sel 81/46 Ramsay commented that Chinese buying for the black market “will surmount problems of transport insuperable to Government”.
73 Sel Sec 1241/1948.
74 A.D. Dawson, Controller, Trade Division, 25 May 1953, in Sel Confidential file 179/1949.
75 Sel Confidential file 179/1949.
76 Sel Confidential file 179/1949; also see “The Economy of the Federation of Malaya” in Federal Secretariat Confidential file 530/1948.
77 Gunn Lay Teik, Chemist, Dept of Agriculture, to Director of Agriculture, 15 Dec. 1945, citing research carried out by Rosedale, in Sel CA 514/45.
78 BMA file DEPT 9/15.
79 Controller of Supplies, “Notes on Malayan Rice and Undermilling”, 16 June 1949, in Sel CA 514/45.
80 CO 537/2996.
81 W. Clyde, Confidential paper entitled “Continuance of the Rice Allocation System”, in CO 537/4473.
82 “Asia's Rice Shortage”, The Economist 23 08 1952, p. 456Google Scholar.
