Culture and Fertility: The Case of Malaysia 9789814377478

Table of contents :
FOREWORD
PREFACE
LIST OF TABLES
CONTENTS
1. CULTURAL DIVERSITY
II. INTERGROUP BEHAVIOUR
III. FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMME AND POPULATION POLICY
IV. DEMOGRAPHIC AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS
V. CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY
APPENDIX

Citation preview

FOREWORD

It is generally recognized that ethnic diversity is characteristic of Southeast Asian countries. However, very little is known about the relationships between this diversity and other social and behavioural dimensions. In most countries in the region, such relationships have yet to be fully explored, partly because of the sensitivity of the issue and partly because of the dearth of essential data on ethnic behaviour and differentials. In the case of population behaviour, although several aspects, such as fertility, mortality and a variety of attitudinal dimensions, have been measured successfully in most Southeast Asian countries, they are normally presented as national aggregates, and are often only broken down by rural-urban residence, education, income, household size and ethnic group. Thus, while there is some information available on the relationship between ethnic identity and fertility, the relationship has not been systematically examined in most of the Southeast Asian countries. The lack of this kind of basic data on ethnic differentials in population behaviour in Southeast Asia has definite implications for national population policies and programmes. These policies and programmes are usually implemented or launched on a national level with very little consideration for the ethnic diversity of the country, and are therefore often perceived, on an ethnic group or community level, as being ethnically based, unacceptable or even biased. Perceptions like these certainly have a direct effect on the manner in which such policies and programmes are implemented and received. With conditions as the foregoing in mind, and in view of the importance of, and the lack of information on, the relationship between dimensions of ethnic identity and population, the Institute in 1975 got together with a group of interested research scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and began an investigation of such relationships and their implications for population policies and progress. Entitled "Culture and Fertility in Southeast Asia", this investigation consisted of two separate but linked activities, divided into Phase I and Phase II of the project, with the former focused largely on the analysis of secondary data and the latter on material generated by planned fieldwork and the administration of a questionnaire. The work that follows forms part of the "country monographs" growmg out of Phase I of the project. These monographs, like the project itself, have

11

been made possible through the co-operation and support of a number of individuals and organizations, particularly the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, the various country team leaders and their colleagues, and the two co-ordinators of Phase I, Dr. Rodolfo Bulatao and Dr. Ong Jin Hui. To all of them we say, thank you. We are also particularly grateful to Dr. Ong Jin Hui who, in addition to general co-ordinative responsibilities, helped to edit the manuscripts on which the country monographs are based. Whilst thanking all contributors to, and participants m, the project, and wishing the monographs all the best, we hope it is clearly understood that the responsibility for facts and opinions expressed in this publication rests exclusively with the authors and their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Institute or its supporters. 5 September 1980

Kemial S. Sandhu Director Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

PREFACE

This volume Is part of a senes of monographs on culture and fertility m Southeast Asia. They arose out of a regional research project, "Culture and Fertility in Southeast Asia", initiated by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and involving researchers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The first phase of the Culture and Fertility project concentrated on demographic variables and issues in relation to ethnic and other cultural variables. Each monograph, focusing on a particular country, is developed essentially on the following lines. First, the historical background and the development of the present social structure are detailed. Following this, the patterns of interaction among the various ethnic groups are considered, with particular attention paid to the identification of variables which may influence fertility patterns of the various groups. Against this backdrop, the population policies and family planning programmes are explained. The demographic structure and its changes in tandem with these policies and programmes are then analysed. In order to determine the impact of key variables on fertility patterns, a secondary analysis of available data was carried out, utilizing multiple classification analysis. There are differences in the substance of the individual country monographs, largely on account of the nature and availability of materials and documentation. All the same, there has been quite an adequate coverage of the areas deemed important in all the volumes. Indeed, the chapters on national population policies and family planning and the ones on demographic structure are almost complete in detail; in addition, they are comparable with one another. On the other hand, the chapters based on secondary analysis have problems of comparability because secondary data were used. Since these data sets were not originally designed to answer to the project's research model, there were difficulties in comparing variable definitions and operationalization. Even more problematic was the fact that some variables were not available in the data sets. Furthermore, the data sets were not comparable in population coverage and time-frame (the target year was 19 70). For all these reasons, this chapter in each of the monographs should not be treated as anything more than a preview or pretest of the research model. Seen in this perspective, it not only provides a useful means of identifying relevant explanatory variables but also shows that variations do indeed exist in a number of areas between ethnic groups and between countries.

IV

Variations and shortcomings of the type above notwithstanding, the five monographs on the whole do provide a useful background to the identification of relevant ethnic variables. Moreover, the lack of comparability of data is currently being corrected in the second phase of the project. A standardized core questionnaire with additional peripheral and specific queries has been designed, based on the findings of the country studies of Phase I. Ultimately, it is expected that the analysis of data collected in Phase II will culminate m an in-depth examination of the relationship between ethnicity and fertility. 1 September 1980

Ong Jin Hui Editor, Country Monographs Culture and Fertility in Southeast Asia, Phase I

LIST OF TABLES Table No. Family Planning, Health and National Operating Budget by Year

16

The Number of Staff Allocated and Man-years of Staff Utilized by Year

17

Acceptors and Birth Target and Achievement by the Planned Period (for Peninsular Malaysia)

23

4

Crude Birth Rates, Peninsular Malaysia, 1957-75

24

5

Age Specific and Total Fertility Rates per 1,000 Women in Peninsular Malaysia for Selected Years

25

Trends of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Planning, according to Surveys of 1966/67, 1970, 1974/75

27

Estimated Population, Density Per Square Mile and Percentage Distribution of Community Groups by States, 1975

30

Percentage Distribution of Population by Community in Urban and Rural Areas, 1957-70, Peninsular Malaysia

31

Percentage Distribution of Population by Community Groups and Major Age Groups, 1974

31

10

Sex Ratio by Community Group and Major Age Group, 1974

32

11

Percentage of Never Married, by Sex and Community Group, 1970

33

Percentage Distribution of Peninsular Malaysia by Religious Affiliation, according to Community, 1970

33

Lifetime Interstate Migrants by Community as a Percentage of Total Population in that Community Group -Peninsular Malaysia, 19 70

35

Intrastate Migrants by Community Groups -Peninsular Malaysia, 1970

36

Life Expectancy at Birth by Community and Sex -Peninsular Malaysia, 195 7; 1966-7 5

37

1

2 3

6

7

8

9

12 13

14

15

Vl

Table No. 16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Crude Death Rates by Community -Peninsular Malaysia, 1960; 1965; 1970-75

38

Infant Mortality Rates by Community -Peninsular Malaysia, 1960; 1965; 1970-75

39

Crude Birth Rates by Community -Peninsular Malaysia, 1947, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1970-75

40

Age Specific Fertility Rates and Total Fertility Rates -Peninsular Malaysia, 1960, 1966-67, 1970-75

41

Age Specific Fertility Rate and Total Fertility Rates by Community -- Peninsular Malaysia, 19 70 and 19 7 5

42

Median Age at First Marriage by Community Group -Peninsular Malaysia, 19 57, 19 70

43

Mean Age at First Marriage of those Women Aged 25 and Above who First Married before Age 25, by Current Age and Ethnic Groups

43

Percentage Living with Husband's or with Wife's Parents by Ethnic Groups at Time of Interview

45

Mean Total Number of Children Wanted by Currently Married Women by Current Age and Ethnic Group

47

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Children Ever Born by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage Duration, using Multiple Classification Analysis

50

Deviation from the Grand Mean of Children Ever Born in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education and Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration

51

Deviations from the Mean in Multiple Classification Analysis of Children Ever Born by Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration for Each Ethnic Group

53

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Desired Family Size by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration -Using Multiple Classification Analysis

54

Vll

Table No.

29

30

31

32

33

34

Page

Deviation from the Grand Mean of the Desired Family Size in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration

55

Deviations from the Mean in Multiple Classification Analysis of Desired Family Size by Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration for Each Ethnic Group

56

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Wife's Age at First Marriage by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration, Using Multiple Classification Analysis

57

Deviation from the Grand Mean of the Wife's Age at First Marriage in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration

59

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Current Contraceptive Use by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage Duration, Children Ever Born, Using Multiple Classification Analysis

60

Deviation from the Grand Mean of Current Contraceptive Use in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage Duration and Children Ever Born

61

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies was established as an autonomous organization in May 1968. It is a regional research centre for scholars and other specialists concerned with modem Southeast Asia. The Institute's research interest is focused on the many-faceted problems of development and modernization, and political and social change in Southeast Asia. The Institute is governed by a twenty-four member Board of Trustees on which are represented the National University of Singapore, appointees from the government, as well as representatives from a broad range of professional and civic organizations and groups. A ten-man Executive Committee oversees day-to-day operations; it is chaired by the Director, the Institute's chief academic and administrative officer. The responsibility for facts and opmwns expressed in this publication rests exclusively with the authors and their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the Institute or its supporters.

"Copyright subsists in this publication under the United Kingdom Copyright Act, 1911, and the Singapore Copyright Act (Cap. 187). No person shall reproduce a copy of this publication, or extracts therefrom, without the written permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore."

CULTURE AND FERTILITY The Case of Malaysia

by

Nor Laily Aziz Tan Boon Ann Ghazalli Mohd. Nor Hew Wai Sin Khoo Swee Khcng Tcy Nai Peng

Research Notes and Discussions Paper No. 19 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 1980

CONTENTS

FOREWORD PREFACE LIST OF TABLES

lll

v

1:

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

1

II:

INTERGROUP BEHAVIOUR

9

III:

FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMME AND POPULATION POLICY

12

DEMOGRAPHIC AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS

29

CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY

48

IV:

V:

APPENDIX

65

1:

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Introduction One of the salient features to strike the researcher doing a study on culture and fertility of the people in Peninsular Malaysia is the cultural heterogeneity of its present population. Although the Malays or bumiputras ("sons of the soil") were original residents, other ethnic groups, mainly the Indonesians, Chinese and Indians, have contributed to the current size, composition and distribution of the population through the process of immigration in the course of history. The topical areas under the first two sections of this monograph are indeed very wide, both in time and other perspectives. As a result, we have demarcated the period prior to the impact of colonialism and the growth of plural society during the British period as points in time which have relevant demographic and cultural significance for the purposes of this paper.

Historical Review Traditional Malay society pnor to the impact of colonialism in Peninsular Malaysia existed in a harmonious social system which functioned through a Patronage System. As the term itself suggests, this feudal system functioned through an interdependent relationship between the rakyat (common people) and their Sultan. The subjects did their duty by paying their dues to the Sultan, who was the paramount head of State, on items like their agricultural pnxluce, on the use of the river which was then the main means of communication and on the right to engage in trading. In return, the Sultan promised the Muslim people in each State protection from their enemies. In actual fact the Sultan ruled the people through the penghulu (head of each village), an informal leader and a key figure of influence who was very much respected by the people of his kampung (village). An important point to note here is the fact that the people then lived in a subsistence kind of economy largely based on fishing and farming, their traditional occupations. Although Peninsular Malaysia came into contact with foreign powers m pursuit of the rich spice trade of the Indies, namely, the Portuguese in the

2

sixteenth century and later the Dutch in the seventeenth century, any cultural infusion was slight and restricted almost entirely to the immediate vicinity of Malacca, a small state on the south west coast of the peninsula. The British incursions into the country in the eighteenth century brought far greater infiltration of Western institutions, concepts, culture and Western values which were to cause drastic changes to the traditional social system. In effect foreign relations with the British involving large-scale immigration of other ethnic groups represented the first phase of modernization in Malay society and the beginning of a process of transition from traditional society to modern society. Changes were wrought in important spheres of life, such as in the politicaladministrative system, education system and economic system, and thebe were to affect intergroup relations in the coming decades. Early British influence centred around the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca, whose primary importance lay in their strategic position. They not only provided the British with a chain of naval bases commanding the Straits of Malacca, but they also served as bases for the extension of British power and control (the basis of the Pax Britannica in the region) over the Malay states, and later as centres for the introduction and diffusion of Western institutions, concepts and technology. 1 In the overall scheme of empire, the Settlements were an important link in the larger chain of British bastions protecting the shipping lanes to the Orient, from Gibraltar to Hong Kong. Within the peninsula, the Settlements came to dominate fairly extensive hinterlands. As the surrounding regions developed commercially, the Settlements became their natural outlets for the export of raw materials and they tended to become the primary bases for commercial expansion and development. In this respect Singapore was related to the southern part of the peninsula; Penang to Kedah, Perak and Selangor; and Malacca to Negri Sembilan, though to a lesser extent. With commercial development came cultural change -- missionaries, Western industrial techniques, the estate system, improved transportation and communication, educational facilities, a money economy and, due to the increasing demands for labour which failed to be met by the resident population, large immigrations of Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups into the country.

1 Norton Ginsburg and Chestner F. Roberts, Jr., Malaya (Seattle: Press, 1958).

University of Washington

3

The great influx of immigrant peoples into Malaya (as Peninsular Malaysia was then termed) thus followed the consolidation of British colonial interests, the development and growth of seaports and their hinterlands and the exploitation of the natural resources of the peninsula. The Europeans came as administrators and entrepreneurs in the developing colonial economy while the supporting labour force came from other parts of Asia, mainly China, India and the islands of the Indies.

