The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’

In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern Asian studies 2010-09, Vol.44 (5), p.919-960
Main Authors: YACOB, SHAKILA, WHITE, NICHOLAS J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquisitions & mergers
Archives & records
Asian history
Business
Business structures
Collective memory
Colonial history
Competition
Corporations
Decolonization
Economic Policy
Elections
Enterprises
Financial investments
Governors
Investments
London, England
Malaysia
Minority Businesses
Petroleum
Plantations
Political history
Postcolonialism
Power
Prime ministers
Rubber
Shareholders
State elections
Stock exchanges
Subsidiary companies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
cited_by cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3
cites cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3
container_end_page 960
container_issue 5
container_start_page 919
container_title Modern Asian studies
container_volume 44
creator YACOB, SHAKILA
WHITE, NICHOLAS J.
description In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country's post-colonial economy during the 1970s and 1980s, and the Guthrie Dawn Raid remains a celebrated but, at the same time, contested juncture in contemporary Malaysian memory. Drawing upon a variety of sources—including original interviews and correspondence with key participants in, and observers of, the Guthrie Dawn Raid, as well as newly released British documents related to the Anglo-Malaysian events of September 1981—this article presents a new interpretation of the origins of this most iconic of Malaysian corporate takeovers. In particular, it stresses the long-term aspirations of a key (but often overlooked) figure within the late and post-colonial Malay bureaucratic and economic elite, Ismail Mohamed Ali. At the same time, the article emphasizes the specific requirements of Malaysia's New Economic Policy against the backdrop of burgeoning intra-Malaysian ethnic business competition.
doi_str_mv 10.1017/S0026749X09990308
format article
fullrecord <record><control><sourceid>jstor_proqu</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_786968351</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><cupid>10_1017_S0026749X09990308</cupid><jstor_id>40926537</jstor_id><sourcerecordid>40926537</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNqFkc1O3DAUha2qlToFHqCLSlE3rFLs2PFPdy20AxIIQYPEzvIkNuMhE4NvopbdPEZ5vXkSnA6iElXFyrLPd47O9UXoPcGfCCZi7wfGBRdMXWKlFKZYvkITwrjKZXp4jSajnI_6W_QOYIExoYQUE-Squc3Wq98XnfOdh7ltsq8D-M4CrFf3WXDZiWnNHXizC9mBrUMbEmZ6H7rP2eg9jf7KdzCSfbpOh34e_Z_IA_Ozy86Nb1LQNnrjTAt25_HcQhffv1X7h_nx6fRo_8txXjNJ-5yyxspSiZrVTY1nEjPJXV24RshUlzpmG0OFIZgbKygrLLUcNyQNTIpCuBndQrub3JsYbgcLvV56qG3bms6GAbSQXHFJS_IyWUpCpBAskR-fkYswxC6NoQWl6X-JogkiG6iOASBap2-iX5p4pwnW44b0PxtKng8bzwL6EJ8MDKuCl1QkPd_oHnr760k38VpzQUWp-fRMs6o8Ly-rqa4STx87mOUs-ubK_m36_xYPq7ut3Q</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Aggregation Database</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>733809193</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’</title><source>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)</source><source>Cambridge Journals Online</source><source>Art, Design and Architecture Collection</source><source>JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection</source><source>ABI/INFORM Global</source><source>Politics Collection</source><source>Social Science Premium Collection (Proquest) (PQ_SDU_P3)</source><source>Worldwide Political Science Abstracts</source><creator>YACOB, SHAKILA ; WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</creator><creatorcontrib>YACOB, SHAKILA ; WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</creatorcontrib><description>In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country's post-colonial economy during the 1970s and 1980s, and the Guthrie Dawn Raid remains a celebrated but, at the same time, contested juncture in contemporary Malaysian memory. Drawing upon a variety of sources—including original interviews and correspondence with key participants in, and observers of, the Guthrie Dawn Raid, as well as newly released British documents related to the Anglo-Malaysian events of September 1981—this article presents a new interpretation of the origins of this most iconic of Malaysian corporate takeovers. In particular, it stresses the long-term aspirations of a key (but often overlooked) figure within the late and post-colonial Malay bureaucratic and economic elite, Ismail Mohamed Ali. At the same time, the article emphasizes the specific requirements of Malaysia's New Economic Policy against the backdrop of burgeoning intra-Malaysian ethnic business competition.