Tamils and the Haunting of Justice

History and Recognition in Malaysia's Plantations

Bibliographic Data

ID19971280
AuthorsAndrew Willford (corresponding author), Andrew C Willford, S Nagarajan (0000-0002-5226-1398)
Year2014
Pages336
Publication date2014-11-30
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueTamils and the Haunting of Justice (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Hawaii Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.21313/hawaii/9780824838942.001.0001
OpenAlexW2339510098
Open LibraryOL28788344M
ISBN9780824838942
LanguageEN
Citations received11

In 2006, dejected members of the Bukit Jalil Estate community faced eviction from their homes in Kuala Lumpur where they had lived for generations. City officials classified plantation residents as squatters and questioned any right they might have to stay. This story epitomizes the dilemma faced by Malaysian Tamils in recent years as they confront the collapse of the plantation system where they have lived and worked for generations. Foreign workers have been brought in to replace Tamil workers to cut labor costs. As the new migrant workers do not bring their whole families with them, the community structures need no longer be sustained, allowing more land to be converted to mechanized palm oil production or lucrative housing developments. Tamils find themselves increasingly resentful of the fact that lands that were developed and populated by their ancestors are now claimed by Malays as their own; and that the land use patterns in these new townships, are increasingly hostile to the most symbolic vestiges of the Tamil and Hindu presence, the temples. This book is about the fast-approaching end to a way of life, and addresses critical issues in the study of race and ethnicity. It demonstrates which strategies have been most “successful” in navigating the legal and political system of ethnic entitlement and compensation. It shows how, through a variety of strategies, Tamils try to access justice beyond the law-sometimes by using the law, and sometimes by turning to religious symbols and rituals in the murky space between law and justice

Art · Economic Justice · Economics · Entitlement (fair division) · Eviction · Expropriation · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Resentment · Sociology · Tamil · Asian Studies and History · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Agricultural laborers · asia · Government policy · Labor · Land tenure · Plantation workers · relocation · Tamil (indic people)

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