Table Of ContentISLAM, MODERNITY AND ENTREPRENEURS HIP
AMONG THE MALAYS
ST ANTONY' S SERIES
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Islam, Modernity and
Entrepreneurship
among the Malays
Patricia Sloane
~
in association with
~
Palgrave Macmillan
First published in Great Britain 1999 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40297-7 ISBN 978-0-230-37208-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230372085
First published in the United States of America 1999 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division.
175 Fifth Avenue. New York. N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-21300-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sloane. Patricia. 1957-
Islam. modemity. and entrepreneurship among the Malays 1 Patricia
Sioane.
p. cm. - (St. Antony's series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21300-8 (cloth)
I. Entrepreneurship-Malaysia. 2. Capitalism-Malaysia.
3. Islam-Economic aspects-Malaysia. I. Tide. 11. Series.
HB615.S63 1998
338'.04'09595-dc21 97-38805
CIP
© Patricia S loane 1999
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover I st edition 1999 978-0-333-71275-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without wrinen permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or tmnsmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and
Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency. 90 Tonenharn Court Road. London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99
To Deanna Gutschow and my mother, Ethel Sloane
Contents
Preface IX
PART I: GOOD WORKS
Introduction 3
2 Obligation and Identity: Parents, Spouses, Siblings,
and Malays 19
3 The Islamic View of Entrepreneurship: Modemity and
its Rewards 57
4 The Kampung and the Global Village 89
PART 11: NETWORKS 117
5 Networking: The Social Relations of Entrepreneurship 119
6 The Business of Alliances: the Social Emergence of a
Dyadic Enterprise 133
7 Dangerous Business: the Social Limits of an
Entrepreneurial Identity 151
8 Virtuoso Entrepreneurship: Development and Wealth for
All Malays 171
PART III: KORPORATVISIONS 187
9 Conclusion 189
Notes 205
References 217
Index 227
vii
Preface
Themes of hospitality and inclusion figure greatly in the lives of Malays,
and, indeed, nearly everyone I encountered during 18 months of research
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between January 1993 and June 1994, proved
to me that Malays live as they believe people everywhere should: they are
generous, kind, and caring. Capitalist economic development does not
inevitably result in the depersonalizing and social fractioning of people' s
lives. Much of the present analysis is devoted to showing that the opposite
is true, at least in the many Malay lives I came to know in the modem
conurbation of Kuala Lumpur.
Economic development and its effects have fully enmeshed with
modem Malay life, and, in the minds of its protagonists, modemity has
also borrowed much from traditional Malay culture. Yet the language of
business in Malaysia - despite the govemment's efforts to create an econ
omic language in Bahasa Melayu, the Malay language - is English, wh at
my informants called the 'universal business language'. As such, business
discussions and meetings in which I participated in Malaysia were con
duc ted in English, or more accurately, in the seamless admixing of English
- Bahasa Inggeris - and Bahasa Melayu, what some people felicitously
call 'Minglish' (and some, 'Manglish' !). Much of the sociallife of Malay
business people is also conducted in its up-to-the-minute vocabulary. In
more domestic locations, however, such as my landlady's house, we often
spoke Bahasa Melayu.
None the less, business and economics remain much-discussed subjects
in all settings, public and private. The weekly television listings invariably
included programmes featuring Malay entrepreneurs and Islamic teachers
speaking about economics; nearly everyone I knew was interested in
leaming more from such experts. People discussed these programmes,
both at horne and in social or business settings. They listened to govem
ment ministers speak over and over about the crucial role of citizens in
economic development. Y oung Malays, my informants' children, leamed
about entrepreneurship in school and talked about it at horne. Indeed, the
most remarkable aspect of my stay in Malaysia was that nearly every
where I went, I met people knowledgeable and interested in the very
subject I had come to research. It was strictly my good fortune - not canny
ethnographic method - that senior executives of major conglomerates took
time to share their understanding of Malay entrepreneurship, that the very
ix
