Chettiar Capital and the Emergence of the Chinese Bourgeois in British Malaya

The historiography of Malaysia that addresses the Chinese and Indians rarely examines the interaction between the two ethnicities. In fact, works by Western and local scholars drew attention to the fact that the Chettiars operated outside ethnic parameters in Southeast Asia and particularly in Malaya. It has to be noted that the Chettiars were credit providers and financiers for the Chinese bourgeois from the early 19th century until the Second World War. This article explains how the Chettiars helped Chinese entrepreneurs in the economic development of British Malaya. Existing literature seems to depict the unbalanced view that the Chinese used their own capital and sought financial assistance from Chinese towkays and banks along with European commercial banks to develop their economic activities. The reality was that Chinese entrepreneurs also used the services of Chettiars as personal financiers and credit providers in crucial periods such as during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s.