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0026-749X</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1469-8099</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X09990308</identifier><identifier>CODEN: MOASBF</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press</publisher><subject>Acquisitions &amp; mergers ; Archives &amp; records ; Asian history ; Business ; Business structures ; Collective memory ; Colonial history ; Competition ; Corporations ; Decolonization ; Economic Policy ; Elections ; Enterprises ; Financial investments ; Governors ; Investments ; London, England ; Malaysia ; Minority Businesses ; Petroleum ; Plantations ; Political history ; Postcolonialism ; Power ; Prime ministers ; Rubber ; Shareholders ; State elections ; Stock exchanges ; Subsidiary companies</subject><ispartof>Modern Asian studies, 2010-09, Vol.44 (5), p.919-960</ispartof><rights>Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009</rights><rights>Cambridge University Press 2010</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://www.proquest.com/docview/733809193/fulltextPDF?pq-origsite=primo$$EPDF$$P50$$Gproquest$$H</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://www.proquest.com/docview/733809193?pq-origsite=primo$$EHTML$$P50$$Gproquest$$H</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,11688,12845,12847,12861,21387,21394,27924,27925,33223,33224,33611,33612,33985,33986,34775,34776,36060,36061,43733,43948,44200,44363,58238,58471,72960,74221,74468,74728,74895</link.rule.ids></links><search><creatorcontrib>YACOB, SHAKILA</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</creatorcontrib><title>The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’</title><title>Modern Asian studies</title><addtitle>Mod. Asian Stud</addtitle><description>In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country's post-colonial economy during the 1970s and 1980s, and the Guthrie Dawn Raid remains a celebrated but, at the same time, contested juncture in contemporary Malaysian memory. Drawing upon a variety of sources—including original interviews and correspondence with key participants in, and observers of, the Guthrie Dawn Raid, as well as newly released British documents related to the Anglo-Malaysian events of September 1981—this article presents a new interpretation of the origins of this most iconic of Malaysian corporate takeovers. In particular, it stresses the long-term aspirations of a key (but often overlooked) figure within the late and post-colonial Malay bureaucratic and economic elite, Ismail Mohamed Ali. At the same time, the article emphasizes the specific requirements of Malaysia's New Economic Policy against the backdrop of burgeoning intra-Malaysian ethnic business competition.</description><subject>Acquisitions &amp; mergers</subject><subject>Archives &amp; records</subject><subject>Asian history</subject><subject>Business</subject><subject>Business structures</subject><subject>Collective memory</subject><subject>Colonial history</subject><subject>Competition</subject><subject>Corporations</subject><subject>Decolonization</subject><subject>Economic Policy</subject><subject>Elections</subject><subject>Enterprises</subject><subject>Financial investments</subject><subject>Governors</subject><subject>Investments</subject><subject>London, England</subject><subject>Malaysia</subject><subject>Minority Businesses</subject><subject>Petroleum</subject><subject>Plantations</subject><subject>Political history</subject><subject>Postcolonialism</subject><subject>Power</subject><subject>Prime ministers</subject><subject>Rubber</subject><subject>Shareholders</subject><subject>State elections</subject><subject>Stock exchanges</subject><subject>Subsidiary companies</subject><issn>0026-749X</issn><issn>1469-8099</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2010</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>7UB</sourceid><sourceid>8BJ</sourceid><sourceid>ALSLI</sourceid><sourceid>DPSOV</sourceid><sourceid>K50</sourceid><sourceid>M0C</sourceid><sourceid>M1D</sourceid><sourceid>M2L</sourceid><sourceid>M2R</sourceid><recordid>eNqFkc1O3DAUha2qlToFHqCLSlE3rFLs2PFPdy20AxIIQYPEzvIkNuMhE4NvopbdPEZ5vXkSnA6iElXFyrLPd47O9UXoPcGfCCZi7wfGBRdMXWKlFKZYvkITwrjKZXp4jSajnI_6W_QOYIExoYQUE-Squc3Wq98XnfOdh7ltsq8D-M4CrFf3WXDZiWnNHXizC9mBrUMbEmZ6H7rP2eg9jf7KdzCSfbpOh34e_Z_IA_Ozy86Nb1LQNnrjTAt25_HcQhffv1X7h_nx6fRo_8txXjNJ-5yyxspSiZrVTY1nEjPJXV24RshUlzpmG0OFIZgbKygrLLUcNyQNTIpCuBndQrub3JsYbgcLvV56qG3bms6GAbSQXHFJS_IyWUpCpBAskR-fkYswxC6NoQWl6X-JogkiG6iOASBap2-iX5p4pwnW44b0PxtKng8bzwL6EJ8MDKuCl1QkPd_oHnr760k38VpzQUWp-fRMs6o8Ly-rqa4STx87mOUs-ubK_m36_xYPq7ut3Q</recordid><startdate>201009</startdate><enddate>201009</enddate><creator>YACOB, SHAKILA</creator><creator>WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</creator><general>Cambridge University Press</general><scope>BSCLL</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>0-V</scope><scope>3V.