| Migrant workers had always played a major role in the economic development of Malaysia. Since pre-independence, planned and systematic recruitment of foreign labour had ensured the success of British entrepreneurs in the plantation and mining sectors. Labour was recruited primarily from India and China through a system of assisted recruitment or indenture where they were bound by contracts to serve their employers for a fixed period. Labour recruitment was not limited to Chinese and Indian labour. Large numbers of Javanese were brought in as coolies on government schemes such as canal or road construction. The first generation clustered together in villages whose names identified with their homeland (for example, kampong Jawa; kampong Bugis): |