Historical development of the Malay society economic nature during pre-colonial era / Uqbah Iqbal, Nordin Hussin and Ahmad Ali Seman

This study analyzes the historical development of the Malay Peninsula economic as well as the economic nature of the Malay community in the East Coast and Northern Malay Peninsula pre-colonial era. The method used is based on the screening methods of the resources that are available in the library and the National Archives of Malaysia. The study objective are to dismantling the historical development of the Malay peninsula economic from the perspective of the Malay world, the economic nature of the Malay community pre-colonial era, and the impact of international trade on the Malay Peninsula economic at this time. The Malay Peninsula became the focus of the study because of its economy is the cord to the formation of the Malaysian economy. The historical development of the Malay Peninsula economic will focus on the East Coast and the North. While studies published by the Western scholar more emphasis on the states on the West Coast of the Malay Peninsula, the majority Malay community at that time concentrated in the East Coast and Northern Malay Peninsula. In contrast to the study of the Western scholar, the study will look at the historical development of the Malay Peninsula economic and Malay society economic nature from the perspective of the Malay world itself. It allows in-depth investigations to the extent to which socio-economic structure of the Malays changing as a result of international trade. Findings showed that local traditional society has their own socio-economic life, with the political structure in the form of feudalism and consists of one single society before the arrival of British colonialism.