Lest We Forget Rubber And Tin Built The Nation

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 World Labour Day passed us by again on May 1st. 
A reader (thank  you) sent me the following poem in memory of the millions of people who laboured in the rubber industry in British Malaya and post-independent Malaysia. Particularly the Indian women (and men) who were the backbone of the rubber industry. 
First here is the poem:
Remembering:  'The Milk Of Malaya'
Thousands of ladies rose before the crack of dawn of the Malayan sun to prepare a simple meal for their family, 
Before walking to the muster ground for the roll call Before being transported to their assigned areasBefore they put the knife to the barkBefore moving from tree to tree
WhileThe rest of the world slumbered.With tapping knives in handThey made the cutTheir bosses could never muster nor master
Guided by the light affixed to their foreheadsDriven by the need to move their children towards a better lifeThey tapped and they tapped and they tapped.
We called the flow latexThey called it 'milk'.It was that 'Milk of Malaya' which nourished the slumbering country to rise to its kneesAnd cup by cup the coffers were filled
On the check-roll list they were a part of numbers and statistics that the internal auditors would check for possible fraud.
In the hearts of their childrenThey were mothersWho could barely read or writeWho only had vague distant memories of a motherlandCreated from stories the elderly recounted with a sense of resigned hope of ever seeing a distant homeland.
With some God-given-determination, teachers set out to teach their children to read and write in their mother tongueLest they forget
Life went on with regular monotonyWith the sun that rose and setTo give them the lightWhich the struggling generators so frugally dished out for a few measly hours
Labour Day Came and wentTheir memories stayFor many a momentAs children rememberA tough determined motherWho rose with the sunWhen life was not funAnd retired with every duskLike some unwanted coconut husk
Estates were soldCities and an airport replaced the rubber treesTappers were scatteredTheir talents that once helped build a nation, Not needed anymoreThey the tappers,Were thrown out into oblivionLike the proverbial baby with the bath.
Labour DaySalutes the labourThat built a nationBe it from a rubber estateOr from the tin minesOr hand-cutting new roads with pick-axesOr carrying bricks on their headsTo build up shophouses and townsSoFar away from a fading homeland.
Some hearts will forgetSome hearts will forever remember...

 
My comments :
Until the early 1950s British  Malaya was among the most profitable enterprises in the British colonial project.  In the early 20th century and until after World War 2 the revenue from British Malaya exceeded the Crown's revenue from India the supposedly Jewel in the British Crown. 
British Malaya even paid for a few battleships in the Royal Navy including the famous HMS Malaya, a 640 feet long, 33,000 tonbattleship armed with 15 inch naval guns.



Of course all this excess revenue was contributed to a very large extent from the rubber and tin mining industries which were flourishing in Malaya.

Here is some data about the amount of cash paid out as dividends by British public listed companies (on the London Stock Exchange) which had mining operations and rubber plantations in Malaya:



 
 
Indeed the tin mining and rubber industry gave a kick start to the growth of the Malayan economy.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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