Malaya’s greatest menace? Slow-onset disaster and the muddy politics of British Malaya, c. 1900–50

• Main Author: WILLIAMSON, Fiona
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: History; disasters; soil erosion; Malaya; Environmental Sciences; Physical and Environmental Geography; Place and Environment
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research_smu/15; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=soss_research_smu
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In 1948, a chilling statement from British Malaya’s Director of Agriculture, F. Burnett, made headline news. According to Burnett, unchecked soil erosion across hillside Malaya would soon render the country’s precious agricultural land infertile. Erosion had worsened considerably after the 1880s due...