Ethnic Proximity and Politics: Evidence from Colonial Resettlement in Malaysia

Chun Chee Kok () and Gedeon J. Lim ()
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Chun Chee Kok: Monash University
Gedeon J. Lim: University of Hong Kong

No 2024-06, SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series from Monash University, SoDa Laboratories

Abstract: This paper studies the long-run effects of a colonial-era, large-scale resettlement program of ethnic minorities, on contemporary economic outcomes and political preferences of ethnic majority individuals in receiving areas. In ethnic Malay-majority Malaysia, the colonial British relocated 500,000 rural ethnic Chinese minorities into fenced-up, isolated, monoethnic camps (1948 – 1960) all across rural Malaysia. This brought some pre-existing ethnic Malay-majority areas into closer contact with ethnic Chinese minorities but not others. Criteria for resettlement locations were largely military in nature. Using a spatial randomization inference-type approach, we construct counterfactual village locations based on this criteria. We find that areas located immediately next to Chinese New Villages (0-2km) experienced better economic outcomes and, in turn, had lower vote shares for the ethno-nationalistic coalition, than polling districts located next to similarly suitable, counterfactual locations. We provide suggestive evidence that these lower vote shares were driven by all voters, not just the ethnic Chinese. Together, our results suggest that persistent differences in inter-ethnic proximity can have a lasting, negative impact on voter preferences for ethno-nationalistic politics through improvements in economic outcomes and sustained increases in casual, interethnic interactions.

Keywords: ethnic diversity; inter-group contact; immigration; Southeast Asia; voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J15 P50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-dev, nep-his, nep-pol, nep-sea and nep-ure
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