</scope><scope>7RO</scope><scope>7UB</scope><scope>7WY</scope><scope>7WZ</scope><scope>7XB</scope><scope>87Z</scope><scope>88J</scope><scope>8AI</scope><scope>8BJ</scope><scope>8FK</scope><scope>8FL</scope><scope>8G5</scope><scope>ABUWG</scope><scope>AFKRA</scope><scope>ALSLI</scope><scope>AVQMV</scope><scope>AXJJW</scope><scope>AZQEC</scope><scope>BENPR</scope><scope>BEZIV</scope><scope>CCPQU</scope><scope>DPSOV</scope><scope>DWQXO</scope><scope>FQK</scope><scope>FREBS</scope><scope>FRNLG</scope><scope>F~G</scope><scope>GB0</scope><scope>GNUQQ</scope><scope>GUQSH</scope><scope>JBE</scope><scope>K50</scope><scope>K60</scope><scope>K6~</scope><scope>KC-</scope><scope>L.-</scope><scope>M0C</scope><scope>M1D</scope><scope>M2L</scope><scope>M2O</scope><scope>M2R</scope><scope>MBDVC</scope><scope>PQBIZ</scope><scope>PQBZA</scope><scope>PQEST</scope><scope>PQQKQ</scope><scope>PQUKI</scope><scope>Q9U</scope><scope>S0X</scope></search><sort><creationdate>201009</creationdate><title>The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’</title><author>YACOB, SHAKILA ; WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2010</creationdate><topic>Acquisitions &amp; mergers</topic><topic>Archives &amp; records</topic><topic>Asian history</topic><topic>Business</topic><topic>Business structures</topic><topic>Collective memory</topic><topic>Colonial history</topic><topic>Competition</topic><topic>Corporations</topic><topic>Decolonization</topic><topic>Economic Policy</topic><topic>Elections</topic><topic>Enterprises</topic><topic>Financial investments</topic><topic>Governors</topic><topic>Investments</topic><topic>London, England</topic><topic>Malaysia</topic><topic>Minority Businesses</topic><topic>Petroleum</topic><topic>Plantations</topic><topic>Political history</topic><topic>Postcolonialism</topic><topic>Power</topic><topic>Prime ministers</topic><topic>Rubber</topic><topic>Shareholders</topic><topic>State elections</topic><topic>Stock exchanges</topic><topic>Subsidiary companies</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>YACOB, SHAKILA</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</creatorcontrib><collection>Istex</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection【Remote access available】</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Corporate)</collection><collection>Asian Business Database</collection><collection>Worldwide Political Science Abstracts</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Collection</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Global (PDF only)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (purchase pre-March 2016)</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Collection</collection><collection>Social Science Database (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>Asian Business Database (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Alumni) (purchase pre-March 2016)</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Collection (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>Research Library (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Alumni)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central</collection><collection>Social Science Premium Collection (Proquest) (PQ_SDU_P3)</collection><collection>Arts Premium Collection</collection><collection>Asian &amp; European Business Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Essentials</collection><collection>ProQuest Central</collection><collection>ProQuest Business Premium Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest One Community College</collection><collection>Politics Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences</collection><collection>Asian &amp; European Business Collection (Alumni)</collection><collection>Business Premium Collection (Alumni)</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Global (Corporate)</collection><collection>DELNET Social Sciences &amp; Humanities Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Student</collection><collection>Research Library Prep</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences</collection><collection>Art, Design and Architecture Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Business