The Major Ethnic Groups The Malays m Peninsular Malaysia The ethnic ongms of the modern, civilized Malays -- the Deutero-Malays or Coastal Malays -- are the subject of much controversy. 2 It is said that they originated from the mainland of South Asia. Documentation seems to indicate that a Southern Asiatic people did migrate from the mainland, probably around 2000 B.C., and populate the coastal regions of the peninsula. More important than the earlier immigrations and intermarriages are the more recent mcurswns of other Malay people from the adjacent Indonesian archipelago. Among the earliest immigrants were the Minangkabau from Sumatra, who in the fourteenth century were attracted by the wealth and commerce of Malacca and moved into what is now Negri Sembilan and Malacca. The impact of the matriarchal system in their cultural practice is felt to this day in the culture of these states. In the early eighteenth century, Bugis from Celebes established themselves in what is now Selangor. Subcultural differences among these Indonesians and others, such as Balinese and Achinese, are said to be still visible, as are differences between the Malays of Kedah and Kelantan and the Malays in the southern part of the peninsula who have been more directly affected by the Indonesian contacts. Still other groups, such as the Patani Malays of northern Perak, migrated south from Thailand in the middle of the nineteenth century and still retain some aspects of Thai culture.

4 Gimuurg and Roberts, op.cit., p. 192.

4

The Malays have been traditionally an agricultural and rural people. Padi cultivation and fishing together occupy more than half of those gainfully employed and may be subsumed under the category of "peasant economy" as described by political economists. The participation of Malays in estate agriculture, mining, lumbering and extraction of other natural resources, which were exploited and developed under colonial economic interests, has been relatively small. It has been said that the Malays, being primarily rural, generally shunned the estates and activities associated with a wage economy and very much preferred to work for their families on their own land. Thus while life continued very much the same way as in traditional times in the peasant economy, the migrant populations were actively engaged as labourers and producers of raw materials for the Western metropolitans. As Freedman puts it, Western and Chinese enterprise turned the country into a hive of economic activity, but Malays took no conspicuous part in it. They refused generally to sell their labour on mines and estates. But even so their role in the new economy was by no means unimportant; the peasa11try adapted itself to producing cash crops (especially rubber and coconuts) on small holdings. Also by taking advantage of the limited educational opportunities offered, some peasants' sons were able to move into the lower ranks of the civil service and something like a rudimentary Malay middle class emerged on the basis of the administration.3 In terms of social organization, the kampung provided the Malays with their essential close-knit primary groups. Up to this day, the various family households which reside within the same kampung share a common neighbourhood in which they interrelate in a closely organized, communal manner. They also share a common religious faith (Islam), which brings them together in prayer and celebration, and a common body of customary rules (adat), which govern most of their important social relationships. The face-to-face relationships in the kampung are reinforced by common participation in important life-cycle ceremonies centred around birth, circumcision, marriage, death and the annual religious festivals. There are holidays and observances in nine of the twelve months, which bring people of the kampung together in their mosques and in their homes.

3 Maurice Freedman, "The Growth of a Plural Society in Malaya.'' Pacific Affairs, Vol. 33,

No. 2 (1960).

5

The Chinese m Peninsular Malaysia The ongm of the Chinese immigrants to Peninsular Malaysia may be gleaned from archaeological and linguistic evidence.4 Most have come from China's south eastern provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi and from the island of Hainan, directly sou~h of Guangdong. Various reasons have been proposed to account for this restricted place of origin, ranging from geographical propinquity to the superior enterprise of the natives of this area. None has been wholly satisfactory, although the poverty of coastal Fujian and eastern Guangdong was relevant. Initially, individual Chinese migrated with the idea of returning to their homeland after having made their fortunes overseas. Naturally, most did not realize this ideal and they remained, sending money home instead to support their families in China. Their relative success evoked visions of wealth and opportunity for those in their native village, and thus emigration from certain areas continued. There are nine major linguistic groups among the Chinese in Malaysia, The Hokkiens (native of plus a scattering of others, each from a different area. Xiamen [ Amoy] and its hinterland) are predominant, while the Cantonese form the second largest group. The Hakka (Khek), who came from northwestern Guangdong and southwestern Fujian, form the third largest group. The Teochiu from around Swatow and the Hainanese (Hailam) from Hainan Island constitute the fourth and fifth principal segments of the Chinese population. The Kwongsai from Guangxi province, the Hokchiu from Fuzhou, the Hokchia from the small area immediately below Fuzhou, and the Menghua from a section of Fujian form other subcultural groups, although the first five groups constitute the bulk of the Chinese population. 5 Until World War II, increase in the Chinese population was due more to influx of migrants rather than to natural increase. Heavy immigration of these sinkek (new recruits) was especially encouraged by the British to meet the demand for labour in the tin mines and estates which were being commercially exploited during this period. It is also particularly due to these circumstances that the population structure of the Chinese at that time was heavily dominated

4 Ginsburg and Roberts, op.cit., p. 249.

5 Ibid., p. 250.

6

by males in the economically productive age group. The present more balanced sex ratio has been established from the later migration of women who joined their husbands already settled in the country and from natural increase after the war. The Chinese own and operate most of the non-British commercial enterprises throughout Peninsular Malaysia and are second in terms of volume of capital investment. Until recently, they have been stereotyped as the chief middlemen and shopkeepers of the country and they generally dominate the service industries. Although their historical importance in tin mining has been lessened under European competition, they still account for the bulk of the annual tin production. Similarly, the Chinese dominate the pineapple industry and own many of the small and medium rubber holdings which account for a large proportion of the annual output. The Chinese are also the principal market gardeners, supplying the urban centres with fresh vegetables. The traditional forms of Chinese social organization are closely related to their economic activities and provide the basis for small concentrations of Chinese culture amidst an indigenous people who more than equal them in number. When the OUnese carre into the country, they brought with them their religious concepts, clans (usually distinguished by their surnames) and dialect associations, trade guilds and secret societies. These associations form a series of interlaced social groupings which embrace every facet of Chinese existence. The social cohesiveness resulting from the activities and functions of these various social groupings has led Purcell to characterize the Chinese in Malaysia as being "more ethnographically exact than in any other country of Southeast Asia because since large scale immigration from China began over half a century ago there has been no miscegenation of any importance. Before then it was comparatively small. "6 The Chinese thus have been characterized in this country by their organization and a recent but rapidly developing political consciousness.

The Indians m Peninsular Malaysia Most Indians m the peninsula used to be concentrated on the estates 6 Ginsburg and Roberts, op.cit., p. 319.

7

where they would work as labourers for a few years and then return to their homeland in India. Today, like the Chinese, the Indian population has undergone a stabilizing transition based on its integration into an emerging national society m Malaysia. Most of the Indians who live in the country are associated with the commercial plantation agriculture and mercantile activities which developed in the nineteenth century. Indians have traditionally provided most of the labour force for the estate sector of the modern economy. The immigration of Indians to the peninsula has been a south Indian phenomenon, the south Indian states having provided about 93% of the total Indian population in 1931 and 90% of that in 194 7 J Of the south Indian population, the Tamil-speaking Indians are the most numerous. They comprise about 90% of the south Indians in 194 7, though the Malayalam-speaking people, who more often work as labourers in towns than on estates, have shown a relative increase in recent years. Another aspect of the composition of the immigrating Indian population has been the high representation of the lower strata of Indian society -- more than one third of the immigrants came from the lower classes of Indian society. At present about 80% of Indians are Tamil speakers, another 10% are Malayalees and Telegus and the remaining 10% Punjab is. The relatively small number of northern Indians who have migrated here come mainly from one region -- the Punjab. The Punjab is (and Sikhs) frequently serve sectors other than the estate, for example, in commercial and financial and security-related occupations. Like the Chinese, the Indians emigrating from south India were compelled to do so by the increasingly adverse conditions of life in India due to higher taxes, famines, debt, and the decline of handicraft industries with increasing competition from machine-made products. Employment on the estates, whether as indentured labour (under contract, usually for three years), recruited labour or free labour, was made relatively easy after 1890. 8 At that time the Straits Settlements Government, in co-operation with the Indian Government, set up an immigrant depot at Negapatam near Madras where labourers could be housed and fed while awaiting transportation to the peninsula. 7 Ginsburg and Roberts, op.cit., p. 319. 8 Ibid., p. 320.

8

In terms of social and political organization, the estate dwellmgs are said to have provid ~d a "greater India" or a fairly insular subsystem. To a lesser extent, the same is true of the Indians who dwell in the towns. While the Indian urban dweller is not physically very far from other communities in the way that the estate Indian is, he nevertheless tends to create social and business associations among his own kind. Regardless of whether he lays track for the railroad or is a clerk in a shop, his colleagues are almost certain to be Indians and he will try to raise his children in a typically traditioJtcJly Indian manner, learning the mother tongue, and practising Hinduism. One of the factors that divide the Indians into separate subcultural b'Toups 1s language. The Tamils, Malayalees, Telegus and Punjabis are involved in various associations within their own groups which serve to pronr;te their distinctive identity. However, while linguistic differences divide the Indian community vertically into segm1.~nts, within a linguistic g-roup they override other divisions, especially those of religion (Hinduism, Sikhism, Isiam and Christ;anity) and caste.

A maJor characteristic of the ethnic gruup distributiGn !n Peninsular Malaysia is the concentration of distinct ethnic groups in certain areas or pockets and further concentration of dialect srroups within the major ethnic groups. This localization of ethnic groups has been based on eJrly and cominued concentration in a particular site or area and neamess to places of employment in occupational specialities. The present ethnic compos1t10n of the population in Peninsular Malaysia comprises 52.7% Malays, 35.8% Chinese, 10.7% Indians and 0.8% O:hcrs.9 The urban/rural distribution of the major ethnic groups ret1ects the impact and influence of a history of heavy immigration between 1820-1940, mainly of Chinese and Indians who contributed to the beginnings of the plural society which has remained relatively constant over the last half century or so.

9 Nor Laily Aziz, Tan Boon Ann and Kuan Lin Chee, The Afalaysian National Family Planning Programme -- Som,· F11< ls and Figurn (Kuala Lumpur: National Family Planning Board, 1977).

The Chinese are concentrated primarily in the cities and towns and m the more developed districts in the rural areas, for example, mining areas and rubber growing districts on the west coast. In the urban areas, they constitute over half of the urban population in every state except Kelantan, Trengganu (on the east coast) and Perlis (extreme northwest). These three states have high proportions of Malays and low proportions of urban residents. In cities and towns they dominate in urban roles in finance, trade, manufacturing and provide most of the labour. Indeed the Chinese shophouse as a primary retail outlet is an ubiquitous sight in many Malaysian towns. The Malays are primarily a rural and agricultural people. Indeed they have shunned estates and activities associated with a wage economy as far back as colonial times and only recently have they begun to migrate to the larger towns in the wake of the country's development. "Western and Chinese enterprise turned the country into a hive of economic activity, but Malays took no conspicuous part in it. They refused generally to sell their labour on mines and estates. " 1 0 Generally they are found predominantly in rural districts of the west coast and almost exclusively in the east and extreme northwest of the country. Thus the Malays constitute less than half of the urban population while they constitute more than half of the total population. However, variations can be observed within individual urban cities. The Indians form a much smaller group m terms of relative size and they are mainly estate dwellers. There are heavy concentrations of this group in the rubber growing areas along the central west coast. The rest are urban dwellers mainly engaged in finance, trade and commerce.

II:

INTERGROUP BEHAVIOUR

The maJor migrant groups of Chinese and Indians arc today found physically intermingled with the Malays of Peninsular Malaysia. However, the most salient feature to note of the multiethnic society is that colonialism of almost a hundred

10

Freedman, op.cit.

10

years has contributed greatly to a situation m which until the recent development plan periods -- 1971-75 and 1976-80 -- each ethnic group has remained almost entirely culturally distinct from the others; each has been localized to a considerable extent in distinct pockets in the country and each has been engaged until recently in specific kinds of economic activity. In short, the Chinese and Indians have managed to preserve their own social and cultural identities within a new common environment and this has been made possible through a network of overlapping cleavages in the society in the form of each group's own social institutions, religious institutions and educational system (at least, until recently when government policy discouraged vernacular schools). This view is supported by Freedman. The Chinese and Indians who arrived in Malaya have remained Chinese and Indians, not only in the eyes of census-takers but also in culture, social organization and political status. In contrast, the "Indonesian" immigrants have found their way into that part of the population which British policy regarded as enjoying primary occupation and political rights. A Malay is an individual who speaks the Malay language, is a Muslim, and displays a culture which, for all its variations, is clearly recognizable) I A significant point to note m terms of impact of colonialism is the introduction of capital which split the economy into what political economists have termed a "dual economy", that is, a modern capitalist economy existing side by side with a peasant economy, parts of which are still very traditional. The same urban immigrant population which had been directly involved in the capitalist economy of colonial times as labourers, clerks, shopkeepers, etc., has in the following decades also been heavily concentrated in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. In sharp contrast, the rural population has remained entrenched in the primary sector (agriculture and fishing). As a result of these historical factors, pluralism has developed and created problems of compartmentalization of ethnic and cultural groups in particular occupations, income levels and socio-economic status. Indeed the past three Malaysian Development Plans have been aimed at redressing this imbalance and eradicating the identification of ethnic group with occupation, income with area of residence. Economic and political dualism -- a creation of colonial rule -- has also been characterized by interethnic tensions which have been manifested more than

11

Ibid.

