Conclusion: Globalisation, Economic Growth, and Labour

Abstract

Southeast Asia consists of a multiplicity of states at varying levels of development, and does not have a single dominant socio-economic feature that can be said to characterise the region. In broad economic terms, therefore, the study concentrates on two bipolar states — Malaysia and Indonesia — as representative of ‘labour-scarce’ and ‘labour-surplus’ economies, to examine the development of wage labour in the region. From this perspective, Malaysia, a well-endowed labour-scarce country, has been, and continues to be a, labour importer. Moreover, although land development schemes were introduced (especially after 1970) to reduce rural inequalities, land issues and rural development have remained largely secondary. The polar opposite is Java, with its huge poverty-stricken population. Non-farm employment was critical for survival strategies and workers migrated to other islands or nearby countries to earn a living. Indonesia continues to be a labour exporter, and the export of labour forms an essential feature of its development plans. The other countries examined in this book fit somewhere in a continuum between the two.