19. Char Kuay Teow and the Emerging Diaspora

Char kuay teow is a hawker favourite that has become a staple in Malaysian restaurants around the world. The origins of this dish reveal a lot about who emigrated from Malaysia and why. The post-independence years in Malaysia were tense and race riots would trigger another State of Emergency in 1969. To quell civil unrest and alleviate poverty, the Government announced the New Economic Policy. Not everyone was happy with this new political trajectory and many left to build lives elsewhere. Celebrity chef Julie Lin and her mum Lang Macleod share family tales on life in a Scottish-Malaysian household. Resources and References A History of Malaysia (2016), Barbara Watson Andaya, Leonard Y. Andaya Borneo: The History of an Enigma (2026), Olivier Hein Embedded Myths of Malaysia’s New Economic Policy, Christopher Choong Weng Tai, London School of Economics blog, 4 April 2022 https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/seac/2022/04/04/embedded-myths-of-malaysias-new-economic-policy/ Putting the Malaysian diaspora into perspective https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/BrainDrain/Malaysia.html Credits Hosted by Dr Noby Leong and Philip Gibson Produced by Dr Noby Leong and Philip Gibson Sound Design by Jack Barr Satay? Okay! is produced by Kopi Productions Limited and supported by the Golden Chopsticks Scholarship, by the Oxford Cultural Collective Trust