11

once m the country's political history. Indeed, the political process has been marked by general feelings of communalism with Malays (the majority of whom are peasant farmers caught within a vicious circle of poverty) traditionally having stranglehold on political power and the Chinese having one on economic power. For demographic and historical reasons, the Indians do not figure so significantly in the balance. We are aware however that this type of broad categorization tends to ignore a substantial number of Chinese and Indians who seem to live m conditions as poor as those of peasant Malays. Nevertheless, political power, m a system with electoral power heavily tilted in favour of rural areas (where 70% of the population reside ) rests with the Malays. This imbalance in economic and political power has been a traditional built-in obstacle against economic and social integration in Peninsular Malaysia. Judith A. Nagata, in her perceptive paper on social inequality m Malaysia, has drawn our attention to the weakness of popular stereotypes. In tracing the beginnings of plural society, she says, Little opportunity or encouragement was offered by the colonial masters for members of the three groups to interact socially, and indeed their separation was preserved and enshrined in the deliberate colonial policy of maintaining a division of labour along ethnic lines .... In the political realm, many traditional Malay institutions were preserved by the practice of indirect rule. Each of the Sultans and Rajahs (Kings) ... retained his formal position and title within his own state over matters of Islamic religion and Malay culture. The creation of a Malaysian Civil Service ... abrogated most of the Sultan's real power, but not from the Malays since the latter play an important role in this bureaucracy through a series of preferential quotas .... Although it is often said that in Malaysian society the Malays are in the ascendant politically, that the Chinese dominate commercial life and the Indians constitute the rural proletariat, this statement must immediately be qualified.l2 Nevertheless this popular stereotype model of Malaysian society is commonly observable and it forms the basis of many interethnic attitudes, perceptions and behaviour. 12

Judith A. Nagata, "Perceptions of Social Inequality in Malaysia," m Contributions to Asian Studies, Vol. VII (1975).

12

Are there then possible consequences to fertility behaviour of interethnic attitudes, perceptions and relations? In Peninsular Malaysia, Malays have shown a crude birth rate which is noticeably higher than the national average for the last twenty years or so. Whether this and other indicators are in any way linked directly or indirectly to current government social development policies, for example, in agriculture and resettlement of the landless, fear and anxiety over the relative size of other groups or any other factors cannot as yet be determined by currently available data. Indeed it is within this framework that the present study is being pursued.

III:

FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMME AND POPULATION POLICY

Introduction

Before the 1920s, when there was a large influx of young and vigorous Chinese and Indian migrants, rapid population growth was a crucial factor in the speedy economic development of Malaya. After the virtual cessation of immigration, population growth was the result of natural mcrease. As there was plenty of land for expansion, the official stand until the achievement of independence in 1957 was that Malaya had no population problem. After the Second World War, the rapid rate of population growth posed certain economic problems. The growth of the synthetic rubber industry after the war had resulted in a decreasing trend in the price of natural rubber. This raised doubts about its continued viability and resulted in a decline in the rate of growth of agricultural employment generally. As the rate of growth of the labour force was high, the unemployment problem began to gain prominence in 1957. A few policy instruments were designed to deal with this problem, notably the state-sponsored land development schemes, fiscal incentives to foster industrialization and employment creation but these have not been very successful in containing the problem. In addition, the high rate of growth of the rural labour force, much higher than the rate of growth of new cultivated areas, has led to considerable rural-urban migration.

13

As the Malaysian Government is committed to achieving full employment and greater socioeconomic development, the economic argument alone would be sufficient for the government to adopt family planning as an important aspect of population policy.13

Voluntary Family Planning The voluntary family planning movement had already been in force in some parts of the country, long before the initiation of the national family planning programme by the government. Recognizing the medical and socioeconomic problems resulting from rapid population growth, a voluntary organization began to provide family planning services in the state of Selangor in July 1953. By 1962, each of the eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia already had a Family Planning Association ( FPA) responsible for the implementation of a state level family planning programme. The Federation of Family Planning Association ( FFP A), comprising the FPAs of the eleven states is responsible for overall planning, co-ordination and policy implementation of the state FPA programmes, though each state FP A is still autonomous in many respects.

Change of Official Attitude to Family Planning The attitude of the government towards family planning which has been largely negative in the fifties remained ambivalent in the early sixties. The attitude became more favourable from 1964 onwards. This was reflected by the statements made by Khir Johari, former Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives : " ... Malaysia could hope to be self-sufficient in essential foodstuffs within ten years only if the nation slowed down her population growth." 14 and "We must not bury our heads in the sand or pretend there is no (population) problem. " 1 5 This was the first time that a senior Minister had made public 13

Eddy Lee, Michael Ong and T.E. Smith, "Family Planning in West Malaysia: The Triumph of Economics and Health over Politics," in The Politics of Family Planning in the Third World (London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1973).

14

As quoted in Straits Times, 31 January 1964.

15

As quoted in Malay Mail, 31 January 1964.

14

statements about Malaysia having a population problem. His though not in such strong terms, by the then Deputy Prime Haji Abdul Razak and the then Minister of Welfare Services, Hamid Khan, in their messages to the FFPA Annual Report

concern was shared, Minister, the late Tun Tuan Haji Abdul 1964.

National Family Planning Programme Establishment of NFPB The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department played a vital role in the government's change of attitude. In the first two .Mtiaysian five-year plans, the high rate of population growth rate had not been treated as a policy variable, but simply as a fact of life which made rapid economic development essential. 1 6 After receiving the paper "Population Development and Welfare in Malaysia" by Dr. Lyle Saunders, a Ford Foundation Consultant, the Cabinet decided that positive measures should be taken to check the rapid rate of population growth and that family planning should be adopted as a national policy. Accordingly, in November 1964, a Cabinet subcommittee chaired by Khir J ohari, was formed to work out the details. With the endorsement of the EPU, the Cabinet accepted the Cabinet subcommittee's recommendations which called for the adoption of a positive policy on family planning and the creation of a National Family Planning Board (NFPB) in late 1965. Thus, the NFPB was established by the Family Planning Act No. 42 in 1966 as an inter-Ministerial organization under the Prime Minister's Department and it was given statutory powers and a certain degree of autonomy.

Objective and Functions of the NFPB The Long-term Objective The national family planning programme is regarded as an integral part of the social and economic development plan of the country. This was reflected in the First Malaysia Plan (1966-70) which called for a reduction in

16

Lee et al., op.cit., p. 270.

15

the rate of population growth from about 3% in 1966 to 2% by 1985 so that levels of per capita income and family welfare could be raised.

The Short-term Objective The short-term objective was to carry out the stipulated function of the Board as effectively and efficiently as it feasibly could.

Organizational Structure The National Family Planning Board comprises a Chairman, a DirectorGeneral and not more than twenty members. Ten of the latter are to represent government ministries and departments and ten are to represent the public. The Executive Committee of the Board consists of the Chairman, the Director-General and three other Board Members. The Director-General is the Chief Executive and is assisted by a Deputy Director-General and five Divisional Directors, each responsible for the following areas, namely, Administration; Finance and Supply; Service, Information, Education and Communication; Training and Medical Research; and Research, Evaluation and Management Information System.

The Functions of the Board As stipulated m the Family Planning Act No. 42/1966, the mam functions of the Board are as follows: ( 1) Formulation of policies and methods for the promotion and spread of family planning on the grounds of health and welfare of mothers and children and welfare of the family; (2) Programming, directing, administering and co-ordinating family planning activities in the country; (3)

Training of all personnel involved

Ill

family planning extension work.

16

(4) Conducting of research on medical and biological methods relating to family planning; ( 5) Promotion of studies and research on interrelationships between social, cultural, economic and population changes and also research concerning fertility and maternity patterns m the country; and

(6) Setting up and operating a system of evaluation by means of which it will be possible from time to time to assess the effectiveness of the programme and the progress made towards the attainment of the national objectives.

The annual operating budget for the national family planning programme (excluding the budget for the FFPA and some marginal costs of other participating agencies) was about 0.08% of the total national operating budget and about 1.0% of the total health operating budget for the period 19 73-7 5. The corresponding figures for 1976 were 0.15% and 2% respectively.

Table 1: Famil_y_ Planning, Health and National Operating Budget by Year

Year

1973 1974 1975 1976

*

Family Planning (M$ millions)*

2.51 2.96 3.66 7.75 -----

Health (M$ millions)

254 290 334 379

Includes only allocations to NFPB by the Government of Malaysia.

National (M$ millions)

3,209 3,530 4,595 5,341

17

Table 2 shows the number of staff allocated and man-years utilized for various years. The man-years utilized are less than the number of staff allocated partly because recruitment of staff did not take place at the beginning of the year and partly because it is difficult to obtain medical doctors and other medical personnel.

Table 2:

The Number of Staff Allocated and Man-years of Staff Utilized by Year

1974

1975

1976

Group Staff Allocated

Man-Years Utilized

Staff Man-Years Allocated Utilized

Staff Allocated

Man-Years Utilized

Managerial and Professional

25

17

28

24

28

26

Executive and Subprofessional

56

45

60

53

60

58

Clerical and Technical

155

123

165

151

165

159

Subordinate and Manual

326

298

362

296

362

342

562

483

615

524

615

585

Programme Implementation A positive policy and operational programme was formulated towards achieving the long-term target. Four Technical Divisions -- namely, Service; Training and Medical Research; Research, Evaluation and Management Information System; and Information, Education and Communication(IEC) --were set up to carry out the functions of the Board. An Administrative, Finance and Supply Division

18

was also established in order to provide the administrative and management functions necessary for a programme of this nature.

National Family Planning Programme Operation The NFPB planned to implement the national service programme m four mam phases beginning with Phase I in the metropolitan areas and extending gradually to the rural areas in Phase IV. Phase I covered eight large municipalities with maternity hospitals and certain rural health centres as pilot study areas. Phase II was implemented for smaller towns and the adjoining rural health centres. Phase III covered the remaining rural health centres and Phase IV was aimed at rural areas which were to be serviced by a combination of mobile units and kampong bidans (village midwives). When implementing Phases III and IV, some constraints m the form of lack of trained personnel, facilities and resources were encountered. These adversely affected the expansion programme of the Board. Subsequently, a plan was designed to functionally integrate family planning services into the rural health services of the Ministry of Health so that family planning could be provided as part and parcel of the package for family health to the rural population. This Integration Programme was further strengthened by the Population Project. The programme emphasized the use of effective contraceptive methods such as the pill and intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) and the clinic approach which utilizes the medical and paramedical personnel in the provlSlon of services. In order to implement effectively the national programme, other agencies such as the FPA, Integration Clinics of the Ministry of Health, private practitioners, Federal Land Development Authority {FELDA) Clinics, the Estates, etc., were encouraged to participate actively in the programme. In addition, a planned training programme and intensive Information, Education and Communication programmes were developed and implemented according to the needs of the

17

Nor Laily Aziz, "National Family Planning Policy and Programmes," Seminar Kerjasama Pengurusan dalam Bidang Kependudukan dan Perancang Keluarga, Disember 1976.

19

serv1ce programme. At the same time, a system of Evaluation and Research was introduced to assess the programme from time to time so that adjustments in policies and programmes could be made if and when necessary.

Population Project In order to strengthen and intensify the national family planning programme, the Government of Malaysia embarked upon a project known as "Population Project". This Project was jointly financed by the Government of Malaysia (US$5.2 million), l8 the World Bank (by way of a loan of US$5.0 million) and the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) (US$5.2 million). 19 The Population Project is aimed specifically at strengthening the national family planning programme carried out by the National Family Planning Board, Ministry of Health and the Federation of Family Planning Associations. It was also aimed at the integration of Population Education in the school curriculum as well as the establishment of Population Studies and Research Programmes in the University of Malaya. The NFPB also encouraged other agencies such as the Malaysian Trade Unions Congress (MTUC) and Ministry of Labour to participate more vigorously in the implementation of the programme in the industrial sectors of Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, and Petaling Jaya.

Urban Improvement Programme Another important issue reflected during the briefing to the late Tun Haji Abdul Razak was the large rural to urban migration which had given rise to slums and increased squatter settlements in and around cities, especially in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, this Board was directed by the National Action Council to give equal emphasis to urban and rural areas in the implementation

18

US$1 is roughly equivalent to M$2.15.

19

Malaysia, National Family Planning Board, Plan of Action of Family Planning Programme, Population Project of Peninsular Malaysia, 1973-75.

