Artikel Ulasan/ Review Article: Khor Kok Peng, The Malaysian Economy - Structures and Dependence (Chris Edwards)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to look at Khor’s The Malaysian Economy in some depth. It is a serious book, raising serious theoretical and policy issues and deserves extended discussion. Khor argues that the aim of the book, which is an updated version of an earlier thesis, ‘... is to provide an alternative view of the structure of the Malaysian economy and the way it has been developing from the colonial period to the present’. (page 1) The main focus of attention is on the dependent structures of the economy and the consequent loss in surplus which, Khor argues, provides an important (though by no means complete) explanation for the continuing underdevelopment of the country, despite relatively high rates of growth. All of this is set out in the first page of the book, so the reader is very quickly given a firm idea of what the book is about.