Theravada Buddhism was introduced to Malaysia in the early part of the 20th century and thus can be considered a new tradition in Malaysia. After the 1980s, Theravada Buddhism gradually became localized and accepted by more local Chinese residents. In Malaysia, there are thus generally two types of Theravada Buddhist temples or centers. One is the old type, which were founded from the early 20th century to cater to the needs of immigrants from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The other type is the newly established Theravada Buddhist centers, which can be considered a new phenomenon. In the late 1980s there was a significant increase in newly established Theravada Buddhist centers, most of which were founded by local Malaysian Chinese Theravada monks and practitioners who wanted to seek the most authentic Theravada Buddhist practices. These trends are evidence of the further development of Theravada Buddhism in Malaysia. In this process, Chinese lay practitioners have contributed much. They are not only devoted to supporting the practice of monks but also have played a significant role in building new Theravada Buddhist centers, and are quite committed to seeking out the practice of meditation and profound Dharma knowledge.

This paper aims to trace the practices and movement of local Malaysian Chinese Theravada Buddhists, largely members of the urban middle class, to examine how they are seeking out their practices, and to consider the features of the Theravada Buddhism in contemporary Malaysia.

This paper examines opium consumption in the colonial city of Batavia (current-day Jakarta) and its hinterland (Ommelanden), focusing on regulations of madat—a mixture of opium and tobacco—imposed by the Batavia High Government (Hoge Regering) of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Analysis of contemporary travel accounts and the initial madat ban in 1671 which prohibited the production, distribution and consumption of madat within the city walls of Batavia and the Ommelanden, reveals that madat consumption spread especially among the Javanese and Chinese. Despite the regulation of 1671, the presence of pubs/dens that provided madat became more apparent in the late 1720s. This emergence resulted in more frequent criminal activities and avoidance of work by both free citizens and slaves composed of multi-ethnic people primarily from the Indonesian Archipelago.

While initially the government uniformly banned the production, distribution and consumption of madat to maintain social order within the city walls of Batavia, after 1747, it allowed the production and sale of madat outside the city walls, that is, in the Ommelanden, with the strict prohibition of madat sales to slaves and the opening of madat pubs/dens. This decision was followed by the establishment in 1745 of the Opium Society (Amfioen Sociëteit), a chartered joint-stock company holding a monopoly on opium sales and operated by European burgers and VOC executives in Batavia. As a result, the opium market became a more critical element of the economy of Batavia. In addition, in the Ommelanden, where the development of the sugar industry was remarkable, the number of potential madat consumers—such as sugar plantation workers—steadily increased due to population growth. The government recognized the spread of madat consumption and aimed at a balance between the maintenance of social order within the city walls and the pursuit of profits through opium sales.

These historical facts show that madat use was relatively common within a range of ethnic groups in and around Batavia but also particularly prevalent among the lower classes, the slaves and plantation workers in Batavia and the Ommelanden. Madat regulations were finally relaxed as the sale of opium became an increasingly important source of revenue for the Dutch East India Company, merchants, and plantation owners due to this spread of madat consumption among the lower classes.

This paper examines how Chinese merchants collected rice produced in Cochinchina to meet foreign demand in the early 20th century. It is those merchants who formed the core of the rice-collecting logistics, from production areas to their rice-mill operations in Cholon. Due to the establishment of the mills, in addition to the expansion of production areas and the diversification of export distinations, exportation of rice from the port of Saigon (Saigon rice) intensified in the early 1900s. It is those mills that formed a node to balance supply and foreign demand for rice.

Previous research has revealed how systems of cash advances from merchants to indigenous peasants ensured the supply of rice to mills, the borrowed money being effectively reimbursed in kind. However, this paper mainly considers how transactions with landlords influenced rice strage at mills because landlords’ large tracts of land meant proportionately large yields through the tenant system. Transactions between landlords and the merchants were unstable because landlords had shown a preference to sell their output before the harvest season, when the price of rice would rise due to decreased amount of supply and uncertainty about harvests including overseas areas. In 1903 and 1904, for example, landlords’ expectation of a higher price led to a storage shortfall for the mills during the mid-farming season when the price was relatively low. The mills showed their capacity as node by making use of their rice-collecting system, dispatching middlemen to supplement insufficient rice deliveries. During times of low demand, though, the mills would reduce their rice purchases, or would even order their middlemen residing close to rice fields to refuse rice from landlords. Indeed, this was observed in 1909 when the piastre (the Indochinese currency) appreciated sharply and foreign demand stagnated.

As Chinese merchants had a firm grasp of these market conditions, they were capable of redressing problems in the internal distribution to some extent. However, their activities were made possible with funds provided by the Bank of Indochina without collateral, which led to speculative acts and even the bankruptcy of one Chinese mill in 1911-1912.

During the past few decades, “religion and modernity” has become a major theme across a wide range of human and social sciences. This theme has been well established among Southeast Asianists in the English-speaking world, but it is not so common among scholars in Japan. How does the theme of religion and modernity matter in general and to Southeast Asian Studies in particular? In pursuing this question, this article draws insights especially from Webb Keane, whose ethnographic studies set in Indonesia have inspired heated discussions within and beyond Southeast Asian Studies. A defining quality of a modern religion is, according to Keane, its repudiation of ritual and insistence on sincerity. Sincerity is a quality required of a modern believer, who needs to understand—as opposed to merely recite—the scripture. While Keane’s work focuses on Christians, the ideal of sincerity has been influential not only to other religions, but also secularist movements. Many of the reform movements of the 20th century led by Muslim and Buddhist modernizers in Southeast Asia can be understood as efforts to incorporate this new ideal. The relationship between these modernist movements and nation-building projects is a rich topic, which can be fruitfully pursued across Southeast Asia.