20

of its future programmes. This drove the Board to improve its programme m the urban areas beginning with Kuala Lumpur; priority was given to the underprivileged sector of the population since an intensive review of the past programme seemed to indicate that the urban sectors were not adequately covered and it was felt imperative that services in those areas should be improved or strengthened. Consequently, policy and planning were geared towards achieving this objective. The following new strategies were developed to activate all available resources within the population so as to obtain better participation from them in the urban as well as in the rural sectors. (i) The main strategy was to use all available resources to consolidate and co-ordinate family planning activities. The national family planning programme would place more emphasis on the health of mothers and child spacing. (ii) Family planning programme in the urban areas was to be an urban improvement programme with priority given to the underprivileged sector. Priority would also be given to the densely populated metropolitan areas of Kuala Lumpur, Penang and lpoh and would be gradually extended to cover all major cities in Peninsular Malaysia. The emphasis was to be on providing multiple service points within easy access to couples. (iii) The National Family Planning Programme would utilize home-visiting service as one of its routine activities. Home-visiting activity will be stepped up and the Board would employ more staff and deploy some of its staff from the rural areas to the urban areas to assist m the programme. (iv) All Information, Education and Communication activities related to family planning would be co-ordinated by the NFPB. (v) Supply of contraceptives, Information, Education and Communication, Evaluation materials, etc., related to family planning implementation was to be channelled to the Board for distribution to the various implementing agencies.

Authority Reinforced In order to get recognition for the NFPB as a body responsible for

21

co-ordination and implementation of family planning programmes in this country, the Prime Minister's Department in 1976 sent to all Heads of Departments and Agencies a circular outlining the responsibility and authority of the NFPB. The circular consists briefly of the following: (i) Policy and Planning (a) that the NFPB be responsible for drawing up policies for the family planning programme and all Government and Voluntary Agencies are to abide by these policies in order to achieve the objectives set up by the government; (b) that all external assistance to the Government of Malaysia or to nongovernment agencies for family planning activities should be channelled to the Board through the EPU of the Prime Minister's Department, regardless of whether it is applied for or received; (c) that the NFPB be recognized as a body for implementing and co-ordinating family planning activities in the country. All international bodies or agencies are to recognize the Board's role, and all communications related to family planning activities have to be referred to the Board first. (d) that all Seminars, Workshops and Conventions on family planning to be held within or outside the country be referred to the Board so that papers presented are in line with the government's policy.

(ii) Service that all family planning services m the country be co-ordinated by the Board so that a more effective and extensive service could be provided, whereby various implementing agencies could play their role in line with the national objectives.

(iii) Training (a) that all curricula for family planning trammg m the country be standardized by the National Family Planning Board;

22

(b) that all matters pertammg to family planning training be referred to the National Family Planning Board for advice and approval before being planned and implemented by the various ministries or agencies.

(iv) Evaluation and Research that all evaluation activities to assess the effectiveness of the family planning programme in the country be the responsibility of the Board and all research activities related to family planning and fertility have to be co-ordinated by the NFPB.

(v)

lnform~tion,

Education and Communication

that all information, education and communication activities to encourage and to disseminate knowledge ami practice of family planning in the country be standardized and co-ordinated first by the Board. It is imperative that all the above activities be co-ordinated by the Board m order to avoid any duplication of efforts which might confuse the public and incur extra expenditure.

Under the First Malaysia Plan ( 1966-70), the programme aimed at reducing the birth rate of 3 7.3 to 35.0 by the end of 1970. In terms of acceptors, it had achieved 80% of its target. In the Second Malaysia Plan ( 19 71-7 5), one of the objectives of the family planning programme was to bring the birth rate down to 30 in 1975 from the achieved level of 35 at the beginning of the period. The target was to recruit 535,000 new acceptors from both programme and nonprogramme sources. The programme sources (that is, the NFPB, FP A and other participating agencies) had recruited 299,500 acceptors during this period. From the recent Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey (MFFS) 1974/75 conducted jointly by the Department of Statistics and the NFPB, in collaboration with the World Fertility Survey, it was estimated that about 133,900 acceptors or 25% of total acceptors were bought in by non programme sources (that is, private

23

practitioners, pharmacies, etc., that did not send statistical returns to NFPB). In fact, it is strongly felt that the trend of nonprogramme. contribution IS increasing. Thus the programme achieved 433,400 acceptors or 81% of the target for 1971-75. The achieved birth rate was estimated to be 31 m 1975, while the target was 30. (See Table 3)

Table 3:

Acceptors and Birth Target and Achievement by the Planned Period (for Peninsular Malaysia)

Birth Rate

Acceptors

Period Target

Achievement

Target

Achievement

1966-70

343,350

273,720

(80%)

37.3--35.0

32

1971-75

535,000

433,400

(81%)

33.0--30.0 (35.0)

31

Source: Tan Boon Ann, "Patterns of Response to Peninsular Malaysia Family Planning Programme," Paper presented to the Seminar on Patterns of Response to Family Planning Programmes (Liege: International Union for Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP], April 1977).

Fertility Trends Trends m Birth Rates Table 4 shows the trend of crude birth rate in Peninsular Malaysia from 1957 to 1974. The denominators for the computation of the rates arc derived from the population estimates adjusted for under enumeration by the PostEnumeration Survey 1970.

24

Table 4:

Year

Crude Birth Rates, Peninsular Malaysia, 19 57-7 5

Crude Birth Rates

1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965

46.2 43.3 42.1 40.9 41.8 40.3 39.4 39.1 36.7

Sources:

Year

1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974

Crude Birth Rates

37.3 35.3 35.4 33.3 32.5 32.9 32.0 30.7 30.9

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Revised Intercensal Population Estimates; Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia.

Between 1957 and 1974, the crude birth rate declined from 46.2 to 30.9, a reduction of 33.1 %. The service component of the national family planning programme began in mid 1967 and 1968 was the first year the service was implemented throughout the year. In the eleven years between 195 7 to 1968, the birth rate fell 23.4%, at an average rate of 2.1% per year, while in the following five years between 1968 and 1973, the decline was 13.3% at an average rate of 2. 7%. However, the birth rate of 1974 increased slightly to 30.9%, indicating the effect of the postwar "baby-boom" of the early 1950s.

Trends in Age Specific and Total Fertility Rates An analysis of age specific and total fertility rates between 1960 and 1974 indicates a higher rate of fertility decline between 1967 and 1974 than between 1960 and 1967. Table 5 gives the age specific and total fertility rates for specific and total fertility rates for selected years between 195 7 and 1974. In the seven years between 1960 and 1967 the total fertility rate

25

Iable 5:

Year

1960* 1962* 1967* 1970* 1973** 1974** % decline 1960-67

Age Specific and Total Fertility Rates per 1,000 Women m Peninsular Malaysia for Selected Years

Total Fertility Rate

Age Specific Fertility Rates

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

6,110 5,860 5,230 4,866 4,395 4,280

125 103 71 54 46 46

278 277 231 226 196 196

323 333 289 265 243 239

257 237 221 210 204 200

154 154 166 140 134 129

85 68 68 56 47 46

14.4

43.2

16.9

10.5

14.0

7.8

22.4

18.2

35.2

15.2

17.3

9.5

22.3

32.4

40-44

% decline 1967-74

* Source:

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Monthly Statistical Bulletin of West Malaysia, 1960-74.

** Calculated from official vital statistics and population estimates adjusted according to findings of Post-Enumeration Survey, 1970.

declined 14.4% or at a mean rate of 2.1% per year while in the following seven years, after the national family planning programme began, the decline was 18.2%, or at a mean rate of 2.6% per year. There was a higher decline in fertility rates in the ages 25 and above (except for the age group 30-34) during 1967-74 than during 1960- 6 7. Chander has shown that a substantial part of the fertility decline between 1957 and 1967 was due to the reduction in the proportion of married females in ages 15-19 and 20-24 during that period.20 But ages 25 and above are least likely to be affected by marital status distribution of the female population. Thus, it appears that the decline in the total fertility rates between

20

R. Chander, "Family Pianning and Fertility Trends in Malaysia," Proceedings of the Combined Conference on Evaluation of Malaysia National Family Planning Programme and East Asia Population Programmes, 18-25 March 1970 (Kuala Lumpur: National Family Planning Board, Malaysia).

26

1967 and 1974 was due more to a real decline in marital fertility compared to the immediate preprogramme period ( 1960-6 7). This is partly supported by Cho and Retherford. 2 1 Using the Decomposition technique, they found that the overall decline in the crude birth rate over the period 1960-69 was mostly explained by changes in marital structure, that is, changes at age of first marriage (accounting for 6 7% of the decline). About 28% of overall decline in the birth rate was accounted for by the change in marital fertility, that is, real fertility decline, while the effect of age structure accounted for only 5% of the decline.

Trends of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Fa11~l!Y_ Planning__ The birth rate decline in Peninsular Malaysia after 1967 (when the NFPB service programme began) could be attributed to increased usc of contraception rather than to changes in age-marital structure. This is supported by the findings of the first West Malaysian Family Survey 1966/6 7, the Post-Enumeration-cumFamily Survey of 1970 and the Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey of 1974-75 which provide a measure of changes in Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of contraception during the first 8-9 years of the national programme as shown in Table 6. The percentage of currently married women who approved of family planning increased from 70 in 1966/67 to 78 in 1970. The percentages for those who had knowledge, those who had ever used and current users of contraception had almost doubled during the period 1966/67-1970. Preliminary estimates of the Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey showed that the percentages who had ever used and who were currently using contraception had increased to 52 and 36 respectively by 1974/75.

21

Cho Lee-jay and Retherford, Comparative Analysis of Recent Fertility Trends m East Asia (Honolulu: East-West Population Institute).

27

Table 6:

Trends of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Planning, according to Surveys of 1966/67, 1970, 1974}75

Currently Attitude, Knowledge and Practice of Family Planning

West Malaysian Family Survey 1966/67

Married

Women

Post-Enumerationcum-Family Survey --Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Family Planning (1970)

Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey 1974/75 (Estimated)

% who approved of family planning

70

78

% who had knowledge of family planning

44

85

92

% who had ever used contraception

14

27

52

% who were currently using contraception

8

16

36

Responses to and Prospects of the Program_!lle__ Tan summarizes the responses to and prospects of the programme m the following manner: 22 (a) a higher birth rate decline was observed after the programme started; (b) the decline m fertility rates during 1967-74 was due more to marital fertility decline;

22

Tan Boon Ann, "Patterns of Response to Peninsular Malaysia Family Planning Programme," Paper presented to the Seminar on Patterns of Response to Family Planning Programmes (Liege: International Union for Scientific Study of Population [IUSSI'j, April 1977).

28

(c) Malaysian women have become increasingly favourable towards family planning; (d) knowledge of family planning methods increased remarkably from 44% m 1966 to 92% in 1974/75; (e) contraceptive practice Is showing an upward trend; the percentage of women who had ever used contraception increased from 14 in 1966/6 7 to 2 7 m 1970 and then to 52 in 1974/75; and the percentage of those currently using from 8 to 16 and then to 36 over the same period; (f) couples adopted contraception at a younger age and with lower parity; (g) the open interval of the programme acceptors was decreasing; (h) the national family planning programme was providing more outlets for family planning services to a larger number of couples, especially those residing in rural and underprivileged urban areas; (i) prior use of contraception seemed to increase slightly, but the "substitution effect" may not be too disturbing for fertility decline;

U) though education was important in differentiating contraceptive use, the programme effort was able to attract more less educated women and women with lower husband's income, whereby the impact on fertility will likely be greater; (k) the couples adopting contraception at a younger age and with lower parity achievement and prevalence were showing an upward trend.

As more married women participate actively m economic activities, they will be more likely to adopt family planning since childbearing and child-rearing compete for their time and career. The current birth rate iG still high, aggravated by the postwar effect of the early 1950s. The level of contraceptive practice is far saturation point, even in urban areas. In view of these, the national planning programme should be strengthened so that it can effectively

"baby-boom" from family orgamze,

29

co-ordinate and supervise its activities by utilizing all available resources, facilities and manpower from governmental and nongovernmental agencies as well as obtaining community and political support for the programme. Thus, with a comprehensive national population policy carefully formulated, the national family planning programme, using a multiple disciplinary approach, should be able to achieve the national growth rate goal of 2% per annum by 1985.

IV:

DEMOGRAPHIC AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS

Composition The population of Peninsular Malaysia was estimated to be 2.34 million m the 1911 census. This had increased to an estimated 2. 91 million in 19 21, 3.79 million in 1931, 4.91 million in 1947, 6.28 million in 1957 and 9.15 million in 1970. In 1975, the population of Malaysia was estimated at 12.4 million with 85% in Peninsular Malaysia, 6% in Sabah and 9% in Sarawak. The population on the whole is growing at a rate of 2.9% annually, while the population in Peninsular Malaysia is growing at a rate of 2.5% annually. At this rate, the population will double itself in less than 30 years' time. Of the total population in Peninsular Malaysia, 52.7% are Malays, 35.8% Chinese, 10.7% Indians and 0.8% Others. Table 7 shows the population density and percentage distribution of community groups for all states in Peninsular Malaysia for 19 7 5. 23 As can be seen, the Malays are dominant in Trengganu, Kelantan, Perlis, Kedah and Pahang whereas the Chinese reside mainly in the more densely populated states of Penang, Selangor, Perak, Johore and Malacca. The Indian concentrations are in Selangor and Perak while 60% of the Others are found in the states of Kedah, Selangor and Penang.

23

Tan et al., op.cit.