Collection (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>ProQuest Business Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Politics Collection</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Professional Advanced</collection><collection>ABI/INFORM Global</collection><collection>Arts &amp; Humanities Full Text (ProQuest)</collection><collection>Political Science Database</collection><collection>ProQuest research library</collection><collection>ProQuest Social Science Journals</collection><collection>Research Library (Corporate)</collection><collection>One Business (ProQuest)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Business (Alumni)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Basic</collection><collection>SIRS Editorial</collection><jtitle>Modern Asian studies</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>YACOB, SHAKILA</au><au>WHITE, NICHOLAS J.</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’</atitle><jtitle>Modern Asian studies</jtitle><addtitle>Mod. Asian Stud</addtitle><date>2010-09</date><risdate>2010</risdate><volume>44</volume><issue>5</issue><spage>919</spage><epage>960</epage><pages>919-960</pages><issn>0026-749X</issn><eissn>1469-8099</eissn><coden>MOASBF</coden><abstract>In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country's post-colonial economy during the 1970s and 1980s, and the Guthrie Dawn Raid remains a celebrated but, at the same time, contested juncture in contemporary Malaysian memory. Drawing upon a variety of sources—including original interviews and correspondence with key participants in, and observers of, the Guthrie Dawn Raid, as well as newly released British documents related to the Anglo-Malaysian events of September 1981—this article presents a new interpretation of the origins of this most iconic of Malaysian corporate takeovers. In particular, it stresses the long-term aspirations of a key (but often overlooked) figure within the late and post-colonial Malay bureaucratic and economic elite, Ismail Mohamed Ali. At the same time, the article emphasizes the specific requirements of Malaysia's New Economic Policy against the backdrop of burgeoning intra-Malaysian ethnic business competition.</abstract><cop>Cambridge, UK</cop><pub>Cambridge University Press</pub><doi>10.1017/S0026749X09990308</doi><tpages>42</tpages><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record>
fulltext fulltext
identifier ISSN: 0026-749X
ispartof Modern Asian studies, 2010-09, Vol.44 (5), p.919-960
issn 0026-749X
1469-8099
language eng
recordid cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_786968351
source International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS); Cambridge Journals Online; Art, Design and Architecture Collection; JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection; ABI/INFORM Global; Politics Collection; Social Science Premium Collection (Proquest) (PQ_SDU_P3); Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
subjects Acquisitions & mergers
Archives & records
Asian history
Business
Business structures
Collective memory
Colonial history
Competition
Corporations
Decolonization
Economic Policy
Elections
Enterprises
Financial investments
Governors
Investments
London, England
Malaysia
Minority Businesses
Petroleum
Plantations
Political history
Postcolonialism
Power
Prime ministers
Rubber
Shareholders
State elections
Stock exchanges
Subsidiary companies
title The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’
url http://sfxeu10.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/loughborough?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2024-12-27T15%3A26%3A01IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-jstor_proqu&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=The%20%E2%80%98Unfinished%20Business%E2%80%99%20of%20Malaysia's%20Decolonisation:%20The%20Origins%20of%20the%20Guthrie%20%E2%80%98Dawn%20Raid%E2%80%99&rft.jtitle=Modern%20Asian%20studies&rft.au=YACOB,%20SHAKILA&rft.date=2010-09&rft.volume=44&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=919&rft.epage=960&rft.pages=919-960&rft.issn=0026-749X&rft.eissn=1469-8099&rft.coden=MOASBF&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017/S0026749X09990308&rft_dat=%3Cjstor_proqu%3E40926537%3C/jstor_proqu%3E%3Cgrp_id%3Ecdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c483t-34de8597c4cdc0b80486fc2fd783113f4eda37a106ae7342e3e60d19031227fb3%3C/grp_id%3E%3Coa%3E%3C/oa%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=733809193&rft_id=info:pmid/&rft_cupid=10_1017_S0026749X09990308&rft_jstor_id=40926537&rfr_iscdi=true