30

Table 7:

Estimated Population, Density Per Square Mile and Percentage Distribution of Community Groups by States, 1975

State

Total Population

Density

Peninsular Malaysia Johore Kedah Kelantan Malacca Negri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Selangor Trengganu

10,528,621 1,525,597 1,139,197 813,862 482,211 575,916 603,290 930,730 1,878,306 144,242 1,953,059 482,211

207 207 311 141 253 222 43 2,386 235 465 618 95

Malay

52.7 53.6 70.9 92.7 52.3 45.3 61.5 30.6 43.3 78.7 35.0 93.9

Chinese

Indian

Others

35.8 39.3 19.3 5.5 39.2 38.1 31.0 56.3 42.3 16.6 46.2 5.3

10.7 6.6 8.3 0.8 7.9 16.2 7.2 11.5 14.1 2.1 18.0 0. 7

0.8 0.5 1.6 1.0 0.7 0.4 0.3 1.6 0.1 2.6 0.8 0.1

Source: Malaysia, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia, 1974.

The 1970 census indicates that the population of Peninsular Malaysia was still predominantly rural with only 28.7% living in urban areas. 2 4 However, there had been a sizeable increase in urban dwellers since the 1987 census, particularly among the Malays. In 1957, only 11.2% of the Malays were in the urban areas but this had increased to 15% in 19 70. The Chinese community remains the most urbanized among the ethnic groups. In 19 70, 4 7.4% of the Chinese resided in areas defined as urban compared to 44.7% in 19 57. The Indians were found either in highly urbanized or very rural areas. 34.7% of the Indian population resided in metropolitan areas with a population size of 7 5,000 and above in 19 70 whereas 65.3% were still found in areas with a population size of less than 1,000 (see Table 8).

24

Those who lived in a gazetted area with a population exceeding 10,000 persons were classified as urban dwellers in the 1970 census.

31

Table 8:

Population

Percentage Distribution of Population by Community in Urban and Rural Areas, 1957-70, Peninsular Malaysia

Indian

Chinese

Malay

Others

Total

1957

1970

1957

1970

1957

1970

1957

1970

1957

1970

10,000 and above

11.2

15.0

44.7

47.4

30.7

34.7

49.3

40.8

26.6

28.7

Less than 10,000

88.8

85.0

55.3

52.6

69.3

65.3

50.7

59.2

73.4

7!.3

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

of Area

Total

The age structure of the population (refer to Table 9) indicates its extreme youthfulness. About 42% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia are below 15 years of age and 28% in the age group 15-29. Fifty-four percent of the population are in the working age group 15-64. Only about 4% of the population are aged 65 and above.

Table 9:

Percentage Distribution of Population by Community Groups and Major Age Groups, 1974

Age Groups Below 15

(15.29)

15.64

65+

Total

42.1

(28.4)

54.4

3.5

Malay Chinese Indians Others

43.6 40.1 41.5 35.4

(27.6) (29.2) (29.6) (27.2)

53.2 55.4 55.9 60.8

3.2 4.5 2.6 3.8 ·-·-----·

Source: Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia, 1974.

-~---

32

The age structure shown in Table 9 also indicates a slightly higher proportion of Malays in the age-group 0-14, compared to the other ethnic groups, as a result of higher fertility in recent years. In 1970, Peninsular Malaysia had a sex ratio of 101 males per hundred females. The Malays had slightly more females with a sex ratio of 99. In contrast, the Chinese, Indian and Others had sex ratios of 101, 111 and 109 respectively. It is also evident from Table 10 that there were more males in the age group below 15 for all community groups but for the Malays and the Chinese, the number of females exceeded the number of males in the age group 15 and above.

Table 10:

Sex Ratio by Community Group and Major Age Group, 1974

Community {Age

All Ages

Below 15

15 and above

Total

101

104

99

Malay Chinese Indians Others

99 101 111 109

103 106 104 104

97 98 116 111

Source: Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia, 1974.

All the community groups showed large increases in the percentage of single population for both sexes in the younger ages due to postponement of marriage as a result of social economic changes (see Table 11). The never married male population had increased from 43.1% to 48.7% and females, from 29.4% to 39.6% between 1957 and 1970. The Malays had the highest percentage of married population for both sexes, mainly because of marriages at earlier ages. In terms of locality, women in the rural areas tended to marry younger and a higher proportion of rural women were married in each age group.

33

Table 11:

Percentage of Never Married, by Sex and Community Group, 1970

Male

Female

Malay Chinese Indians Others

45.7 53.6 47.0 40.8

36.1 44.1 42.2 32.1

Total

48.7

39.6

Source: Malaysia, Department of Statistics, General Report: 1970.

Population Census of Malaysia,

The 19 70 census indicates that 22.3% of the total labour force were engaged in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing and another 27.3% m processing agricultural products. About 64% of the Malay population were compared to 29.7% of the Chinese and 46% of engaged in such industries, the Indians. Services (17.3%), commerce (10.0%) and manufacturing (9.2%) constitute the major portions of the nonagricultural sector.

The distribution of the population of Peninsular Malaysia by religious affiliation according to community is given in Table 12 below.

Table 12:

Percentage Distribution of Peninsular Malaysia by Religious Affiliation, according to Community, 1970

Religion

Malay

Muslim Hindu Christian Buddhist No Religion Other

98.7 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.7 0.3

Chinese 0.2 0.1 3.5 78.9 4.9 12.4

Indian

Other

6.7 81.2 8.4 0.5 0.1 3.1

3.6 4. 7 46.9 40.9 1.3 2.6 -·---~----·---

Source:

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, General Report: Malaysia, 1970

Population Census of

34

Almost all of the Malay population (98.7%) in 1970 were Muslims. 78.9% of Chinese were Buddhists and 81.2% of Indians were Hindus. The majority of the Others were either Christians (46.9%) or Buddhists (40.9%). Of the 12.4% of Chinese who reported "other religion", most were Confucianists or Taoists. Bahasa Malaysia is the sole official language of the country besr;des being, by and large, the lingua franca among all people. English, Chinese and Indian dialects are also widely used. In 1970, 60.8% of the population were literate. The literacy rate for the Malays was 62.1 %, Chinese, 58.1% and Indians, 63.5%. The proportion of literate males as against literate females was much higher for all community groups.

Migration25 For Peninsular Malaysia, the increase in population during the prewar period was mostly due to heavy net in-migration which reached its peak in 193 7. However, the immigration of the Chinese and Indians to Peninsular Malaysia has been severely restricted between 194 7 and 19 57. Comparing the 1970 census with that of 1957, we can see that the proportion of the native born population has increased from 84.1% to 91.9%. The proportion of immi:srants was least among the Malay community as 9 7. 7% were native born compared to 86.4% of the Chinese and 81.8% of the Indians. Of the total foreign born population, 54.4% were born in China, 21.9% in India, Ceylon and Pakistan, 10% in Indonesia, 6.6% in Singapore, 4.4% in other' Asian countries and the remaining 2.6% in non-Asian countries. In terms of sex, 55.3% of the migrant population were males. Male migrants generally outnumbered the female migrants, particularly among the Indian community where the number of males nearly doubled that of females, while the number of males born in Indonesia was one and a half times that of females.

25

This section draws heavily upon the General Report: 1970 (Malaysia: Department of Statistics).

Population Census of Malaysia,

35

However, at this time, imr.1igration IS a negligible factor. What is of interest now is internal migration, which has many bearings on questions of policy and the planning of action programmes in the economic and social fields. In Peninsular Malaysia, the percentage of interstate migrants to total population had increased from 8. 2 to 1 0. 9 between the in tercensal period ( 19 57-

70).

Of the total number of 985,700 lifetime in-migrants, Selangor accounted for 30%, Pahang 10.9%, Perak 10.8%. Of the out-migrants, Perak accounted for 22.8%, Penang 11.5% and Kedah 10.8%. This rather heavy net in-migration to Selangor was a result of its industrialization while Pahang's attraction lay in its land development scheme. Net out-migration was highest for Perak, followed by Kelantan and Malacca. Except for Perak, states experiencing net out-migration are basically the ones where economic growth appears to have been slow. Of the 199,671 net in-migrants to Selangor in 1970, 59.7% were Malays, 32.1% were Chinese, 7.5% were Indians and 0.7% were Others. In Pahang, out of a total number of 65,798 net in-migrants in 1970, 70.1% were Malays, 20.8% were Chinese and 8.9% were Indians. In terms of community group, the Indians had the highest proportion of lifetime interstate migrants (13.4%), followed by the Malays (10.9%) and the Chinese (10.1%). (See Table 13).

Table 13:

Lifetime Interstate Migrants by Community as a Percentage of Total Population in that Community Group -- Peninsular Malaysia,

1970

Community Group

Total Population

Interstate Migrants

Malay Chinese Indian

4,663,284 3,117,896 933,250

507,490 314,361 125,224

% Migrant

10.9 10.1 13.4

36

Of the total lifetime interstate migrant population, 53.4% were males, with the Chinese and Indians having marginally more females. In terms of movements from place of previous residence, 2,419,718 or 27.6% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia had moved at least once in their lifetime. Out of the total migrants, 44% moved within the districts while 28% moved from one district to another district within the same state. Hence, nearly three quarters of them were intrastate migrants while only one quarter were interstate migrants, indicating the short-distance nature of migratory movements (see Table 14 ).

Table 14:

Intrastate Migrants by Community Groups -- Peninsular Malaysia, 1970

Number

% Distribution

As % of Total Population of each Community Group

Malay Chinese Indian Others Total

930,260 512,880 213,436 10,130

55.8 30.8 12.8 0.6

19.9 16.4 22.9 15.3

1,666,706

100.0

19.0

In 1970, Malays accounted for 55.8% of all intrastate migrants, followed by the Chinese (30.8%), the Indians (12.8%) and then the Others (0.6%). However, viewed in terms of percentage of total population of each community group, it can be seen that the Indians had the highest propensity to migrate (22.9%), followed by the Malays (19.9%), Chinese (16.4%), and Others (15.3%). Mention must also be made that 21.6% of the intrastate migrants had moved to an urban area and 78.4% had moved from one rural location to another.

37

Mortality Since 195 7, life expectancy at birth has increased by 10 years for males (from 55.8 to 65.4 in 1975) and 12.5 years for females (from 58.2 to 70.8 in 19 7 5 ). The Chinese had the highest life expectancy at birth, followed by the Malays and the Indians. For all community groups, the life expectancy at birth for females was higher than that for males. The difference in life expectancy at birth between the two sexes was particularly great for the Chinese as the Chinese females were expected to live eight years longer than their male counterparts (see Table 15).

Table 15:

Life Expectancy at Birth by Community and Sex -- Peninsular l\lalaysict, 1957; 1966-75

Life Expectancy at Birth Total

1957 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

Sources:

Total

Total

Male

Female

Male

Female

58.2

50.23

53.39

59.52

66.73

57.49

54.56

66.04

61.32

62.51 62.98 62.95 63.80

72.18 71.90

62.53

61.71 61.73 62.38 63.75

66.22 66.64 66.18 66.64

71.71 72.04 73.36 73.91 73.33 73.51

62.22 61.44 61.60 60.16 59.86 60.72 60.05

61.92 62.06

74.33 74.79

60.04 60.69

Male

Female

55.8 63.13 63.54 63.27 63.78 63.52 63.96 64.62 65.03 65.03 65.40

66.25 66.08 66.73 68.21 69.12 69.77 69.65 70.30 70.77

1957: 1966: 1967-69, 1971- 7 5 : 1970:

Total

64.48 65.85 65.40 66.06 66.07

65.52 66.84 68.23 67.90 68.42 68.96

65.08 65.66 65.56 65.62 66.05 66.73

Male

Female

60.21 61.23 63.87 63.53 64.53 62.92 63.88 65.09

H. Fell, 1957 Population Census of Federation of Malaya, Report No. 14. Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Lzfe Tables for West Malaysia, 1966, Research Paper No. 2. Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Abridged Life Tables, Malaysia, 19 70.

38

Between 1946 and 1960 the crude death rate declined by 51%, at an average annual rate of 3.9%, from 19.4 per thousand population to 9.5 per thousand population. During the subsequent years, the rate continued to decline at an annual rate of 2.3% , and reached a level of 6.2 in 1975. From Table 16 it can be seen that, among the three major ethnic groups, the Malays experienced the fastest decline from 24.3 in 1947 to 6.3 in 1975. The corresponding figures for the Chinese were 14.3 and 5. 7 and for the Indians 11.3 and 7. 7. The trend shows that the crude death rates for all community groups tend to stabilize :1nd converge at around 6-7 per thousand population.

Table 16:

Crude Death Rates by Community -- Peninsular Malaysia, 1960; 1965; 1970-75 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _._ _ __

Year

Malay

1947 1957 1960 1965 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

24.3 14.9 11.1 8.6 7.3 7.1 6.7 6.6 6.3 6.3

Sources:

Chinese

14.3 9.8 7.7 6.8 6.2 6.1 6.2 6.1 5.9 5.7

Indian

Total

15.8 11.3 8.9 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.7 8.1 7.9 7.7

19.4 12.4 9.5 7.9 7.0 6.8 6.6 6.6 6.3 6.2

194 7-60 : Malaysia, Report of Registrar General on Population, Births and Deaths. 1965-7 5 : Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia.

The infant mortality rates in Peninsular Malaysia showed a declining and converging trend among the three major community groups (see Table 1 7). The infant mortality rate for the population as a whole declined from 68.9 per thousand in 1960 to 33.2 in 1975. By 1975, the infant mortality rates for the Malays (37.2) and Indians (38.3) were still much higher than that of the Chinese (24.0). However, the greatest decline in the rate occurred among the Malays, followed by the Chinese and the Indians, resulting in a converging trend

39

m recent years. It should also be noted that except for the Malays who had a slightly higher rate in the urban areas, infant mortality rate was higher in the rural areas.

Table 17:

Infant Mortality Rates by Community -- Peninsular Malaysia, 1960; 1965; 1970-75

Year

Malay

1960 1965 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

87.4 61.1 47.6 45.5 43.0 43.1 39.5 37.2

Sources:

1960: 1965-75:

Chinese

42.5 32.4 28.5 24.8 27.4 28.1 26.5 24.0

Indian

Total

65.1 53.1 46.0 45.3 44.6 46.2 40.1 38.3

68.9 50.0 40.8 38.5 37.9 38.5 35.4 33.2

Malaysia, Report of Registrar General on Population, Births and Deaths. Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia.

Toddler mortality rate declined from 10.7 in 1957 to 3.1 in 1975. The Malays still had the highest toddler mortality rate of 4.0, compared to 1.4 for the Chinese and 3.4 for the Indians. The Malays accounted for about 70% of all toddler deaths and in the rural areas they accounted for as high as 82.4% of toddler deaths.

Fertility The effect of the postwar baby boom can be seen from an increase in the crude birth rate from 42.9 in 1947 to 46.2 in 1957 (see Table 18). This was most pronounced among the Indians whose crude birth rate increased from 22 to 49.7 within the 10 year period, whereas the rate for the Malays increased from 41.4 to 48.1. The Chinese had a slight drop in crude birth rate during

40

the same period. Between 1957 and 1975, the crude birth rate declined from 46.2 to 30.6, a reducticn of 33.6%. It can be seen that while the crude birth rates for the Chinese and the Indians tend to converge, the Malays still have a crude birth rate seven pGints higher than that of the Chinese. In 1975, the crude birth rate was 33.3 for the Malays, 26.2 for the Chinese and 29.3 for the Indians.

Table 18:

Crude Birth Rates by Community -- Peninsular Malaysia, 1947, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1970-75

Year

Total

1947 1957 1960 1965 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975

42.9 46.2 40.9 36.7 32.5 32.0 30.7 30.9 30.3 30.6

Sources:

Malay

41.4 48.1 42.8 38.0 34.2 34.9 34.2 32.9 33.4 33.3

Chinese

Indian

44.0 43.3 37.6 34.5 30.5 30.9 29.6 28.2 27.7 26.2

22.0 49.7 44.0 39.0 31.7 30.4 29.8 28.7 29.8 29.3

1947:

Malaysia, Report of Registrar General on Population, Births and Deaths.

1957-70:

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Revised Intercensal Population Estimates, 1974.

1971-75:

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia.

The age specific fertility rates (given m Table 19) indicate that fertility has been on the decline for all age groups. Between 1960-75, the highest decline in fertility was among the 15-19 age group. This was largely due to the later age at marriage. The most fertile age group was 25-29, with an age specific fertility rate of 238 in 1975. In 1975, the total fertility rate was 4,145, representing a decline of 32% from the level of 6,110 in 1960. The

41

Table 19:

Age Group

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 Total Fertility Rate (15-49)

Age Specific Fertility Rates and Total Fertility Rates -Peninsular Malaysia, 1960, 1966-67, 1970-75

1960

1966

1967

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

125 278 323 257 154 85

76 256 291 245 154 67 17

68 251 273 236 144 59 16

56 235 275 225 142 57 13

55 232 276 228 148 58 11

52 216 269 221 144 54 10

46 196 243 204 134 47 9

46 197 239 200 130 46 8

46 186 238 183 123 46 7

6,110 5,543

5,228

5,015

5,040

4,828

4,395

4,330

4,145

Source: Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia, 1960: 1966-67; 1970-7 5.

corresponding figures in 19 7 5 for the Malays, Chinese and Indians were 4,63 7, 3,530 and 3,857 respectively. When the age specific fertility rates of 1970 with those of 1975 are compared, it can be seen that decline in fertility among the Malays was highest in the younger age groups due to the rising age at marriage (see Table 20). The Chinese experienced almost uniformly rapid rates of decline after the 20-24 age group. Between the same period the Indians also showed considerable decline in fertility for all age groups except for the 25-29 age group which had only a slight drop. The age specific fertility rate of the Malays was higher than that of the Chinese at all ages. However, for the age group 20-29, the Indians had the highest fertility among the three community groups.

Age at First Marriage The median age at first marriage increased from 23.1 years to 25.3 years for males and 19.0 years to 21.6 years for females between 1957 and 1970.

42

Table 20:

Age Specific Fertility Rate and Total Fertility Rates by Community -- Peninsular Malaysia, 1970 and 1975

1970

1975

Age Group Malays

Chinese

Indians

Total

Malays

Chinese

Indians

Total

15-19

71.3

24.7

68.1

54.1

59.5

24.4

52.3

46.4

20-24

242.5

190.2

270.1

225.6

211.7

141.4

211.8

186.1

25-29 30-34

256.7

279.8

265.3 219.0

231.1

222.0

254.3 197.5

241.5

222.0

199.6

170.2

247.6 145.3

182.9

237.4

35-39

147.5

136.2

114.8

139.6

149.4

96.9

83.5

123.3

40-44

57.4

43.6

36.6

27 .l

45.9

14.8

8.3

56.4 12.8

56.5

45-49

58.6 10.8

9.2

5.4

3.8

7.4

5,061.0

4,611.5

4, 783.5

4,864.5

Total Fertility Rates ( 15-49)

4,637

3,530

3,851

4,145

Source: Malaysia, Department of Statistics, Vital Statistics, Peninsular Malaysia, 1970; 1975.

In 1970, for both males and females, the median age at first marriage was highest for the Chinese at 26.6 years and 23.6 years respectively, compared to 24.4 years and 20.5 years for the Malays and 25.2 years and 21.0 years for the Indians (Table 21). Even in 1957, the median age at marriage for Chinese males and females was much higher than that of the other two major community groups. Hence, while the median age at marriage for the Malays and the Indians had increased significantly between the intercensal period, that of the Chinese had increased to a lesser extent. Estimates from the Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey show that the mean age at first marriage differs significantly among the various ethnic groups (see Table 22). For all age groups, the mean age at first marriage was lowest among the Malay women, followed by the Indian women, whereas the Chinese women and Others had significantly higher mean ages. The mean age computed for all ever married women aged 25 and above and who were married before age 2 5 was 16.6 years for the Malays, 1 7.1 years for the Indians and 19.6 years for the Chinese. Women in the younger age groups tend to marry at a later age. For those currently aged 25-29, the mean age at first marriage was 18.8,

43

Table

21:

Median Age at First Marriage by Community Group -Peninsular Malaysia, 1957,. 1970 ·---~

Malay

Males Females

Chinese

Indian

Total

1957

1970

1957

1970

1957

1970

1957

1970

21.1 17.1

24.4 20.5

25.4 21.6

26.6 23.6

24.4 17.1

25.2 21.0

23.1 19.0

25.3 21.6 -----

Source:

Table 22:

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, General Report: Malaysia, 1970.

Population Census of

Mean Age at First Marriage of those Women Aged 25 and Above who First Married before Age 25, by Current Age and Ethnic Groups

Current Age

25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45 and over Total

Malays

Chinese

Indians

Total

17.7 16.8 16.4 16.0 15.7 16.6

20.7 20.3 19.4 18.9 18.4 19.6

17.9 17.0 16.5 16.9 1 7.1 1 7.1

18.8 18.1 17.3 17.1 16.7 17.6

Source: R. Chander et al., Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey -- 19 74, First Country Report ( Kuala Lumpur: Department of Statistics and National Family Planning Board, 1977).

as compared to 16.7 for those currently aged 45 and over, indicating an increase m the mean age by 2.1 years. Even though there has been some advancement in the mean age at first marriage in the younger age groups, Malay and Indian women continued to have earlier marriages in all age groups with a mean age lower than that of their Chinese counterparts by 2-3 years. Some other social and demographic factors were also found to be associated with the age at

44

marnage. Women who lived in towns, who had higher education and who had worked before marriage tended to marry later.

Family Structure and Pattern The 1970 population census listed 95.6% of the population as family members and 4.4% as nonfamily members. Of the family members, 21.7% were family heads, 15.5% were spouses to the head, 56.1% were unmarried children and 7.1% were other relatives to the heads. The overall average family size was 4.6 persons. Communitywise, the Chinese and Indians had a larger average family size of 4. 7 persons each, compared to an average family size of 4.5 for the Malays. These differences are probably explained by the greater prevalence of extended families among Chinese and Indians. In the peninsula as a whole, 79.6% of the families were headed by males as against 20.4% being headed by females. The Chinese, with 23.4% families being headed by a female, had the largest proportion of female heads, followed by the Malays with 19.5%, and the Indians with 14.4%. Among the community groups, Chinese households tended to have a larger number of families. This is indicated by the fact that only 84.3% of the Chinese lived in Primary Family Units where the head of the family is also head of the household as against 93.3% for the Malays and 92.8% for the Indians. In terms of locality, 92.0% of the population lived in Primary Family Units m the rural areas as against 8 7.3% in the urban areas. Furthermore, 2.2% of the urban family population lived in Multi Family Units, while only 0.8% of the rural family population did so. 26

26

Malaysia, Department of Statistics, General Report: 1970.

Population Census of Malaysia,

45

In a study by James Palmore et al., family structure and pattern in Peninsular Malaysia were found to be closely linked with variables such as ethnicity, language, religion and customs as well as geographical distribution. 2 7 Data from the West Malaysian Family Survey, carried out in 1966/67, indicates that 44% of the currently married women aged 15.44 years in Peninsular Malaysia lived with their parents right after marriage. Of this 44%, 22% lived with the husband's parents while only 18% lived with the wife's parents and another 4% lived with both sets of parents. At the time of the interview, about one quarter of the women still lived in an extended unit with their parents. Chinese women were more likely to live with the husband's parents than the wife's parents, while the reverse was true of the Malay women (sec Table 23). Thirty percent of the Chinese women, compared to 7% of the Malay women and 10% of the Indian women, were living with the husband's parents. On the other hand, 13% of the Malay women were living with the wife's parents while the corresponding figures for the Chinese and Indian women were 7% and 4% respectively.

Table 23:

Wife's Race

Malays Chinese Indians

Source:

27

Percentage Living with Husband's or with Wife's Parents by Ethnic Groups at Time of Interview

% Living with Husband's Parents

7 30 10

% Living with

Wife's Parents

13 7 4

West Malaysian Family Survey, 1966/67.

Jam_es A. Palmore, Robert E. Klein and Ariffin Marzuki, Class and Family in a Modernizing Soczety (Honolulu: East West Population Institute), reprint No. 4 (reprinted from the American journal of Sociology, Vol. 76, No. 3 [November 1970]).

46

Apart from this higher incidence of extended family participation, Chinese women lived with either ser of parents longer than did the other two major ethnic groups; they lived for a mean duration of 7.6 years with the husband's parents and 6.4 years with the wife's parents. The corresponding mean number of years for the Malay women were 4.5 years and 6.0 years, exactly the same as those for the Indian women. It

IS

not a common practice for couples to live with their married brothers

and sisters. Among the three major ethnic groups, only the Chinese have a substantial portion of extended units involving the husband's ever married brothers and sisters. Eight percent of Chinese couples lived with these relatives, compared to only 1% for the Malays and the Indians. For the Chinese, however, about 90% of the family units involving brothers and sisters also involved parents. The other social and demographic variables, besides ethnic differences, were also important in discriminating differentials in extended family participation. Younger women, women with more education and women whose husbands had moderate incomes were more likely to live in extended units. Rural wives were somewhat less likely to have participated in an extended unit than urban wives, although rural wives were more likely to have lived with the wife's parents.

Preferred Family Norms Data from the Malaysian Fertility and Family Survey women in Peninsular Malaysia desired an average family size which represents a decline of 0. 7 children in the family size 1966/67. However, marked differences in the mean total wanted exist among women of different ethnic groups, with education and places of residence.

indicates that of 4.4 children norm since number of children different levels of

Table 24 shows that Malay women of all ages desired the largest family Size with a mean total number of 4. 7 children, followed by Chinese women with a mean of 4.1 children. Indian women had the lowest mean number of children desired -- 3.6.

47

Table 24:

Mean Total Number of Children Wanted by Currently Married Women by Current Age and Ethnic Group

Over 44

Total

Ethnic Group

Under 25

25-34

35-44

Malays Chinese Indians Others

4.1 3.8 3.2 2.8

4.7 4.0 3.5 2.5

5.1 4.2 3.7 2.8

5.1 4.3 4.0 3.7

4.7 4.1 3.6 2.8

Total

4.0

4.3

4.6

4.7

4.4

Source: Chander et al., op.cit.

It

also discernible that all women m the younger age groups tended to desire a smaller family size than older women. The mean varied from 4.0 children for those under 25 years to 4. 7 for those over 44 years. This pattern holds true for all ethnic groups. Women of higher parity were found to have a desire for larger family size norms. The mean number of total children wanted ranged from 3. 7 children for women with 1 or 2 living children to more than 4 children for women with more than 3 children. Among women with 1-2 living children, 13.2% wanted no more children as compared to 78.3% for those with 5 or more children. IS

Family Planning28 The total number of acceptors recruited by the national family planning programme at the end of 1975 stood at 508,072. The cumulative acceptance rates per 1,000 women in the reproductive age groups for Malay, Chinese and Indians were 336, 3 72 and 307 respectively. An overwhelming majority of the acceptors chose the pill as their method of contraception. Thus 96% of the Malay acceptors, 78% of the 28

This section draws heavily from the Evaluation Reports, 1975, of the National Family Planning Board, Malaysia.

48

Chinese acceptors and 64% of the Indian acceptors were on the pill. The Indians tended to use more of the permanent method. Almost 26% of the Indian acceptors were sterilized, compared to 8% of the Chinese and 1.5% of the Malays. There are indications that the programme is still continuing to recruit an increasing number of acceptors from the younger age group. In 1975, 71.3% of those recruited were below 30 years and the mean age at acceptance was 26.5 years for the Malays, 27.6 years for the Chinese, 26.5 years for the Indians and 2 7 for the Others. The mean numbers of living children at the time of acceptance were 3.25, 3, 3.6 and 2.9 respectively. A significant lowering of fertility in this age group will contribute greatly to the success of the family planning programme in the country. With the programme catering more to the needs of younger women and aiming at lower parity, it is not surprising to find more younger women practising family planning. Seventy percent of the Malay acceptors indicated the desire to have another child later, compared to 63.4% for the Chinese and 48.4% for the Indians.

V:

CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY

Introduction The analysis in this section 1s based on the Family and Health Survey The sample was drawn from the listing provided by the Malaria Eradication Project which covered the entire rural area of Peninsular Malaysia. Eight Health Districts were selected using simple random sampling. Within the selected districts, nearby villages were grouped to form blocks. The blocks were then selected based on systematic sampling with probability proportional to size. The third stage involved the systematic selection of houses from the selected blocks, yielding a total of 3, 708 living quarters.

1976, which covered eight Health Districts in rural Peninsular Malaysia.

Of the 3, 708 living quarters selected, 2,838 households were screened and 2,145 currently married women aged 15-49 were interviewed. Questions

49

pertaining to household and basic demographic variables, knowledge, attitude and practice with regard to family planning as well as maternal and child health, the extent of knowledge and use of such services, socioeconomic status and exposure to mass media were put to these selected women. Using multiple classification analysis, we then examined how each of the dependent variables (children ever born, current contraceptive use, desired family size, wife's age at first marriage) were affected by the independent variables ( ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education and household income) and the covariates (wife's age and marriage duration).

Children Ever Born With reference to Table 25, the unadjusted Eta2 9 value in the multiple classification analysis shows that the dependent variable, children ever born, is affected most by wife's education, followed by husband's education, ethnicity and then household mcome. When adjusted for independent variables, the order of the effects changed only slightly, with husband's education switching place with household income, while wife's education still remained the strongest influence. With the addition of two more variables, namely, wife's age and marriage duration, ethnicity became relatively more important, followed by wife's education and husband's education and then by household income. This is observed when we compare the original eta with the partial betas by first controlling for the independent variables and then, in addition, controlling for the covariates. For example, for the ethnicity variable, the betas increased from 0.08 to 0.11 when we introduced all controls; on the other hand, for wife's education and husband's education, the betas decreased from 0.33 and 0.24 to 0.05 and 0.05 respectively. However, the variables of ethnicity, wife's and husband's education and household income could explain only 16% of the variance. The addition of the covariates (wife's age, marriage duration) substantially increased the proportion of variance explained (R2 = 57%).

29

Eta is equivalent to a simple beta from the bivariate linear regression of the dependent variable on the independent variable.

50

Table 25:

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Children Ever Born by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage Duration, usmg Multiple Classification Analvsis

Eta

Beta

0.08 0.33 0.24 0.05

0.08 0.30 0.1 7 0.19

Adjusted Beta

Main Effects

Ethnicity Wife's Education HusbanJ's Education Household Income

0.11 0.05 0.05 0.03

Covariates Wife's Age Marriage Duration

-0.024 0.241 0.156

0.568 ·-----·---··~--

In the analvsis of variance, it was found that the joint effects and mam effects (all independent variables) and covariates (marriage duration) were all significant at 0.001 level while the two-way interaction of the independents was not. One important use of multiple classification analysis scores is to cxammc the pattern of changes in the effects of a given variable while introducing more variables as controls. From Table 26, the unadjusted children ever born was lowest for Chinese (3.61 children), followed by Malays (3.63 children) and then by Indians (4.29 children). This may be clue to the confounding effects of wife's education, husband's education, household income and probably diffcrenc~s in the wife's age and duration of marriage. When the confounding effects of wife's education, husband's education and household income were controlled, the number of children ever bom of Chinese was further reduced to 3.26 children, while that of Malays slightly increased to 3. 71 and that of Indians declined to 4.12 children. If these were further controlled for wife's age and duration of marriage, children ever born of the Malays became lowest (3.54 children), while the Chinese children ever born increased to 4.06 children and the Indian children ever bum to 4.29 children. This may be due to the fact that the Chinese married at a later age and stayed married longer than the Malays or the Indians.

51

Table 26:

Grand Mean

Deviation from the Grand Mean of Children Ever Born in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education and Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration

3.69

Unadjusted

Adjusted for Independents

Adjusted for Independents and Covariates

Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian

-0.06 -0.08 0.63

0.02 -0.37 0.43

-0.15 0.37 0.60

0. 70

0.62

0.05

-0.40 -1.69

-0.30 -1.60

0.04 -0.31

0.77

0.57

-0.20

-0.08 -0.95

-0.07 -0.66

0.11 0.03

-0.09 -0.01 0.29

-0.38 0.03 1.01

-0.07 0.05 0.09

Wife's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Husband's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Household Income $199 or less $200-$399 $400+

The pattern of changes of effects of wife's education is significant. Initially, that is, when unadjusted, a difference of 2.36 children ever born was observed between the lowest educated and highest educated. When controlling for effects of other independent variables, the difference was reduced to 2.22 and the difference was further reduced to 0.36 after the addition of the covariates. It is also clear that the higher educated women would have lower mean number of children ever born, regardless of controls applied.

For

52

husband's education, the order of children ever born was the same as that for wife's education but the differences were smaller (see Table 26). The pattern of change for the last column (after controlling for covariates) was not consistent as in wife's education, with the lowest educated having a smaller number of children ever born. Surprisingly, the number of children ever born of lower household income was smaller than that of higher household income, regardless of controls. The initial difference was 0.38 children but this increased to 1.39 when controlled for other independents (ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education). However, when further controlled for covariates (wife's age, duration of marriage), tlE· difference was reduced to 0.16. Table 27 shows that wife's education had the strongest influence on children ever born for both Malays and Chinese since their eta values were highest while husband's education was important for the Indians. When controlled for other independent variables, this relationship still holds. When wife's age and marriage duration were added as controls, wife's education again emerged as the most important influence on children ever born. With or without controls for husband's education and household income, the highest educated women had the lowest fertility or children ever born, with Malays having 2.1 children, Chinese 1.8 children and Indians 3.4 children. Similarly, with or without controls for wife's education and husband's education, the highest educated husbands had the lowest fertility. The highest income groups had the highest fertility or children ever born when unadjusted. This was further increased when adjustment was made for wife's education and husband's education.

Desired Family Size The eta and beta values for wife's education appeared to be the strongest, regardless of controls applied (see Table 28). This was followed by husband's education, ethnicity and household mcome. The proportion of variation m desired family s1ze explained by the additive effects of independent variables (ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education, household income) was R 2 "" 0.069 which is considerably lower than

Table 2 7:

Deviations from the Mean in Multiple Classification Analysis of Children Ever Born by Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration for Each Ethnic Group

Malay (Grand Mean

Unadjusted

=

3.80) Adjusted for Independents Adjusted for and Independents Covariates

Chinese (Grand Mean = 3.66) Adjusted for Independents Adjusted for and Unadjusted Independents Covariates

Indian (Grand Mean = 4.47) Adjusted for Independents Adjusted for and Unadjusted Independents Covariates

Wife's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+)

0.86 -0.49 -1.69

0.80 -0.43 -1.65

0.12 -0.04 -0.31

0.41 -0.07 -1.82

0.36 0.04 -1.85

0.06 0.11 -0.54

0.11 -0.03 -0.97

0.06 0.11 -1.02

-0.05 0.43 -1.33

(Eta and Beta)

(0.38)

(0.36)

(0.06)

(0.34)

(0.34)

(0.10)

(0.09)

(0.09)

(0.14)

Husband's Education Up to Standard 5 ( 5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 Years+)

0.80 -0.10 -0.93

0.46 -0.07 -0.52

-0.20 0.08 0.10

0.47 0.03 -1.05

0.36 -0.04 -0.58

-0.23 0.18 -0.17

1.07 -0.10 -1.23

1.26 -0.09 -1.50

-0.33 0.36 -0.30

(Eta and Beta)

(0.25)

(0.15)

(0.06)

(0.24)

(0.15)

(0.10)

(0.29)

(0.35)

(0.12)

Household Income $199 or Less $200-$399 $400 or More

0.00 -0.09 0.19

-0.28 -0.03 1.00

-0.02 -0.04 0.16

-0.31 -0.01 0.31

-0.57 -0.04 0.61

-0.10 0.06 -0.04

-0.44 0.21 0.46

-0.80 0.18 1.54

-0.42 0.39 -0.18

(Eta and Beta)

(0.04)

(0.18)

(0.03)

(0.10)

(0.19)

(0.03)

(0.12)

(0.29)

(0.13)

--

0.176

0.561

--

0.166

0.652

--

0.139

0.576

Multiple R 2

(Jl (.)0

54

Table 28:

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Desired Family Size by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration -- Using Multiple Classification Analysis

Eta

Beta

0.08 0.21 0.12 0.03

0.12 0.22 0.07 0.13

Adjusted Beta

Main Effects Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income

0.04 0.07 0.07 0.04

Covariates Wife's Age Marriage Duration

R2

-0.077 0.110 0.069

0.223

that of children ever born. However, after adding covariates (wife's age, marriage duration), R2, which represents the proportion of variation in desired family size explained by the additive effects of all independents and covariates, increased to 0.223. In the analysis of vanance, it was found that the effects of ethnicity, wife's education and household income and covariate (marriage duration) were significant at 0.001 level. Table 29, before adjusting for variables, shows that the Chinese desired the smallest family size (4.59), followed by the Indian (4.68) and then the Malay ( 4.88). After adjusting for independent variables, the same order persisted. However, when effects of independents and covariates were controlled, the Indian's desired family size was smallest (4.64), followed by the Chinese (4.68) and then the Malays (4.84). The effects of wife's education on desired family size were significant and followed the same pattern as the effect of children ever born. The better educated had smaller desired family size than the less educated, irrespective of the controls applied.

55

Table 29:

Deviation from the Grand Mean of the Desired Family Size in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration

Grand Mean == 4.80

Unadjusted

Adjusted for Independents

Adjusted for Independents and Covariates

Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian

0.08 -0.31 -0.12

0.12 -0.45 -0.23

0.04 -0.12 -0.16

0.29

0.30

0.05

-0.11 -0.84

-0.11 -0.88

0.04 -0.32

0.26

0.15

.0.18

-0.01 -0.36

-0.01 -0.21

0.07 0.09

-0.05 0.02 0.09

-0.21 0.07 0.43

-0.08 0.08 0.03

Wife's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Husband's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Household Income $199 or Less $200-$399 $400+

The effects of husband's education and household income were less on desired family size than wife's education. They followed the same pattern as that of children ever born for the unadjusted and adjusted for independent variables. From Table 30, it is evident that wife's education had the strongest influence on desired family size for both Malays and Chinese, regardless of whether there were controls or not for husband's education and household

Table 30: -~~~

Deviations from the Mean in Multiple Classification Analysis of Desired Family Size by Wife's Education, Husband's Educatio Household Income with Wife's Age and Marri~_ D~~~tion for Each Ethnic Group

Malay (Grand Mean

Unadjusted

=

4.87)

Adjusted for Independents Adjusted for and Independents Covariates

Chinese (Grand Mean

Unadjusted

=

4.49)

Adjusted for Independents Adjusted for and Independents Covariates

Indian (Grand Mean = 4.67)

Unadjusted

A~usted for Independents Adjusted for and Independents Covariates

-----~

Wife's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+)

0.37 -0.18 -0.79

0.39 -0.19 -0.84

0.12 -0.03 -0.31

0.20 0.06 -1.07

(0.23)

(0.25)

(0.08)

Husband's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+)

0.20 0.02 -0.33

0.04 0.02 -0.10

(Eta and Beta}

(0.11}

Household Income $199 or Less $200-$399 $400 or More (Eta and Beta}

(Eta and Beta)

Multiple R 2

(.0 l!")

0.18 0.10 1.07

0.05 0.11 -0.47

0.02 0.25 -1.10

0.04 0.25 -1.30

-0.06 0.49 -1.23

(0.28)

(0.28)

(0.12)

(0.14)

(0.16)

(0.18)

-0.23 0.07 0.16

0.25 0.03 ·0.62

0.20 -0.02 -0.35

-0.06 0.06 -0.11

0.72 -0.20 -0.53

0.79 -0.17 -0.68

-0.29 0.17 0.02

(0.03}

(0.09}

(0.19}

(0.12)

(0.05)

(0.21)

(0.24)

(0.08)

-0.03 0.01 0.10

-0.13 0.03 0.41

-0.03 0.02 0.04

-0.33 0.09 0.08

-0.48 0.07 0.26

-0.24 0.11 -0.04

-0.38 0.24 0.33

-0.57 0.16 1.11

-0.23 0.25 -0.19

(0.03)

(0.11}

{0.02)

(0.12)

(0.18)

(0.10)

(0.14)

(0.24)

(0.10)

--

0.065

0.195

--

0.120

0.319

--

0.101

0.406

0

57

mcome. But husband's education played a more vital role for Indians. For Malays, Chinese and Indians, reg.mllcss of adjustments made, the highest wife's education often resulted in the lowest desired family size. The pattern is also true for husband's education, if we omit controls for covariates. Without considering adjustment for covariates, the lower household income group had lower desired family size while the higher household income group had higher desired family Size. This pattern is similar to that of children ever born (see Table 27).

Wife's Age at First Marriage As we can observe from Table 31, without adjustment, eta values appeared to be strongest for wife's education (0.27), followed by ethnicity (0.25), husband's education (0.21) and household income (0.13). After adjusting for independent variables ( ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education, household income), beta values were largest for ethnicity (0.27), followed by wife's education (0.22), husband's education (0.14) and household income (0.13). When further controlled for effects of covariates (wife's age and marriage duration), adjusted betas followed the same rank order but with slightly larger values.

Table 31:

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Wife's Age at First Marriage by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age and Marriage Duration, Using Multiple Classification Analysis

Eta

Beta

Adjusted Beta

0.25 0.27 0.21 0.13

0.27 0.22 0.14 0.03

0.27 0.24 0.15 0.04

Main Effects Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income Co variates Wife's Age Marriage Duration

0.366 -----

R2

0.151

0.157

58

The proportion of variation m wife's age at first marriage explained by the additive effects of independent variables was 0.151 while the proportion of variance explained by the additive effects of all independents and covariates was 0.157. Thus the predictive power of ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education, household income, wife's age and marriage duration was rather poor for wife's age at first marriage. As in the analysis of variance for desired family size, the effects of ethnicity, wife's education, household income and marriage duration were found to be significant at 0.001 level. In Table 32, one can see that, regardless of controls applied, Chinese had the highest wife's age at first marriage (more than 19 years old), followed by Indians (about 17.5 years old), then by the Malays (about 17.0 years old). This phenomenon helps to explain partly why the number of children ever born (after adjustments for wife's age and husband's education) of Malays was lower than that of the Chinese. The effects of wife's education on wife's age at first marriage were significant, with higher educated women having higher age at first marriage, whether they were adjusted or not for other factors. Those with 9 or more years of schooling were 19-20 years old at their first marriage while those with up to 5 years of education were about 17 years old, regardless of controls applied. This would also imply that other factors had little effect on wife's age at first marriage. Husband's education had a similar pattern of effects on wife's age at first marriage, but the magnitude was smaller. When unadjusted, lower household incomes had lower wife's age at first marriage -- 17.27 years old for $199 and 18.53 for $400+. With controls for ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education and wife's age and marriage duration, the mean age at first marriage varied little and ranged from 17.5 to 17.8 years old.

Current Contraceptive Use The effects of ethnicity, wife's education, husband's education, household income, wife's age and marriage duration on current contraceptive use (sec Table 33) were minimal. The proportion of variar:.ce (R 2) explained by these factors or variables was also very small (between 2-6%).

60

Table 33:

Eta, Beta and Adjusted Beta Values of Current ~ontraceptive Use by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband_'s Educ~twn, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage DuratiOn, Children Ever Born Using Multiple Classification Anal::_)L's::.:i:.:_s_ __

Eta

Beta

Adjusted Beta

--------~

------- ·----

Main Effe-.:+s

Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income

0.04 0.12 0.09 0.07

0.07 0.11 0.07 0.06

0.02 0.05 0.04 0.07

Co variates Wife's Age Marriage Duration Children Ever Born

-0.024 -0.016 0.027 ~-----~--~~------

0.024

a

J -shaped

0.064

relationship, with highest income having highest current contraceptive

use and lowest income having second highest current contraceptive use, regardless of adjustments made. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is the availability of contraceptive services in the selected outlets, particularly in the rural areas. The better educated mothers and higher income group tend to make use of the facilities more.

Summary

The analysis suggests that the independent variables ( cthnici t y, wi f c 's education, husband's education, household income and covariatcs (wife's age and

61

Table 34:

Grand Mean

Deviation from the Grand Mean of Current Contraceptive Use in Multiple Classification Analysis by Ethnicity, Wife's Education, Husband's Education, Household Income with Wife's Age, Marriage Duration and Children Ever Born

1.74

Unadjusted

Adjusted for Independents

Adjusted for Independents and Covariates

-0.01 0.03 0.03

-0.02 0.05 0.05

0.00 0.00 0.02

-0.04 0.02 0.11

-0.04 0.02 0.11

-0.02 0.00 0.05

-0.06 0.02 0.04

-0.04 0.03 0.00

0.00 0.01 -0.03

0.00 -0.03 0.05

0.02 -0.03 0.02

0.00 -0.03 0.05

Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian Wife's Education Up to Standard 5 (5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Husband's Education Up to Standard 5 ( 5 years) Standard 6-Form 2 (6-8 years) Form 3+ (9 years+) Household Income $199 or Less $200-$399 $400+

marriage duration) could predict or explain quite well the variance of fertility (children ever born) as well as desired family size, with R 2 = 0.57 and 0.22. The rural women who had the highest fertility or number of children ever born were Indians, followed by Malays and Chinese. They were also characterized by lowest wife's education and attainment, lowest husband's education achievement, and moderately high household income. In other words, rural women with higher education attainment, high husband's education achievement

62

and moderately low household income had lower fertility or children ever born. Regardless of controls applied, the highest educated women had lowest fertility or children ever born, with Malay rural women having 2.1 children ever born, Chinese women 1.8 children ever born and Indian women 3.4 children ever born. Similarly, highest· ,educated husbands also had lowest fertility or children ever born. However, the more affluent households tended to have higher fertility or children ever born. The rural Chinese women desired the smallest family s1ze (4.59), followed by the Indian (4.68) ·and then the Malay (4.88). But when effects of independent variables and covariates were controlled, the Indian's desired family size was smallest (4.64), followed by the Chinese (4.68) and then the Malay (4.84). The various desired .family sizes for ethnic groups were quite close. Again, the effects of wife's education on desired family size were significant and followed a pattern similar to that of children ever born. The rural wife's education had the strongest influence on the desired family s1ze for both Malay and Chinese, while the Indian husband's education was the most significant. regardless of whether there was control on other factors or not. The rural Chinese women generally married at a later age than Malay or Indian women. The effects of wife's education on wife's age at first marriage were significant, with the higher educated having a higher age at first marriage, regardless of whether they were adjusted or not for other factors. Those women with 9 or more years of schooling were 19-20 years old at their first marriage while those with 5 or less years of education were about 1 7 years old. Higher wife's education had higher current contraceptive usc. However, the effects of household income had a J -shaped relationship with current contraceptive use. This could be due to the availability of contraceptive services in selected outlets particularly in rural areas, where better educated and more affluent mothers or couples tended to utilize the facilities offered. The present analysis has some serious limitations. First, the m1ssmg values and missing cases created serious problems with regard to estimation of mean values of dependent variables. Secondly, appropriate classification of independent variables (for example, education and income variables) into categories was quite difficult. Third, the number of appropriate variables that could be obtained from

63

the retrospective survey data for the multiple classification analysis was limited and constrained. Given these limitations, one can conclude that investment in wife's education would go a long way towards bringing down fertility to the level desired by the country. The rural women are now experiencing a socioeconomic development transition in which their status (in education, health and socioeconomic areas) is nsmg. This is evident from the fact that the number of children ~ver born by them was lower than the number desired by them. The preferred family size can be considered to be the product of the cultural practices, norms, and traditional values they inherited.

65

APPENDIX

Table 1: Analysis of Variance of Children Ever Born

Sum of Squares

DF

Mean Square

F

Significance of F

979.212 37.650 433.320 144.864 191.030

8 2 2 2 2

122.401 18.825 216.660 72.432 95.515

44.744 6.881 79.200 26.4 7 7 34.915

0.001 0.001 G. )01 0. Vv l 0.001

2,591.279

2

1,295.639

473.617

0.001

0.111 932.948

1 1

0.111 932.948

0.040 341.036

0.999 0.001

Residual

2,713.740

992

2.736

Total

6,284.230

1,002

6.272

Source of Variation Main Effects Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income Co variates

Wife's Age Marriage Duration

Covariate

Beta

Wife's Age Marriage Duration

-0.024 0.241

2,137 cases were processed 1,134 cases {53.1%) were missing

66

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

DF

Mean Square

F

Main Effects

2.58·!

8

0.323

1. 750

0.084

Ethnicity Wife's Ed,~·~ation Husband's Education Household Income

0.453 1.053 0.460 0.393

2 2 2 2

0.226 0.527 0.230 0.197

1.227 2.853 1.246 1.066

0.294 0.057 0.288

Co variates

4.301

3

1.434

7.767

0.001

Wife's Age Marriage Duration Children Ever Born

0.063 1.632 0.963

1 1 1

0.063 1.632 0.963

0.339 8.841 5.218

0.999 0.003 0.021

Residual

100.228

543

0.185

Total

107.114

554

0.193

Covariate

Beta

Wife's Age Marriage buration Children Ever Born

-0.024 -0.016 0.021

2,13 7 cases wete processed 1.582 cases (74.0%} were missing

Significance of F

t .9,46

67

Table 3:

Analysis of Variance of Desired Family Size

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

DF

Mean Square

F

Significance of F

Main Effects

213.377

8

26.672

10.945

0.001

Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income

42.639 115.709 12.211 42.462

2 2 2 2

21.320 57.855 6.105 21.231

8.749 23.741 2.505 8.712

0.001 0.001 0.080 0 001

Covariates

479.422

2

239.711

98.367

0.001

Wife's Age Marriage Duration

1.134 192.290

1 1

1.134 192.290

0.465 78.908

0.999 0.001

Residual

2,414.963

991

2.437

Total

3,107.761

1,001

3.105

Covariate

Beta

Wife's Age Marriage Duration

-0.077 0.110

2,137 cases were processed 1,135 cases (53.1 %) were missing

68

Table 4:

Analysis of Variance of Wife's Age at First Marriage

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

F

Significance of F

Main Effects

1,897.630

8

237.204

23.545

0.001

846.970 476.564 168.955 8.712

2 2 2 2

423.485 238.282 84.478 4.356

42.036 23.652 8.385 0.432

0.001 0.001 0.001 0. )99

Co variates

77.319

1

77.319

7.675

0.006

Wife's Age

77.319

1

77.319

7.675

0.006

Residual

10,628.547

1,055

10.074

Total

12,603.496

1,064

11.845

Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income

Covariate

Beta

Wife's Age

0.366

2,137 cases were processed 1,072 cases {50.2%) were missing

DF

Mean Square

Table 5:

Multiple Classification Analysis of Fertility and Related Measures -- Malaysia 1976

Children Ever Born

Current Contraceptive Use

Eta

Beta

Adjusted Beta

Eta

Beta

0.08 0.33

0.08 0.30

0.11 0.05

0.04 0.12

0.07 0.11

0.24

0.17

0.05

0.09

0.05

0.19

0.03

Wife's Age -Marriage Duration -Children Ever Born --

-0.024 0.241 --

---

Multiple R 2

0.156

Desired Family Size

Wife's Age at First Marriage

Eta

Beta

Adjusted Beta

Eta

Beta

Adjusted Beta

0.02 0.05

0.08 0.21

0.12 0.22

0.04 0.07

0.25 0.27

0.27 0.22

0.27 0.24

0.07

0.04

0.12

0.07

0.07

0.21

0.14

0.15

0.07

0.06

0.07

0.03

0.13

0.04

0.13

0.03

0.04

----

-0.024 -0.016 0.027

--

--

-0.077 0.110

--

--

0.366

--

--

0.024

--

0.069

--

0.151

Adjusted Beta

Main Effects Ethnicity Wife's Education Husband's Education Household Income Covariates

Grand Mean

--

3.69

-0.568

1.74

--

0.064

4.80

0.223

0.157

17.65

CJ)